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Five industries set to explode
  • On reflection bottled water is not  cheap. It's very, very expensive compared with the free stuff that comes out of your kitchen tap - which is mostly perfectly good, depending on where you live. Bottled water has become a hugely lucrative industry which has doubled in size again and again.

  • If you buy the view (and many do) that emerging countries will grow more quickly than the established (Western) industrial world, then you ought to take a look at Asian currencies. Although, for example, the Chinese Yuan has risen modestly against the dollar, it's longer term fundamentals look strong.

    The Chinese are also promoting its currency more in international trade and finance. Even countries like Indonesia and Malaysia have seen their currencies strengthen in the past year. Asian debt, also, is often far lower than in the West though rising inflation is a concern.
  • In the US natural gas use has been steadily increasing for a while. Drilling and extraction expenses are under control and there's an increasingly wider acceptance of natural gas as an energy resource.

    Large energy companies are beginning to pick off smaller gas players. Nervousness about the Russians turning off their taps - not to mention all the Middle East oil volatility - is also sparking interest. Large profits are tipped for the future. Get cooking.
  • Luxury goods companies can be highly profitable. Just look at British Burberry: the London fashion house recently revealed pre-tax profits of £118m compared to £78.4m for the last six months. Burberry rarely discounts. Its sales in Asia in particular are booming (and likely to grow further thanks to an expanding middle class with a voracious thirst for Western brands).

    Throw in the oncoming royal wedding and deluxe British fashion is going to get a massive publicity and sales boost in the near future. 
  • Gold gets all the love these days. But those willing to take the road less travelled should give uranium a hard look. Nuclear power is increasingly coming back into fashion and nuclear power needs uranium to power massive plants. Its also been used in everything from dentures to pottery glazes.

    However high grade uranium supply is limited. Supply did ease as nuclear weapons got decommissioned but that is now some while back. Not one for ethical investors. Uranium miners have a high chance of cancer.

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