Shares in BOS Global (BOS) a company teetering on the edge of insolvency and where the Nomad has already announced it is walking now trade at 0.85p-1p. Beware: broker Peterhouse is trying to do a placing at as little as 0.1p. I have written to Peterhouse in the spirit of the season as you can see below.

Another bad day at the office for Britain's most conceited fund manager Neil "nomates" Woodford. There is yet more bad news at Vernalis (VER) now 9p having collapsed again - Nomates has been a big cheerleader after all prior disasters saying Mr Market is wrong. Whatever. Then there is the issue of IP Group ( IPO).  Elsewhere I takje another look at IDOX (IDOX) where I am even more bearish and then at Tungsten (TUNG) which looks all wrong. I also comment on Dialight (DIA) , The People's Operator (TPOP), On Line (ONL), Milestone Group (MSG) and a chat with Mark Slater on a pub company which is just the wrong price. 

AIM-listed Minoan MIN) has issued a Trading & Financing Statement at 1.41pm. Happily, it does not look like a howler - good news there! Sadly there is no deal involving Cavo Sidero  - we will have to wait a bit longer for that. But we do get an update on its loan to Hillside and on trading at its travel agency, and we are told the preliminary results are expected to be in line with market expectation.

AIM-listed Tern plc (TERN) seems to be a good few steps ahead of fellow AIM-listed UK Oil and Gas (UKOG) in the self-inflicted terminal slide as a result of signing up to a death spiral funding package. Indeed , on the day Tern announced the deal the shares collapsed from over 5p to under 4p. They now languish at 2.625p mid: Impressive stuff – unless you are a shareholder.

Not just a contract win, but a “Significant Contract Win” announcement from Corero Network Security (CNS). Ooooh. With results for the first half of 2017 having shown an increased loss of $4.8 million on revenue only slightly higher to $4.8 million – and this following a more than $8 million loss, even on an adjusted basis, for the 2016 calendar year, what’s the “significant contract” detail?...

Previously writing on Safestyle UK (SFE) just over 3 months ago, it was hopefully my warnings were heeded as now a “material” profit warning. Despite slumping to below 170p, I concluded that until there are at least signs of some stability, I’ll certainly continue to avoid. Now a further Trading Update…

There are two things I know about 2017. The first is that I had not one but two inaugural trips to a Sports Direct (SPD) store (and survived) and the second is that the omnipresent but embattled retailer should have been my tip of the year the thick end of a year ago. However in this world we must look forward and that brings me to today's first half profits at Mike Ashley's emporium.

That Larry Cummins of Black Cactus is a proven liar is now widely accepted. What is stunning is that AIM listed Milestone (MSG) whose entire market value is based on the belief that a deal with Black Cactus is worth something has failed to comment. Maybe the Securities & Exchange Commission in the US will force its hand.

An “Update on VAT Claim and Share Buy-Back” announcement from competitions to win luxury cars company Best of the Best (BOTB). This includes that the company intends to conduct buy-backs of shares for cancellation “as and when they become available at volumes and prices that, from time to time, the Board of BOTB considers appropriate”. So a good tax update then? Er…

In recent weeks I have talked about some lunatic M&A (Cineworld's US bet, Hammerson/Intu), but today I am going to talk about some good M&A. The trouble with investment banking lunacy is that just once in a while a good deal slips in with all the dross ones - and I want to put the acquisition by Wood Group (WG.) of Amec Foster Wheeler last year into that camp.

Hello Share Combers. It’s that jolly time of year when our minds drift towards being entertained, rather than doing any work. Though you probably agree with me that the two weeks before Christmas are incredibly stressful, given the joint burdens of festive preparation and working as usual. So let’s have a look at a big name in film and tv production...

At every opportunity Paternoster Resources (PRS) reminds of the vast discount to NAV at which its shares trade. Surely in such a scenario it should sell just a few shares it owns and then do a buyback of its own shares thus increasing NAV per share even more? Er...no.

My day has been messed around big time as I explain. Notwithstanding that I discuss Avanti Communications (AVN), React (REAT), Plant Impact (PIN), Forbidden Technologies (FBT), IDOX (IDOX) and Purplebricks (PURP)

Writing on a “Year End Trading Update” from information management software and services company Idox plc (IDOX) last month, I concluded continuing to lack confidence here, I continue to avoid. Having headed towards 50p, the shares had since been recovering slightly… but are currently heading towards 40p today on the back of a further ‘year end update’…

Previously writing on Plant Impact (PIM) in the summer, I concluded the need for contract discussions currently “to revise the structure of the company's contract with Bayer… to reduce current stock levels in the market, the company has agreed to cancel early season shipments” sees me view promised jam tomorrow here even more sceptically than normally… I continue to avoid. Today there’s an “Update, Strategic Options and Formal Sale Process” announcement from the company. Uh oh…

Broker VSA - which is house so not impartial - has published a deatiled research report on Columbus Energy (CERP) explaining why the shares, at 5.4p, are worth 26p. It writes:

To date Optibiotix (OPTI) has signed six deals each worth £250,000-500,000 per annum in gross revenues to it. We do not know when exactly they start to kick in, although some have done so already. But we know that there is enough there to ensure that PLC costs of c£1 million a year are well covered in calendar 2018 and so the company will record a profit. Now comes news of the seventh - and biggest - deal to date.

Avanti Communications (AVN) the drowning in debt satellite operator, has today admitted that if it does not restructure its borrowings it would be unable to service them. Hence there is a shareholder near wipe-out debt for equity swap planned.

Our 7.75p to buy tip of last month, Goldplat (GDP) has updated on “good progress… on all areas of strategic focus” and “is pleased to announce… formally agreed on an arbitration process for the recovery of the amounts owed” (by Rand Refinery)…

Having been a successful constituent in the Nifty Fifty portfolio, profits in touch sensors company Zytronic (ZYT) were taken earlier this year at 480p. The shares did continue heading higher, but are currently down to 500p to sell on the back of results for the company’s year ended 30th September 2017…