I’m sure some investors must have wondered what the directors of AIM listed oil and gas outfit Highlands Natural Resources (HNR) had been smoking when they announced yesterday that they were diversifying into cannabis!

In today's bearcast I take a very detailed look at IQE (IQE) and explain why the shares are worth 40p max, potentially half of that. I also cover Blue Jay Mining (JAY), Yourgene (YGEN), Tomco (TOM), Cloudbuy (CBUY) and F40 member POS Walcom (WALG). If you enjoyed this, I think, profanity free bearcast, follow a bloke from the Grim North who donated enough to buy a whole house in the welfare safari and support the Rogue Bloggers for Woodlarks HERE.

Surface Transforms (SCE) has updated including “we are pleased that current shareholders continued to support our strategy to become a series production supplier of carbon ceramic brake discs to the large volume original equipment manufacturer automotive market. We look forward to the future with confidence”. This from a “£1.9 million placing” announcement…

Recently Argo Blockchain (ARB) announced a “Strategy Update” including “as a result of the challenging conditions, the company has ceased accepting new mining subscriptions and will terminate all existing mining-as-a-service contracts by 1st April 2019”. Particularly not good as the company only listed in August 2018! – that at 16p in an IPO our own Tom Winnifrith stagged (unsuccessfully); by the time of the noted announcement the shares had fallen to around 3p – but they have now recovered a bit and there looks a good chance of more to come…

After a bunch of polarised press articles which focused on her gender and nationality just as much as her operational performance, the Kingfisher (KGF) CEO Veronique Laury is off - after reflecting that the next stage of her 'One Kingfisher' programme is apparently best handled by somebody else. Many would appraise that whilst the ideal of her 2015-launched corporate effort was initiated with the best intentions (focus ranges, simplification), it has been a dog's dinner of strategic application. Certainly the difficult economic backdrop for any company with big DIY brands such as B&Q and Castorama (in France) has not been exactly perfect...but for every challenging big picture economic aspect, there have been some positive aspects such as the Bunnings self-implosion in the UK or the continued positive structural development of the Screwfix brand...

I warned you that Tomco (TOM) was pumping ahead of a placing. Some poor saps ignored that advice and paid up to 4.5p per share earlier this week. I hope they lubed up well as this morning £600,000 was raised at just 2.75p. Ouch! But this money will be pissed away just like all the other monies this POS company has raised. The City's No 1 oil analyst, Zac "the Knife" Phillips of SP Angel is damning in his morning email to clients. The great man opines:

AIM-listed jam-tomorrow investment company Tern plc (TERN) has released its FY18 results. Last year’s numbers were full of holes and I thought it pretty clear that it needed more cash, even if the auditor thought otherwise. But the Tern rocket went into full gear, the shares raced ahead and it got its cash. Now the shares have again crashed back to earth, changes have been made to accounting matters and Device Authority seems to have been downgraded – although its valuation seems to equate to sticking your finger in the air! But it is the same old jam tomorrow story and not enough cash...

Hello, Share Twirlers. Having just reminded myself that the p/e I have for Royal Dutch Shell (RDSA and RDSB) is a mere 11, I think it may be time to look at this giant company again. It was at least two years ago that at least one big bank was opining the B shares worth 2800p, yet, after posting much bigger profits since then, the price still languishes at around 2400p...

Pot is clearly the new blockchain. Whatever. I do not pretend to understand this insanity. I am just too old.  Anyhow the latest Primary Bid offer is from Highland Natural Resources (HNR) and if you want to play you can do so here.

In today's podcast I explain why Julie Meyer has spurred me to battle on, though I do consider calling it a day now and again. I look at Quindell (QPP), London & Capital Finance, Neil Woodford, and flag up that the FCA has opened or stepped up an enquiry into another company I covered in some detail. You can speculate which, more details when Winnileaks comes good.  I look at Red Emperor (RMP), IQE (IQE), Verseon (VERS) and Blue Jay Mining (JAY). If you enjoyed this, I think, profanity free bearcast, follow a bloke from the Grim North who donated enough to buy a whole house in the welfare safari and support the Rogue Bloggers for Woodlarks HERE.

Apologies for missing it on Friday, but it turns out that there was yet another disaster for Neil Woodford on Friday as its Norwegian play revolutionising the world of chip and PIN, Thin Film (OB:THIN), announced a strategic update and corporate restructuring after hours. Uh-Oh……a strategic review! No wonder he was in such a bad mood as he lashed out at critics offering false analysis and fake news.

We have warned you time and time again that Blue jay Mining, the stock promoted shamelessly by disgraced share promoter Old Mother Michael Walters and SP Angel's John Meyer on the basis of bogus "imminent" offtake deals was one to avoid like the plague. The shares are off by 20% today at 9.1p and, a reliable City source, says that investors are being sounded out about a material placing. But at what price?

Previously writing in December on women's clothing and accessories retailer Bonmarche (BON) it was “extremely poor” sales, though argues “confident in the strategy” & “well prepared to weather the storm”. Really?. Today a further “Trading Update”…

Things are moving rapidly in the collapse of the London & Capital Finance  ponzi scheme, which fleeced 14,000 punters – mainly pensioners – by offering high yield bonds -   and which ShareProphets has done so much to expose, as you can see HERE.

Neil Woodford dog, AIM-listed Netscientific (NSCI) seems to have been forced to put out a statement over its investee PDS which merged with Nasdaq-listed Edge Therapeutics (EDGE) and the combined entity is now listed as PDS Biotechnology (PDSB). 

Wood Group (WG.) is having a volatile day and is down over 7% as I write. The share is still however the thick end of ten percent above its low point for the year...which goes to show you the material natural level of fluctuations in the oil services space. Still, with the oil price heading north again year-to-date I would have expected more especially - as I last recounted HERE - Wood Group has plenty of self-help scope resulting from the Amec Foster Wheeler deal of a little over a year ago...

It is a Proactive interview so the questions are not exactly taxing. But the ansswers given by Steve O'Hara of Optibiotix (OPTI) are illuminating. "The majority" of partners are now generating revenues. This company has signed almost 30 deals. That tells me that the massive ramp up in sales in H2 of last year will continue and indeed accelerate in H1 this year and beyond so full steam ahead. I reckon the shares are a buy at the current 84p and at up to 90p and see the shares motoring ahead to 125p+ in short order. Note what O'Hara says about the pipeline of announcements.

Dear, oh dear – every time we get an announcement from AIM-listed project management and technical consultancy purveyor WYG (WYG) the news seems to go from bad to worse, and hats off to Steve Moore for his unremitting bearishness on this. The latest news is that the banks have agreed to waive the 31 March covenant test (which the company had previously warned it would fail) but the 0.6p dividend per share - which was declared on 4 December 2018, payable on 4 April - has been cancelled. How embarrassing is that?

Neil Woodford has today spunked £7.5 million more of his investors cash in a £7.7 million placing by joke company Verseon (VERS). It is a cynical and seedy waste of other folks cash which shows the moral rot that has set in at the heart of the crumbling empire of Britain’s most disliked, failing, fund manager.

Hello, Share Scorchers. In Jordan, where I’ve just met some of the friendliest people in the world, probably the main export is potash. If you thought this was a fairly unimportant mineral, you would be wrong. Potash is important for agriculture because it improves water retention, yield, nutrient value, taste, colour, texture and disease resistance...