UK 15:34 Friday, 23 October 2026
Breaking news and expert analysis on fast-moving AIM and LSE listed shares
Disclosure: I have no positions in any stocks mentioned, and no plans to initiate any positions within the next 72 hours. I wrote this article myself, and it expresses my own opinions. I am not receiving compensation for it (other than from ShareProphets). I have no business relationship with any company whose stock is mentioned in this article.
It is not a good start to the week for MX Oil (MXO) as it has essentially confirmed my £2 million at 1p placing article from Friday. It is reshuffling the board, now considering asset sales, its shares are slipping and its moronic shareholders blame it all on Tom Winnifrith and are stating on twitter and on various chat room asylums that they are reporting me to the FCA.Where does one start?
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Comments
Duck and Dive
The MXO SP fall must have been caused by insider selling – or flipping by scumbags who knew they would soon be able to buy back their shares at a big discount. This is a crime. And it is a crime with plenty of victims since the mugs who don’t know what is going on are landed with the losses while the crooks fill their pockets. Whether MXO was party to this crime is a moot point. Often it’s a stitch-up by the broker – and it can leave the issuer high and dry, as in this case where the SP has fallen below the nominal value so a consolidation will now be needed if the equity fundraising goes ahead.
While those who profit from these capers will argue that their clients wouldn’t be able to raise cash without insider flipping, nothing can justify a crime. So if a company must go under if the laws are adhered to, let it go. It must anyway be a POS if it can’t survive within the law.
I hope that ShareProphets blows the whistle on an increasing number of desperate smallcap fundraisings. Maybe then it will become the norm to suspend the shares before such discussions begin. That won’t be welcome news to AIM’s unprincipled leeches – or some desperately skint POS issuers – but it will be a big step in the right direction for AIM’s credibility and for all the punters who demand a level playing field.
Some PIs will lose out as their POS investment goes under sooner rather than later; but the majority will be able to invest in AIM companies with less fear and with renewed confidence.
Drunken Sailor
Why did they duck the Front Puffin issue? They must have known that the news was out there that she is still in Singapore and therefore at least 6 weeks away which on a best case puts first oil in Mar not the Dec previously announced.
All they said was: “the expected near term commencement of oil production at the Aje field, offshore Nigeria.”
Why not come clean and say it had been delayed, why it had been delayed and when it was now expected – they were more than happy to give more precise timings back in Oct. I do not think the delay has anything to do with MXO and probably had more to do with finding a buyer for the AFREN stake. Maybe who ever bought the AFREN stake is interested in seeing if it can pick up MXO’s stake for a pittance too. I understand MXO have to make a $1m payment on first oil as well as their other commitments that are due soon. No wonder there is desperate ramping smearing and denial going on in BBM land.
D & D it is a capital reorganisation that is needed to lower nominal ie a share split. This is normally followed by a consolidation. To do that they would need to call an EGM and the share price would tank straight away. It is bad enough that the company would even consider doing a placing at 1p, which would reset the conversion price on all those recent CLNs and lead to massive future dilution. If they were to place at an even lower price, having done a capital reorg, that would be even more mega dilution from the CLNs if they convert.
I suspect there may well have been significant forward selling. The forward sellers would still be up for a placing at 1p as they have already flipped and will find themselves with a naked short if the placing does not go through. Will the company bail them out by doing a smaller placing with them at 1p, resetting the conversion price on the CLNs to 1p in the process? Shame on them if they do and you will know that the directors do not give a shit about ordinary shareholders or shareholder value.
BRITTA
ASX require suspension before a company starts to discuss a potential fundraising. An excellent approach imo and one AIM could readily implement.
Drunken Sailor
MXO going to place below nominal! The placing will be conditional on shareholder approval of a capital reorg. Will shareholders accept the dilution? It is not just the placing but the lowering of the conversion price that will bring massive dilution leaving existing shareholders with about 25% of the company for the sake of £2M to go ahead with Aje, which is not economical. If you can’t afford everything you want, then cut out the things you want least until you get to what you can afford. Screwing your shareholders is not the answer.
How much forward selling has gone on here? Is another NEW situation brewing. Is the company blundering ahead to save the blushes of forward sellers? What is the involvement of Cornhill of NEW debacle infamy in all this?