September is here and with the end of the holidays we have interesting developments with several of our investments.

Yesterday Redrow produced even better than expected final figures with profits up by some 53% and dividend increased by 100%. With the forecast of an other record year in 2016. We will add to our holding here.

Berkeley Homes held its AGM today with the expectation of another good year in 2016 and two great years in 2017/18 as current developments come to fruition.

Intercontinental Hotels has really good news today as it has got rid of Marcato from its share register and can get on with running its business and keeping the company British. It can stay as the world's biggest hotel group and not be pressured into dealing with any weak American hotel group. Several of you have questioned the IHG commitment to China and expansion there in relation to the recent financial waves in the Far East, but from my visits to China I have few reservations on the IHG strategy and it will remain our largest holding in the hotel industry. Yesterday saw Citibank recommending that IHG shares which have gone from 2900 to 2300 since April are likely to rise to 3150 in the next 12 months!
There also remains the question of what the group will do with its surplus £900 million

This summer we have had the opportunity to experience the operations of both the Accor Hotel Group and the Sodexho Catering group – both well run operations which will feature in our further investments in the hospitality business.

Next week sees results from another of our building industry holdings, GallifordTry, which should emulate this week's Redrow results.

Finally I visited the privately owned SANIRESORT in Greece last month and it is superb with perhaps the best operation and the best staff I have experienced in a resort operation. Unique! and in no way affected by the country's political difficulties.