Spam helps to beef up Hormel

SHARES in Hormel Foods have proved a sure-fire investment hit in recent months as demand continues for its most ridiculed, most famous, most beloved delicacy - Spam. Profits for this year have already leaped 21% on the back of the popularity of the luncheon meat that won the war.

The stock now stands at more than $27 (£19) a share thanks to the growing consumption of a meat that is cultish beyond belief. Overall, its stock price climbed 47% last year.

Long before Spam became a term for unsolicited electronic junk mail it was a pinkish tinned meat. Founded in 1937 it became a staple in wartime - both for soldiers and people on the home front such as Baroness Thatcher who recalls fondly the 1943 Christmas dinner that stood in for non-existent turkeys.

Food industry observers say it is a contender for the best branding of all time. There is now a Spam website, an official fan club with 9,000 members worldwide and, just opened in Austin, Minnesota - Hormel world HQ - is a Spam museum featuring memorabilia, advertising items and even a video of the famous 1970 Monty Python sketch of a bunch of hungry Vikings in a cafe being offered nothing but Spam, Spam, Spam.

Next month, the company is producing what will be the sixth billionth tin of the stuff. It is sold in 45 countries but its biggest follower outside of the US is South Korea, which buys 10m pounds of it every year. Tiny Guam outdoes the Koreans on a per-capita basis for its unbridled Spam lust: a whopping 12.2 pounds per person every year.