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Brewdog shares
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I gave it some serious thought. The truth is that unless you drink in their pubs or buy a lot from their website then it it probably wouldn't count as a good 'investment'.
That doesn't mean it isn't worth buying some. I decided against it because the postage for web sales means there's no point in buying even with the discount for being a shareholder; additionally the shares value the company extremely highly. The value isn't unreasonable because they are expanding very rapidly in sales, bars, shops but as a company based on an 'outsiders', 'little guys' and 'non-corporate' image I wonder how big they can get before the customers who are drawn to that image stop seeing them that way.
Though I'm aware this may start taking this thread off topic - sorry!
Car repaired today - cost £336. I'd thought about buying four BrewDog shares, which would have cost £380, so I think I was right in getting the car fixed.
I like the company, but don't feel 'driven' to invest at the moment.
It doesn't mean that people have started or stopped being interested in clothes generally: ASOS who sell everybody else's clothes through the internet have happilly gone from <1000p to >4000p in the same time (I'm still regretting not buying about 5 years ago as I remember thinking the rise from 120p to 320p was a little too rapid...).
Essentially you are right, beer has been popular for hundreds of years. But microbreweries and 'craft' beers have gone in and out of fashion, so while the idea of selling real beer rather than the mass-produced lagers has always been popular with a certain set (certainly in an "old man pub" rather than a trendy wine bar), the buyers in the "old man pub" are not typically going to be buying branded niche drinks like Punk IPA, Mashtag or Electric India (nice though they are) over their entire lifetime.
Someone in their twenties or thirties might currently love the vibe of punky grungy craft beer at an "iPhone" price point. But ten years ago people suddenly rediscovered the idea of drinking cider with ice in. In the 90s it was alcopops, from studenty ones like Two Dogs and Hooper's Hooch to the 'sophistication' of Smirnoff Ice. In the 80s you had your Babycham and your Cinzano Bianco. All marketed aspirationally, some sticking around longer than others.
If you're a Diageo, you can keep adding the high fashion stuff to your portfolio and sell millions of drinks year in year out. If you're an 'alternative' non-mass-market brewer and all you do is craft beer and have some urban bars, you might get a cult following but will that cult go 'mainstream' enough for proper market penetration while keeping its USP of being a cool alternative to the mass market stuff?
I'm sure when Apple brought out the iPod there would have been some people saying "this will be mainstream popular, people have always liked music" and others saying "why is it twice the price of an equivalent just because it looks pretty when it doesn't do a better job, this is simply going to be a fashion fad". They ended up with the best of both worlds, selling a pretty product at a premium price point AND going mainstream - the share price liked that very much indeed. Now after taking over the world, Apple's users are still viewed snarkily as hipsters by those outside the cult while the products are worshipped by those within it.
Of course Brewdog could be the 'next big thing' while maintaining cult status and making millions, so today's price might be a bargain. But ultimately, this fundraising is for fans - as mentioned, the serious VC investors bought in at a sixth of the price in the last year or two. You might want to buy the shares in the same way fans want to buy shares in Arsenal, Spurs or Man U. Mostly with their hearts rather than their heads. Sometimes it works out financially and sometimes it doesn't.
haha! By which time they will be old dudes rather than cool dudes, and Brewdog loses it's cred with the yoof and thus the decline kicks in :beer:
That could be the best indicator. I dont see that as ruling with your heart, believing in a product does count for something.
Quite a few stateside backed Apple on that basis and they were right
I was looking at CREE who make LED and they are amazing advancers in that sector and well justified however they are 100x PE so is the growth that likely right now. I think no is too possible, I have held them before though and maintain an interest so maybe people should wait even if they dont commit now.
But it's not just bars in major cities, we were over there nearly ten years ago and I don't think we ever encountered a bar in even a small town that didn't have a few micro-brewery taps as well as the 'usual suspects'.
Obviously, it isn't real beer, as we think of it in this country, but as long as you don't mind the gas, some of it can be quite passable.
What other websites? I purchased a couple of these, and to be honest if there is a route to offload these, even at some cost, I would be happy to go forward.
Thanks