What's in a name?

My first visit to a restaurant  – it was really an ice cream parlour/cafe – was when I was about eight years of age and I still remember it!  It was to LUCCA on the outskirts of Edinburgh, and it's still there today. Years later I visited LUCCA in Italy  and enjoyed some memorable meals in that beautiful old town. Last month on a visit to Colombia I came across a restaurant in Bogota – Da Lucca – and once again I had a superb meal, in fact perhaps the most enjoyable  Italian meal ever.

Restaurant reviews are not something I would normally do, even after many years of owning them, but on the recent visit to Colombia I had one of the finest meals ever at a waterside location – the Club de Pesca, in the yacht marina in Cartagena, the old capital of the  Spanish Main in the 17 th century.

I was recently asked about our Key Investments and investing overseas. We don't do so directly but only by indirect  holdings.The 13 hotels operated by Intercontinental Hotels Plc in Colombia,where the potential for growth and profits is great, is a good example of how we invest via holdings in KEY  British Companies.

But what is the attraction of Colombia? It is twice the size of France with a population of 40 million friendly people and one of the emerging and fast growing economies of tomorrow's world.