Previously writing, at the end of 2017, on HaloSource (HALO) it was a trading warning before a latest bailout from Woodford & co even approved. Today sees a further 2018 announcement from the company…

Warren Buffett always tells us that his intended investment holding period is forever, that he buys stocks he would be happy to hold if the market closed down for five years. I guess, then, if you’re  Warren Buffett then the market travails of the last few days won’t bother you. If you’re not Mr Buffett I offer a few thoughts.

When Julie Meyer's Ariadne Capital Limited went bust just before Christmas among those owed millions of pounds were 13 employees and nine former employees. Thanks to Julie's habit of not paying staff and contractors on time, employee turnover has always been high. But Julie is keen that folks do not talk about their experiences and up to sixty ( yes SIXTY) ex staff and contractors face huge penalties if they break Non Disclosure Agreements (NDAs) they were forced to sign. Now one has bitten back, writing to investors on Ariadne Capital Limited as he wants to tell them what really happened.

Time for an update on the tussle surrounding one of the UK's last industrial behemoths. Regular readers will recall I got a bit lucky with one of my tips of the year a month or so ago as GKN (GKN) picked up a bid from business takeover specialist Melrose (MRO). I guess it was inevitable that a newly appointed CEO - albeit one who is pushing close to a classic retirement age - who got the job to help turn the struggling business around would agitate rather than roll over. At the turn of the month GKN was minded to tell its shareholders that:

When SOCO International (SIA) announced a possible merger the market seemed to take the news well, but ever since then the share price has been on the slide and it looks like this could be a good buying opportunity.

Creative media agency and audio-visual systems company MediaZest (MDZ) “is pleased to announce that it has conditionally raised £70,000 (before expenses) through a placing… at a price of 0.15p per ordinary share”. Hmmm, a ‘keep the lights on’ placing then?...

Cybersecurity group Intercede (IGP) has announced a New Contract Award, which it emphasises “is a strategically important project that exploits many of the new technologies Intercede has developed over the last two years”...

Hello, Share Springers. I’m guessing most of us are film fans. Though maybe more of us rely on our big screens at home rather than trogging round to the cinema. It’s this change of many a lifestyle that has hitherto put me off investing in cinema chains. But there is one that seems worthy of our attention now.

Today's bearcast is again recorded with a snoring Joshua but luckily my bad language did not wake him although it is still a bit distracting having an audience. On the agenda:  Mosman Oil & Gas (MSMN), Amur Minerals (AMC), UK Oil & Gas (UKOG), Reach4Entertainment (R4E) - shares in which  I own though I feel well abused for being so loyal - and finally Servision (SEV) where I told y'all but of course the Bulletin Board Morons knew better. They always do.

Spoken word audio on-demand platform company Audioboom (BOOM) has announced a proposed $185 million reverse acquisition of USA-headquartered online audio industry technology provider Triton Digital, Inc. – this following shares in Audioboom having risen from 3.34p to above 3.6p yesterday (hmmm!)…

Itaconix (ITX) states it uses a “proprietary process with break-through economics to produce unique or enhanced ingredients for the homecare, personal care and industrial markets”. ‘Break-through economics’ hey, let’s take a look at its trading update for the 2017 calendar year – with the shares currently ‘breaking-through’ an 18% decline on the back of it…

Whilst fat bastard Malcolm Graham Wood is paid to ramp shares in Frontera Resources (FRR) by making claims that cannot be verified, the City's No 1 oil analyst Zac "the Knife" Phillips is impartial and, to say the least, not impressed. In his email to clients today the SP Angel guru opines:

I was never taken in by Rita Whittingham's supposedly game changing deal for Magnolia (MAGP) with Western Energy Development. I saw it as nothing more than a way of creating a 29.9% shareholder who would save her miserable skin at an EGM called to oust her after she had stuck her talentless family on the payroll as she mismanaged the company to death. Some were more charitable, such as the City's No 1 oil analyst Zac "the Knife" Phillips of SP Angel, but Zac has seen the light and today sticks the boot in with the shares at 4.65p (post consolidation) and thus still firmly in the minus 99% club. The Knife opines:

Despite the multitude of cheesy ads on the TV begging us to book a holiday I use this regular slot for yet another confession: I have never been on a package holiday. To be honest, I doubt if I ever will...but fortunately the UK economy rolls on consumption preferences far different than my own. Which brings us to the recent comments by both Thomas Cook (TCG) and TUI (TUI), both big players in the travel market.

I took a lot of abuse on twitter recently. My crime, it appears, was forwarding a negative report on IQE plc (IQE) which seemed to me to raise some important questions about the company’s accounting treatment of two joint ventures it had established.

The Bulletin Board knockers and, we are afraid some of you, were predicting a Christmas profits warning from Sosandar (SOS). Oh ye of little faith. The trading statement covering December and January is absolutely stunning. The headline is that net revenues (sales minus returns) exceeded management expectations.

Who's followed the likes of Geong International and co in 'Geong, Geong' and then Gone? Who's in the 'Geong, Geong' stage and what does the 'Filthy Forty' look like now?...

Hello Share Shavers. One of my all-time big successes has been Creightons (CRL), the pocket company which does things to make your car smell better, fake suntans and so on. It wasn’t much more than a penny a throw at one of its darkest stages. Then the City finally woke up to its sterling performance and the share reached 45p. But you have to know when to say enough is enough and I sold a large lump of my shares at 43p. I wish I’d dumped the lot because they fell to 24p.

At the weekend we updated on performance of start of 2018 top shorted London-listed shares. At the commencement of the year we also showed Shorted AIM shares at the start of 2018. Following the recent 'crash', how's also their performance?...

It reminds me of the opening scenes at a big tech conference a few years ago.  The compare asks the first speaker: tell me a bad technology joke. The guy says "Julie Meyer" and the audience bursts out laughing.  Anyhow, for today's comedy from the crumbling empire and you really could not make this up...