'Tis well and truly that time of year again...
Time to feast, drink, overindulge... and then feel extremely guilty.
But it got me thinking about the UK’s annual festive obsession...
We appear to be moving away from the house renovating and property decorating craze and marching very swiftly into the new area of cooking and eating top quality nosh.
These days our TV screens are filled with the sights and sounds of food.
It's greatly helped by the ever growing status of the celebrity chef.
When was the last time you got up before Saturday Kitchen finished?
Luscious and exotic fruit, fish straight from the sea and organic vine-ripened tomatoes are turned into mouth-watering meals by enthusiastic chefs who chop, braise, bake, boil and eulogise over the dishes they create in front of our eyes.
All that while bookshop shelves and magazine racks groan under the weight of an endless stream of new cookery titles: books specialising in baking or poultry, books about Mexican cooking, food magazines from the supermarkets, vegetarian cookbooks and recipe books from well-known restaurants.
(I must say I’m an avid cook myself. I love to prepare and cook a meal from scratch, and own a million and one cookery books. In fact, as a nation we spend on average a massive £20m a week on books alone - but that's for another edition.)
So I thought... how could we embrace this new passion in our portfolios?
It's pretty easily done when it comes to AIM - there are loads of interesting plays out there.
And I have one idea I'm willing to divulge - purely for you to think about, mind.
This particular story began in London in 1991, when Priscilla and Antonio Carluccio opened their first Italian food shop in Covent Garden.
Their aim was simple... to bring the finest quality regional Italian food to London.
I thought I’d step out and check the Christmas menu because it looks delicious and at £22 per head, it can't be bad.
In fact, after eating there my friend and I decided it was a bargain. But are the shares a bargain too?
Who knows... but the story behind the business is a nostalgic one...
Carluccio left Italy at the tender age of 18 and found himself alone, far away in Vienna. In need of good food it was then that he started to cook and become passionate about the food that came from his home country.
He is now the proud owner of no less than 28 stores in and around London, all of which are profitable.
Not bad going.
Carluccio’s floated on AIM round about this time last year and they have continued on a steady upward trend during that period.
They recently announced a maiden pre-tax profit up 6% on the year before despite higher rates and utility costs. They've even managed to open five stores this year which have been immediately cash generative.
The company is proposing to pay a 1.5p dividend next year against a 0.7p payment last year.
So on the surface, things certainly seem to be looking up for these guys. But I'd give it a little more time to see if the business grows further in 2007.
A 6% growth in profit is great, but it's still little more than what you'd get by putting your money in the bank.
It will be interesting to see how Carluccio's share price fares in the first few months of the New Year.
It'll either rise like a freshly baked focaccia or stay flat as a pizza base.
But you already knew that...
Ciao for now,
Melissa Carroll
for The Penny Sleuth
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