The British tend to think of tea as the national drink. More than 165 million cups are made every day here. But, in terms of consumption per capita, Britain is just 12th in the global tea-drinking stakes, behind countries such as Uruguay, Kenya and Turkey.
Other countries are also recognising the allure of tea. America, for example, has traditionally been a coffee-drinking nation. But today, tea accounts for half the beverages served in US Starbucks outlets.
These trends bode well for Strix Group PLC (LON:KETL), the world’s top maker of kettle safety controls. These turn off kettles when they boil or if there is insufficient water, so preventing an explosion.
Strix floated in August. The shares are 136½p and should rise significantly as the firm expands. It has a generous dividend policy, expecting to pay out 7p a share in 2018, which implies a yield of more than 5 per cent. Steady increases are pencilled in for 2019 and beyond.
Strix controls are used about a billion times a day. Customers include top names such as Tefal, Siemens and Philips, and the firm has a global market share of 39 per cent, almost four times larger than its nearest competitor, Otter Controls.