A recommended offer has now been made for “mobile financial services and digital customer engagement solutions provider”, Vipera (VIP) – this following it announced last month that Banca Sella was, “following recent discussions… contemplating making an offer”…

Well it has taken a few months but the sentiment I expressed back in December that Hammerson's (HMSO) proposed takeover of Intu (INTU) was 'shopping centre madness' has finally been agreed with - the former walking away from its bid. The reasons, however, are truly fascinating with the regulatory statement from Hammerson blaming that easy punchbag 'the equity market':

After 16 years of missing targets and ongoing dilution, AIM listed Amur Minerals (AMC) is still nowhere near actually building its mine in Eastern Russia and still does not have a single institutional shareholder. The only folks who still believe in this stock are mug punter private investors and that means the only funding available is via bucket shops or death spirals. Right now it is the latter and hence the shares are in a steady retreat - right now just 4.5p to sell. At this rate, losing 1p a month, the shares will be trending towards zero by the summer so its time to panic and go into mega spoof.

Ascent Resources (AST) has hardly exactly lived up to its name in recent times, as it has been on a steady downwards trajectory for some time now. There's now been an RNS advising of a strategic review and a formal sale process for the company being initiated. Given its situation, I certainly wasn’t expecting the market to take the news particularly well - but the share price rocketed and even as I write this, it is currently 1.1p to buy - up more than 22% on the prior close.

Previously writing on Dialight (DIA) on the back of 2017 results with the shares at 532p, I concluded that the valuation in conjunction with manufacturing issues saw me continue to avoid. The shares previously closed at 524p and there’s now an AGM trading update…

Hello, Share Minders. I predict I'm not the only one still shocked by the news that administrators of Beaufort Securities may, if necessary, be able to arrange for some of the assets in ring-fenced accounts to service a shortfall in costs. It seems odd that the assets of innocent third parties could be forfeit to pay for the failure of others. Perhaps I've misread the email. At least the wording suggests that little has been finalised yet.

Another day passes and still AIM-listed Advanced Oncotherapy (AVO) has not answered my questions, and so I ask again. What is happening with the Blackfinch loan which had a 12 month term starting on 24 March last year, a loan which was secured on the company’s Harley Street premises? And has the company actually received any cash at all from its white knight saviour Yantai Cipu in China?

Having said that it never needed to raise money again when it raised £1.2 million as it committed securities fraud on July 31 2017, MySquar (MYSQ) announced a £2.11 million death spiral deal on March 7 2018. The first £200,000 loan note conversion was announced on April 12 at 1.31p.

I was chatting to Dom Frisby this morning ahead of the Sarries evening tomorrow which is the first part of UK Investor (gold tickets only).  More on that in the podcast where I also look at UK house prices, Ascent Resources (AST), Immupharma (IMM), investing in biotech, PCGE (PCGE), MySquar (MYSQ) and its new marriage from hell and at Versarien (VRS). Tin hat on after that annoying its deranged fans by daring to ask questions. If you like bearcasts then remember that at UK Investor on April 21 - THIS SATURDAY - one of many highlights will be a live bearcast with myself and Paul Scott. Make sure you book a free ticket HERE using the promotional code WINNIFRITH.

Who would have thought it? Frontera Resources (FRR) is forced to reveal that it has a major problem in Georgia after trying to mislead investors that it did not. So what to do? Call in the whore blogger, Fat Bastard Malcolm Graham Wood to claim that nothing is wrong after all. Natch he does not disclose that he is paid to write this shite.

David Hogg was at the Florida school where the state (i.e. cowardly and incompetent police) failed to stop a mass shooting. He therefore demands a ban on guns so that Citizens must be wholly reliant on that same failing state for protection. He is also a foul mouthed and ignorant little shit who uses swear words every other sentence and has been rejected by every college to which he has applied. That is a fact. Hogg is foul mouthed and dumb.

Cornish Estate Agent Chris Wood has exposed numerous of the sharpish practices employed by Purplebricks (PURP) on his own blog and we have republished his incredibly detailed analysis HERE. For his troubles Purplebricks has on several occasions sent him stiff lawyers letters in an attempt to gag him. Now he will blow the lid on much more as our final speaker at UK INvestor Show on Saturday.

Updating in November with the shares at 66p, we noted results disappointment from specialist castings and engineering company Chamberlin (CMH) but that it looked worth holding on ahead of a further update. The shares are currently rising above 70p on a trading update for the company’s year ended 31^st March…

We all like shares that go up a lot but in terms of idea generation I think the biggest fallers list is by far the most interesting.  Near the end of last year I saw that the insurance and travel company Saga (SAGA) shares fell sharply after the company said that its profits would be hurt by a combination of factors including 'a lower level of written to earned benefit and a decline in reserve releases' and investing more into new 'customer acquisitions'.  The net impact was that profits were expected to be 5% lower...but the shares fell over 25%. 

Pelatro (PTRO) was my most recent conviction BUY, when it came to market at 62.5p last December. Still early days but a hugely material contract win announced this morning provides further encouragement in advance of maiden results due out on 1 May.

Bluebird Merchant Ventures (BMV) has updated on ongoing progress at the Gubong and Kochang gold/silver projects – featuring water treatment and metallurgical test work for the former and assays for the latter…

Hello, Share Scoopers. An outfit I was once extremely loyal to, perhaps too much so, is Centrica (CNA), better known to most of us as British Gas. No longer. And if I still had the shares, they would be on my likely-to-sell-soon list.

This really is getting a bore. For the fifth time, I ask what is happening with the Blackfinch loan which had a 12 month term starting on 24 March last year, a loan which was secured on AIM-listed Advanced Oncotherapy’s (AVO) Harley Street premises. And for a fifth time I am asking if the company has actually received any cash at all from its white knight saviour Yantai Cipu in China. But first, there is a question raised by Drunken Sailor.

AIM-listed Ariana Resources (AAU) served up a gold production update for its first quarter of 2018 (to the end of March). This is not the quarterly report for the period, which we are told is due in early May, so it is a little light on details but the production news is excellent.

In this podcast I look at Fronterra (FRR) where I'm vindicated and my twitter pest of the week - a detergent salesman - is now even more out of pocket. I look at Greka Drilling (GDL) and at UK Oil & Gas (UKOG) where Lyin' Steve is now really taking the piss with his 0.4p options. Finally I wonder how close is Totally (TLY) to needing a bailout placing. With Allenby of Servision (SEV) infamy and the chap who assisted Quindell (QPP) at Cenkos on board it has a broking dream team in place. I take a detailed look. If you like bearcasts then remember that at UK Investor on April 21 - THIS SATURDAY - one of many highlights will be a live bearcast with myself and Paul Scott. Make sure you book a free ticket HERE using the promotional code WINNIFRITH.