Last week I revealed that the man who was to take Versarien (VRS) forward in the USA, Patrick Abbott faced two new charges of fraud which could see him going to jail for 20 years and that his lawyer had quit. Abbott, a man whose skills will be "invaluable" to Versarien according to boss Neil Ricketts, responded on twitter saying this was fake news from TW. Oh dear. The indictments are below, Patrick you are a liar.

A bit of a 'same old, same old' feeling to today's crop of regulatory news statements and Whitbread (WTB) is indicative of this. I said back in February that the owner of Premier Inn had a plan – and I think that remains the case. Or as it put it…

News yesterday from BlueJay Mining (JAY) continues to underscore my view that the company needs to carry out an extensive capital raising exercise in order to progress on its Dundas field in Greenland. The word on the street is that it is sounding out mugs about a placing at 5p a pop.

After a couple of days of relatively light redemptions, Neil Woodford is once again facing a wall of demands for cash out of his Income Focus Fund (WIFF). Data from Morningstar this morning shows that whilst the NAV per accumulation unit put on a measly 0.01%, the fund dropped heavily in magnitude yesterday: redemptions are back in spades.

Hello, Share Fans. I don't know why I hang onto my Tesco (TSCO) shares. Maybe it’s because I dumped my Sainsbury (SBRY) stock and want to keep some kind of toehold in British supermarkets. And Tesco seems to be faring well among its British rivals when it comes to holding off the tough foreign competition.

Maybe someone at the FCA has been reading our four years of groundbreaking Neil Woodford exposes after all. This afternoon its boss Andrew Bailey has written to Nicky Morgan MP with detailed information and the shock revelations that the FCA was monitoring toxic Neil from April 2018 (but did nothing) and that Woodford is now under a formal FCA investigation over the suspension of his flagship Equity Income Fund. The letter also reveals that the banks have now pulled the plug on EIF's "emergency overdraft" which has been utilised for 18 months as a "temporary measure."  The leter is in full below.

In today's podcast I look at Union Jack Oil (UJO), Sound Energy (SOU), Westminster Group (WSG), PCG Entertainment (PCGE), Bluejay (JAY), why Nigel Somerville is, today only, wrong about Neil Woodford, Future (FUTR) and Staffline (STAF).

Self-styled “fintech software provider of financial solutions including blockchain-based digital assets and traditional financial trading solutions for retail clients”, TechFinancials (TECH) has (eventually) announced 2018 calendar year results, noting “trading in second half adversely impacted by tightening regulation… but with considerable progress away from the historical business model to new products and technologies…We are confident about the long-term prospects of the group and will continue to invest for the future”…

As is so often the case with oil and gas drills amongst the smaller companies, private investors built expectations around West Newton up to such a level that the actual results were never likely to live up to that.

Managed services and technology-based security solutions group Westminster (WSG) has updated including “trading for 2019 has started on a strong note with both order intake and revenues ahead of budget… over the next few months and years we have an opportunity to achieve unprecedented growth from the prospects we are pursuing” – and the shares have currently responded to 8.5p, more than 40% higher…

In a bearcast last Thursday I discussed the complex relationships between IP Group (IPO) and disgraced Neil Woodford. They stink and IP, at 74p capitalised at £784 million, will be dragged into this scandal and that alone makes it a toxic investment. But there is a bigger reason why this company is a compelling short...

Another results statement from construction-related equipment hire company Ashtead (AHT), which I last wrote about back in December. To cut to the chase, my basic advice is the same; as I noted back then…

Business software, cloud and managed services group K3 Business Technology (KBT) “is pleased to provide a trading update for the six months ended 31 May 2019” and it commences; “The group continues to progress well, with the benefits of transformation initiatives coming through across all key areas of activity, and the board believes that K3 remains on track to meet current market expectations for this year”… “although”. Uh oh…

The numbers from Morningstar this morning show that Neil Woodford lesser hound, the Income Focus fund (WIFF), was once again suffering significant redemptions yesterday. Surely the end beckons.

Once upon a time, with its shares at 82p, Sound Energy (SOU) was valued at c£500 million. But no institutions were backing it, this was just a ruthless private investor ramp. It worked but you cannot keep plates spinning forever and drill failures in Italy and Morocco brought the shares crashing down. Today there was a final kick in the gonads for the mug punters suckered in by CEO James Parsons and others.

Hello, Share Meshers. With respect to my brainy colleague Chris Bailey who seems to think that investing in tobacco companies is ok, I do not invest in anything which says on the packet that it might adversely affect health. But there is now a more pragmatic reason to consider for avoiding shares in tobacco companies...

Sorry for the late podcast but I have spent most of the day renovating another room in the Welsh Hovel. I may post some pictures later but it is far more entertaining than even writing about Neil Woodford's woes or Julie Meyer's lingerie. In today's podcast I look at Thomas Cook (TCG), Audioboom (BOOM), Kier (KIE), Staffline (STAF), Dev Clever (DEV) and the Woodford Patient Capital Trust (WPCT), where, of course, I remain a loyal shareholder. Ho. ho. ho.

Having promised to raise funds in May, OsloBors-listed Thin Film (THIN) has finally got around to launching its tin-rattling exercise. But having been promising funding by the end of May (having admitted that it did not have sufficient funds for the year), the last we heard (on 31 May) was that it was in the process of finalizing details of the forthcoming equity issue to secure adequate financing which drew a cynical response from me. Well, the truth is out now…..

Having failed to get shareholder support to cancel its AIM admission last year, now a “Settlement of claim and Cancellation update” from MBL Group (MUBL)...

Purplebricks (PURP) screws  a large minority of customers by taking a fee and then failing to sell their property. As it burns its cash, shareholders are getting screwed too. To complete the hat-trick it seems that it is also screwing its staff. Just look at the employee reviews below. This is not, I suggest, a recipe for success.