Once beer and cinemas were recourse in times of recession

People always seem to find money for a few beers even while cutting back on other non-essential items.

Now may be different.

Wine and cider have taken an increased share of the alcohol market and overall Australian consumption is decreasing.

Australian beer sales are shrinking about 1.8 per cent annually.

Small independent craft brewers have done better - they now suck up about 6pc of beer sales - but you can't buy shares in them.

Victorian-based Broo Ltd (ASX code BEE), market value $16 million, is probably smallest of quoted brewers.

A significant proportion of its revenue comes from managing pubs and licensed venues.

Hospitality has been hard hit by Covid-19 restrictions, but BEE has been a terrible investment for years.

Once BEE was worth 50 cents a share.

In March this year you could have picked them up for less than a cent.

By last week they had tripled in value to 2.5c and the Punter seriously looked at them as a recovery gamble.

But BEE had a negative cashflow of $137,000 in the June quarter, and is already borrowed up to the hilt.

With only $76,000 left in the bank at the end of that month, it announced a private placement of shares at 1.5c to raise almost $200,000.

Clearly others reckon BEE a gambling stock.

Daily turnover of shares is often in the millions.

On August 12, the day it announced it had contracted CUB (Carlton and United) to brew some of its beers, some 60 million BEE shares changed hands.

The price swung from 2c to 3.3c and back to 2.5c in a day.

BEE is on the Punter's watchlist.

Despite the beer industry's poor outlook, he has also added one of the industry's heavyweights to his list - United Malt Group (UMG), the GrainCorp spin off.

But he won't be rash.

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