The story of the week is EXCLUSIVE: When Conviviality said it had scrapped its dividend - the proof it lied. Did anyone else other than ShareProphets have this story? Of course not...that we break so much news here when newspapers have editorial budgets that are 10 or 20 times ours is pretty impressive is it not. A very good reason to stump up £5.99 a month to gain complete access to all our material.

Not this one but one I recorded yesterday with my pal the king fraudster Sam Antar who created the original Panama Pump. Sam was on fine form and I shall unleash that podcast in a couple of weeks time but it was awesome.  I pick up on a few themes from it and discuss Ascent Resources (AST), Advanced Oncotherapy (AVO) - read Nigel's brilliant piece, about a company where I own 1 share so I can attend GMs,  HERE - and Strat Aero (AERO). If you like bearcasts then remember that at UK Investor on April 21 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.

A good day for the bears here in New York. First up I walked up from Battery Park to see where I used to work in the black and white era on Wall & Water. It is now being turned into luxury apartments. Anhow, I wandered on past the New York Stock Exchange and, as you can see, the tickers were all red. Then later on it was to meet the King of the fraudsters my pal Sam Antar who, as you can see below, is in relaxed mood. More on that in today's bearcast. 

“Let bygones be bygones” is an extremely dangerous sentiment when it comes to investing and invariably leads to regret and recriminations. It is certainly the wrong sentiment for regulators. It was apparent last year in Telit Communications (TCM), which was given a relatively easy ride by the market after it emerged that its founder and CEO, Uzi Katz, was a fraudster and fugitive from justice.

Completing my weekend mini-series on a couple of (the many) Woodford-owned biotech investments that haven’t quite worked out as he would have hoped, I couldn’t help but notice that hVIVO (HVO)lost about 50% of its value this week so wondered what was going on.

I may have mentioned a few times that I thought Neil Woodford had lost his marbles when he went pretty much all-in on early-ish stage biotech stocks in recent years but although everyone will be aware of the high profile disasters such as Northwest Biotherapeutics and Circassia (CIR), I thought that I would highlight a couple more examples this weekend that hit my radar this week showing how difficult / impossible it can be to pick biotech winners. First up, the business formerly known as Oxford Pharmascience, now Abaco Capital (ABA).

Hello Share Smoothers. There's only a couple of weeks to go to probably the greatest share show on earth at Westminster. And if you haven't got your ticket yet, I humbly urge you get down to it, as there are only a few left. It's as if those folk who thought they'd save £1.50p a week by not subscribing to this tremendous website, think they can make up for their lack of vital info by charging down to London for one day's superb instruction at the UK Investor Show.

UK Investor is acknowledged as the Country's leading one day event for those wanting to make more money from shares with an un-matched all star speaker lineup. The 2018 event is now exactly two weeks away. It takes place on April 21 at the QE2 Centre in Westminster and is now 97% booked out. So grab a free ticket TODAY while you can...

From the FCA's spreadsheet of short positions required to be disclosed to it, the following shows the shorted AIM shares with positions from 2017 and thus far in 2018 (by net short position %) - and if this position has increased (red), reduced (green) or remained unchanged (black) since last week...

Online electrical retailer AO World (AO.) has updated on its year ended 31st March 2018 – this update with a range of analysts' expectations provided…

In October I warned on Defenx (DFX) with the shares crashing towards 60p - “satisfied” with trading less than a month ago… now “materially below” profit warning”. Most recently, in February, it was below 20p and cash burn continues & “actively exploring funding options”, but not to worry… there’s a new “strategic plan”!. Now a Proposed Subscription and Open Offer…

In today's bearcast - recorded in a rush as GSC business awaits in Manhattan - I look at BNN (BNN) after today's shocking news HERE, MySquar (MYSQ), Quadrise Fuels (QFI) and Defenx (DFX). Tootle Pip...more tomorrow. If you like bearcasts then remember that at UK Investor on April 21 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.

When it comes to anything on the operational front amongst smaller companies in the oil sector you tend to pretty much expect some delays and the directors are often over optimistic when it comes to timelines for delivering certain milestones.

Shares in Pebble Beach Systems (PEB) are currently soaring on the back of an update that the company “has agreed headline terms with Santander UK PLC for an amendment to the current Revolving Credit and Term Loan Facilities agreement” and has a new non-executive director…

BNN Technology (BNN) listed by uber spiv Darren Mercer was slung off AIM on 12 February after its Nomad quit. A month earlier the two credible NEDs had also walked without saying why. But there is something BNN did not tell us and it is big...

AIM-listed Minoan (MIN) is one of my two share suggestions for 2018, and I hold the shares myself. This morning it released its FY results to last October: we had been promised them in March, but clearly the concept of under-promising and over-delivering simply hasn’t landed in this particular boardroom. However, there seems to be progress and although still promising jam-tomorrow, it does look as though the fleet of delivery lorries may be on the way (although from an unknown distance away).

HSS Hire Group (HSS) has announced results for its year ended 30th December 2017 emphasising “trading momentum and strategic progress give strong platform to build upon”. Previously updating in February though, I questioned what about the balance sheet?

Hello Share Plodders. My search for shares in companies which do something so boring that some top investors may not have even heard of them continues. The point of the exercise is that companies which are doing well and are likely to be doing even better soon can be undervalued because they creep about under the radar.

Following thus far in 2018, 3rd January; “Significant Contract Wins”, 14th March; “Customer Wins” and as recently as 3rd April; “Customer Wins” - as warned, Corero Network Security (CNS) is now “pleased to announce a conditional placing and subscription to raise approximately £4.0 million ($5.6 million) before expenses”…

As old Jim Mellon is such a good friend I thought I'd have a butchers. Is it because of more problems at the Diabetic Boot Company or is it a cash crisis at SalvarX (SALV) or at Regent Pacific? What is it about this related party nest of snakes that is making investors shun shares in Jim's Port Erin (PEBI)? I discuss in detail. I also look at MySquar (MYSQ) as the fraud skids to a new low, Ecsc (ECSC), the cyber junk play, FastJet (FJET) - another bailout placing ahoy - and old Clem's spoof Online BlockChain (OBC) as it tanks again. And then its RIP Conviviality (CVR), formal notice of wipeout for those who punt on the back of a brokers note and for other investors. If you like bearcasts then remember that at UK Investor on April 21 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.