We own shares in Bluebird Merchant Ventures (BMV) and have done since its IPO. It has been a bumpy ride but things are now going very much the right way and at c3p they are very cheap. Here is Charles Barclay to explain why.

I have made the point before but do so again that not all death spirals - or alternative structured financings or whatever the MBA phrase is - are the same. Some can actually help the share price. Some really shaft shareholders royally. All are created in a way where the provider cannot lose but some are just usurious. Why, for instance, has Angus Energy (ANGS) agreed to a deal this week with Bergen which ensures that its investors will get so utterly rogered that no amount of lube can ease the pain.

Colin Bird seemed to be omnipresent at the UK Investor Show and here he is presenting on behalf of Bezant Resources (BZT).

In this bearcast I look at Avanti Communications (AVN), Watchstone (WTG) and Sound Energy (SOU). The maltese Police were meant to have found Julie Meyer and dragged her to the Courts today where a company where she is the sole director faced criminal charges over unpaid wages. Have they found her or is she, as one Meyer-ologist tells me, back in the UK having skipped Malta midweek. If anyone has any information please feel free to get in touch. 

AIM-listed Tern (TERN) has seen its shares absolutely rocket – they are almost ten times the low-point notched up whilst the death spiral (with an un-named funder) was running. Meanwhile I have been called lots of names by some nice person on twitter who seems to think I am calling the shares short. A pity they are not a ShareProphets subscriber….

The room was packed and I did not hold back one iota. I was nervous ahead of this talk as I knew that it would get a full house and, despite the intervention of my 18 month old son Joshua, I think it flowed well. It is no holds barred stuff on Britain's most conceited fund manager and explains why he is in very deep trouble indeed.

It has been a couple of months since I wrote up my thoughts on UK banking bad boy Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) HERE. The share has basically done nothing in the interim period but today's first quarter update continues the positive operational progress with income up a tad, the net interest margin flat, costs down and capital generation up. There was even a nod towards the scope for a dividend sooner rather than later and the general need for prudence in managing a UK-focused business currently. And the reaction of the shares? Down a couple of percent.

I start at the beginning which is the early career of Eric Schaer, the fraudster in chief, and end at the end which will be insolvency and, I hope, jail time for Eric and the gang. This is chapter and verse on why MySquar (MYSQ) is a 100% fraud and why the employees of Nomad SP Angel are gutless, morally bankrupt, crony capitalists for continuing to act for it. This is no holds barred material. Enjoy.

This week all of the team will tip 1 stock - long or short - which presented at UK Investor on Saturday or was mentioned in a presentation. For paying customers only, eighth up it is Tom Winnifrith.

At UK Investor Show there were six Dragon's Den sessions. As a result of each £3,000 of my real money was invested after each dragon picked one of the 5 companies doing an elevator pitch. In session one the Dragons were me ( Tom Winnifrith), Nigel Wray and Steve Moore.  The companies pitching were: Botswana Diamonds, Gallileo Resources, Bluebird Merchant Ventures, Ariana Resources and R4E.

As you can see below the blog of Julie Meyer's biggest critic. former employee turned whistleblower John Galt, has been suspended. This happened last night and one can only conclude that the web hoster received a stern lawyer's letter from someone. Who do we know who has a habit of sending out threatening lawyers letters to all and sundry in response to factually accurate articles? Hmmmmm. Hint, might the old Bill in Malta currently be searching for this person after she skipped a court appearance? 

Touchstar (TST) has announced results for the 2017 calendar year, including “it is pleasing to be able to report another positive set of trading figures for the group” and that it “has what we believe to be a real opportunity… the upside if we get this right could be considerable”. The shares have currently responded, er, more than 8% lower, towards 60p…

Kerim Sener is the founder and CEO of AIM listed gold producer and explorer Ariana Resources (AAU). He is one of the nicest and most honest guys on the market and I think Ariana shares are cheap. To see what he had to say at the UK Investor Show 2018 watch the video below. Enjoy!

A share I’ve returned to a bit lately is Biome (BIOM). This has not been far from the news bulletins of late. Not directly, sadly, but because of what it does. And the head of steam supporting this activity lurched forward yet again yesterday.

OK, it is only half a bernie but shares in Minoan had been doing well of late. Now it has done a placing at 6p (the shares were 8p yesterday), welcoming new joint broker Cornhill Capital to the Minoan Team. Apparently this is all good news and Christopher Eagleton is pleased to have raised the funds. So that's alright then. Never mind the 25% discount....

Sadly it was not my friend the Foo Man ( Kevin Foo) presenting but a very able stand in, Ahmet Dik, batted for Victoria Oil & Gas (VOG). Enjoy.

Oh dear it is another bad day at the office for Neil Woodford. First up I answer the question posed by Cynical about the great man HERE. Then I look at the disasters one of which told a monstrous lie in its RNS today: Mereo BioPharma (MPH), Mirriad (MIRI) and Hvivo (DOG). Then I look at Concepta (CPT), shares in which we own, Nighthawk (HAWK) and its dead cat bounce and finally at uber ramp Sound Energy (SOU) and what a CPR based on 2D seismic really means, i.e. Jack shit.

As yet AIM-listed Advanced Oncotherapy (AVO) is yet to answer my questions about the Blackfinch loan which is secured on its Harley Street premises and which was due to expire back on 24 March. It has also ignored my questions about the Chinese funding from Yantai Cipu as to whether any funds  have actually arrived with Advanced. These two questions seem to me to be pertinent to Advanced's very survival, but all we have had is a wall of silence. You would have thought the market would get jittery, but out of the blue today its shares are up a whopping 22% (last seen).

There’s been a lot to comment on relating to Woodford Capital Patient Trust (WPCT) recently but with the March portfolio updates for all of Woodford’s funds finally being published on Monday, I thought I should get my updates out as Woodford appears to have been a bit preoccupied to do so with a minor biotech blip and the like.

I am being a bit disingenuous with the above title. Any investor with more than a decade's experience is well-primed to tell you various war stories about the evolving value of financial sector stocks particularly in times of strife. Banks are geared to the business and property cycle and any recent efforts to paper over this reality with yet another layer of compliance/regulation will not ultimately work.