As with 1,179 other small investors my copy of the WPP annual report and accounts came through the letterbox this week. It is, as you’d expect from the world’s largest advertising agency group, a highly produced sort of document, complete with charming little cartoon illustrations and the sort of self-parodying prose that usually finds its way into Private Eye’s Ad Nauseum column. Moneynetenergyprovidersearch As with 1,179 other small investors my copy of the WPP annual report and accounts came through the letterbox this week. They know it’s a promise to work as dedicated brand partners – no matter what it takes”.Well, I hope her clients do know that, because it is a little opaque to the likes of me. Brands crop up a lot in advertising and PR, of course, and I was quite taken by an essay by Sir Martin Sorrell, group chief executive of WPP. His piece contained a table of the world’s most valuable brands in 2001.That shows 16 were American, Coca-Cola and Microsoft heading the list. Coke is worth $72,537m (£50bn) and Microsoft $70,197m, by the way.

One was Finnish (Nokia, of course, worth $35,528m), one came from Germany (Mercedes, $21,105m) and two were Japanese (Toyota, $18,824m and Sony, $16,410m). Fun isn’t it?No brands, please we’re British, it would seem, because not even Manchester United or Rolls-Royce, both of which I might have thought were global, make it into the top 20, says Interbrand, who compiled the list. After all, the entire market cap of Rolls-Royce, a world-beater, amounts to only $4,500m, while Man U has a market cap of $500m. Which may make you think there is a prima facie case for saying that these companies are undervalued.Even more intriguing were the brand values expressed as a percentage of the market capitalisation of the company.

The top one there was Ford, the blue oval representing two-thirds of the value of FoMoCo; and Coca-Cola, representing 61 per cent of the value of the firm Disney comes in at about a half. The Citibank and GE brands, on the other hand, are worth less than a tenth of the total value of the companies that own them.I would be intrigued to know how much the brand value of Merrill Lynch is worth now and compare it with its value before it was found out telling punters one thing (“accumulate” shares in 24/7) while internally holding rather less bullish views (“piece of shit”). The name of the New York attorney general, Eliot Spitzer, who has been getting to the bottom of this ugly affair, should be honoured.Two other brands recently enduring a bit of a rough time, are of course Marks & Spencer and British Airways. I make no apology for returning to the M&S recovery story, and I am pleased to see some of the press have been gracious and responsible enough to recognise the turnaround, limited as it has been so far, and give due credit to Luc Vandevelde, George Davies and indeed all the staff at M&S. Even the divi is up.Still more heartening, because for me it has happened rather faster than I thought possible, has been the apparent improvement in BA’s fortunes.

Its market capitalisation is still just behind Ryanair’s, and will probably be much less than the easyJet-Go combine when that’s up and running.But the share price at around 200p to 220p is somewhat healthier than it was after 11 September, when I bravely I thought went in for some “patriotic buying” at sub-150p levels.But I notice what happened in the US on Wednesday, when news of a a suspect package on the Brooklyn Bridge sent the markets diving for an hour before it was declared a false alarm.The US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld tells us terrorists are “certain” to acquire nuclear, chemical and biological weapons, and use them. All the rest of us can do is sit and wait and hope.s.o’grady independent.co.uk. One way or another, all our lives are being touched by a forty-something Dorking accountant with a passion for sport. John Tiner, managing director in charge of consumer affairs (and much else) at the Financial Services Authority, wants to climb inside our minds to ensure we are sufficiently well-versed to spot a cowboy financial adviser at 100 paces. Moneynetmedicalinsurancesearch One way or another, all our lives are being touched by a forty-something Dorking accountant with a passion for sport.