Itaconix (ITX) “is pleased to announce that it has received its first order from a second European customer for its Itaconix® CHT™ 122 bio-based detergent ingredient” – with the announcement currently helping the shares more than 4% higher…

Nope, this is nothing to do with Cheryl Cole. Instead the chart below is intended to show how obsessed I am with the Versarien (VRS) car crash. The chart was published before today's shock warning and aims to show that I am obsessed or desperate and thus to be ignored. I fear those who have ignored me are rather poorer as a result. But fear not morons, when you have lost all your money and Versarien has been booted off AIM, a then 100% vindicated Sheriff will cease coverage... meanwhile I bet Neill Rocketts is glad he sold so many shares even if he was not 100% honest about the reason!

Snobbish metropolitan elitist Gina Miller and her husband Alan are the most batshit crazy Euro loons going and their contempt for we 17.4 million plebs who voted for Brexit is disgusting. However, the two have compiled a dossier on the FCA and its string of failures, many where its former head and now Governor of the Bank of England Andrew Bailey was personally involved. Sadly the Miller's do not mention a website which warned of a number of these failures while the deadwood press were still blowing off those responssible but despite that, I congratulate the deluded duo on a fine piece of work, which you can read below.

Shares in Firestone Diamonds (FDI) are currently more than 65% lower at 0.33p on the back of a quarterly update including “impacted by… power disruption… Lower cash balance at 31 December 2019 of US$17.0 million (Q1: US$21.8 million)”… and “Proposed cancellation of AIM listing”…

At eleven minutes past ten this morning AIM-listed penny-dreadful, to quote poor Malcolm Stacey, Tertiary Minerals (TYM) announced a placing of one hundred million bits of confetti at 0.275p to raise just £275,000 (before expenses) and a shiny new Broker in the form of Peterhouse, which arranged the issue and is set to receive five million warrants at the placing price. Nice work for the flippers – especially since the shares were 0.41p immediately before the announcement and thus the discount was a tasty 33%. And compared to the 0.87p the stock hit in the wake of the ramptastic announcement the day before (awful, as usual) results were released the placees must think it is Christmas.

In my estimations for all the love given to the utterances of Warren Buffett, investors would be even better served by mixing up the thoughts of the Sage of Omaha with the wit of Oscar Wilde. This is because reading today's regulatory news offering by building products company SIG (SHI), I was reminded of the latter's line that 'to lose one parent may be regarded as a misfortune; to lose both looks like carelessness'…

Gold stocks seem to be very much on the radar at the moment, with the price of the yellow metal looking very strong against a back-drop of worldwide concerns over coronavirus and investors looking for a safe haven.

Ariana Resources (AAU) has updated emphasising “record gross quarterly income of US$12.78 million… gross income for the year is US$45.1 million from production of 27,985 ounces of gold, exceeding its full year production guidance of 25,000 ounces”…

This is an easy way for SP Angel to show it really is a serious Nomad. Does it think that Versarien (VRS) boss Neill Ricketts lied about share sales he made? If so will it issue a corrective RNS tomorrow and/or resign? Let me start with two tweets made by Ricketts after he dumped £153,750 of shares on 4 January 2018.

KEFI Minerals (KEFI) has announced the passing of all resolutions at the Tulu Kapi gold project’s joint venture (TKGM) General Meeting, and this having “cleared the way for the closing of the ANS equity subscription”…

Hello, Share Bunnies. You may remember that I often like the look of companies with customers who’re least likely to get into trouble and refuse to pay. Well, Idox plc (IDOX) is hardly like to come across rogue payers as it deals with nearly every local authority in Britain...

Another day, another announcement from fully-listed NMC Heath (NMC) regarding the share shenanigans of its founder and now former co-chairman. Today we learn that the good Dr Shetty appears to have taken out a 7 million share short position and had been using his shares as part of a general pledge to secure a current $30 million term loan! Did we know about this before the start of the year? Er…

I start with the rising flood waters here at the Welsh Hovel, which are now about two or three yards from the bottom step leading to the back door. Then it is onto Coronavirus, where it is starting to sink in as to how bad it could be in terms of fear and our behaviour if not actual deaths. Then onto what filing management accounts means and the question of possible securities fraud at Dev Clever (DEV), which I have flagged up with the FCA today. Then, as per the screenshot below, it is the changing behaviour of Neill Ricketts at Versarien (VRS) and what that tells us about the regulatory hole he is in and why Canaccord quit as Nomad. Finally a comment on Bahamas Petroleum (BPC), its piss poor death spiral and crazy valuation.

Previously writing on remote meetings technology group LoopUp (LOOP), in December it was trading & share price having slumped… guess what “Measures relating to 2018 and 2019 options grants” are? That was after a prior 67.5p share price close – the shares had recovered somewhat to last close at 82.5p but are currently below 60p on the back of a “Trading Update”…

As Dev Clever (DEV) is not on AIM but on the Official List it is the FCA that bears sole responsibility for regulating its activities and which should now be investigating whether the company has committed blatant securities fraud. I have written to the chocolate teapots explaining why an urgent investigation is needed into the company and its directors.

Early this month I noted announcements from Plant Health Care (PHC) which had helped the shares to 12.5p ramptastic and concluded I’d certainly wait and see on “well positioned” – and currently continue to avoid. Now (natch) “Placing and Subscription”…

For all the chatter from certain City folks with degrees in Chemistry, and others, about how a new name and a new management team would transform the fortunes of the Woodford Patient Capital Trust (WPCT), the belated release of the December 31 2019 factsheet shows what a diabolical mess the vehicle now known as the Schroders UK Public Private Trust (SUPP) is in. Is it beyond redemption? Have the City establishment stopped pretending yet?

There will be some who say that shorting a stock because it is exposed to the fallout from Coronavirus and what may well soon be a global pandemic is Tasteless. They probably have no such complaints about going long of a company with a test for the product. I am sure we all pray that this human tragedy ends soon. But the reality is that right now it is growing and, notwithstanding today’s sell-off, many of us reckon the market in certain stocks fails massively to discount the downside risks.

A rough day in the markets as worries about the coronavirus, supply chains and much else linger. If you noted my call that sub thirty quid was a potentially interesting level for Carnival (CCL), I guess today is the day for acquiring a few. Naturally, I will be joining... but onto something more boring…

Are the CFO and NEDs at Versarien (VRS) up to the job? Is it storing up more bad news until the finals? Are its boasted net assets now effectively bogus? Compared to the looming cash crisis, the Nomad quitting, and the unravvelling of RNS lies these might seem less than critical issues but they do matter.