Despite their proud profit records, brewers have traditionally provided good returns. Even so, the Scottish offering seems absurdly generous.I am disappointed Gowrings and Springwood have slipped marginally into the red. A temporary relapse, I hope.derek derekpain.totalserve.co.uk. Now, this isn’t a travel column, but have you ever been to Finland? It is a fascinating country, much underrated by most travellers. There you will discover a civilisation in a more advanced stage of development, that is clean, efficient, safe and pioneering in the arts of mobile telephony, design and low cholesterol. MoneynetNow, this isn’t a travel column, but have you ever been to Finland? It is a fascinating country, much underrated by most travellers. And there’s nothing better afterwards than mild self-flagellation with birch twigs and a long cool drink, specifically a glass of Lapin Kulta beer, the best lager in Europe (not just probably) and now owned by Scottish & Newcastle.Having sold my shares in Diageo a few weeks ago, I have been looking around for a new brewing opportunity, and I have great hopes for Lapin Kulta’s potential.

S&N is the fourth-largest brewer in the world ­ always an interesting position for an industry experiencing consolidation as brewing is now. It also has John Smiths, Kronenbourg and Newcastle Brown to its name. Most promisingly S&N has useful exposure to India and Russia, a nation that so far preferred vodka to beer but which may well find the Finnish lager to its taste. So I have plunged some of the proceeds of my recent disposals of Diageo and Bradford and Bingley into S&N at 572.2p (representing a modest p/e of 6.8 and an yield of 5 per cent).One rap I am happy to knock out is how well M&S is doing. Having been written off for so long, the stores are making quite a comeback, thanks to the efforts of its chief executive, Luc Vandevelde, and the designer George Davies, and the shares have broached 400p for the first time in nearly three years. I’m glad that I hung on when they were down at 170p and my trendy wiseacre friends were telling me that the company was about to go bust.And more good news from the high street, as Tesco may at last have broken out of the 240-250p trading range it seems to have been in for ages, challenging the 260p mark. Not huge paper profits for those of us who’ve been accumulating shares over the past few months, but just the kind of steady progress that M&S, once upon a time, offered the small investor.

Let’s just hope that Tesco doesn’t lose touch with its customers as abjectly as M&S and Sainsbury did.Much more depressing is the plight of Vodafone, in which I have pledged my faith many times. There is a great deal of nervousness about the shares at the moment, mostly concerning the overpayment for businesses bought during the TMT boom, especially the £79bn takeover of Mannesmann.Yet it seems to me that Vodafone is at least doing the right thing and that these write-downs do not mean that any money is actually going to be flying out of the door. Long term, I still reckon Vodafone a core hold but I’ll wait until it drifts nearer to 100p ­ as almost everyone seems to expect ­ before adding some more to the portfolio.And finally, there is the prospect of a windfall from my Nationwide Building Society account, as the rebels are up and running for election to the board again, although the two candidates concerned deny they are carpetbaggers. Portman Building Society is also under seige from an apparent bagger. Have a look at the website /carpetbagger to catch up with the activities of “Happy Bagger” and “Mad Mungo”. Also, for a bit of balance, see the Save Our Building Societies website at .uk.Meanwhile, mine’s a pint of Lapin Kulta.