Mercantile ports & Logistics (MPL) shares rocketed by 66% on Friday to 8.125p on the back of an upbeat statement from a company which we have exposed (see HERE) as serial liars.  Perhaps amid the celebrations I might offer a few thoughts on the most important part of the jackanory:

The last Adam Reynolds placing was Skinbiotherapeutics. The next one is Orogen Gold  (ORO)where the company is raising money ahead of an RTO which will see it become an online retailer. I already held shares but we are quadrupling the size of our holding in the next placing. We are in big time.

Unfortunately a lot of early stage media and technology companies can look to have huge potential but then fail to really live up to expectations, and I think that has definitely been the case with Gfinity (GFIN).

It is all very well saying that tiddly little companies like Advanced Oncotherapy (AVO) or Eden Research (EDEN) are worthless cash guzzling frauds heading for 0p but they are just very hard to short. That both stocks will hit zero is a given. In the end frauds always run out of other people's money. What you want are stocks you can short which look almost certain to collapse. And right now you need them badly as a hedge. A hedge against what?

Like the AIM Market itself, there are aways an array of losers to choose from in the Bulletin Board Moron of the week.  Well actualy (TW here) that is yet more fake news from Darren. It really is time to fire him again and so he can go make up stories with his fellow Trump hating money tree worshippers at The Guardian or the BBC. There were only two entries last week. Come on folks surely you can supply more this week? Tell you what i shall offer a prize. Anyhow last week's winner was: 

Spot gold has spent the past seven months in a tight trading range between $1,200 and $1,300 per ounce. Given the stored force inherent in such a trading pattern (Figure 1, below), history suggests a breakout, whether up or down, is likely to be characterized by steep slope.  The question remains, which direction will gold follow? Sprott analyst Try Reik reckons the major breakout will be on the upside and explains why in the detailed note below.

Having asked for readers tips for 2017 for the amazing prize of a meal with Tom Winnifrith (or the chance to fob it off on someone you don't like) HERE, the following is a monthly update on performance (to be eligible needed to have selected, on a per username basis, a buy & sell pick from the LSE or AIM Casino and the stocks not to have been suspended at the commencement of 2017)...

This week's Bulletin Board Moron contest is sponsored by the AIM Markets, the world's most successful growth market, now only slightly smaller than it was last year.

There is no doubt that ex Provident Financial (PFG) boss Peter Crook was a grossly overpaid and useless CEO. The £40 million he trousered in ten years is obscene given the share price collapse and nature of his departure last week. I have noted before that fat cat bosses give capitalism a bad name and allow those who seek to undermine the only way to make the world a better and more prosperous place to attack we capitalists. Idiots like Theresa May play to the gallery in joining in.

I certainly don’t wish to gloat at the recent misfortunes suffered by many of Neil Woodford’s investments, but the sorry spectacle provides some useful insights into the role of human nature in investing and business in general.

Genel Energy (GENL) has been one of a number of mid-tier oil and gas companies which really took a hit during the slump in oil prices over the past few years, and had seen its share price decimated as a result.

Following my piece back in January highlighting this sad tale for the shareholders of 365 Agile (365), I couldn’t let it leave AIM without an appropriate send-off despite, and actually because of, the fact that MXC Capital (MXCP) would much rather this whole debacle would fade away quietly into the night.

At the start of June I was highly critical of the opaque nonsense emanating from BOS Global (BOS), particularly around the Call Design deal (HERE). To its credit, it provided some answers and clarity at that time; however, since then my list of questions arising from the RNS’s has started to grow again so here’s my Bank Holiday weekend quiz for Michael Travia.

Usually I comment on the most popular stories of the week, and the ones that were not read as much as they should have. But today I was going to tell more lies about President Trump and then smear Robert Lee like every other brain dead liberal Metropolitan elitist and finally the patience of Tom Winnifrith has snapped. If Darren wants to write fake news he can fucking well quit and go work for the fucking Guardian.

One of the reasons for picking on companies issuing bad news when everyone has gone home is that they hope no-one will notice the profit warning/awful results or other bad news. In short, they are trying NOT to be transparent. And so to the competition result for after-hours on the Friday before the August bank holiday, and it is rather good news.

I’m going to try to write a few pieces over the Bank Holiday weekend with transparency (or lack of it) as a core theme and I will start with a positive story about Snoozebox (ZZZ), which put out a great RNS this week in more ways than one.

Rick Rule of Sprott is perhaps the world's best known resource imvestor. He feels that recent negative sentiment in the gold market may be a good contrarian indicator. Gold has maintained its strength this summer in the face of general economic complacency. The mining industry itself has become the financier of choice to high-quality juniors. There is a quiet confidence amongst large investors that is astonishing. This sort of investor has replaced the generalist hedge fund. Capital that is patient and knowledgeable is replacing capital that is ignorant and short term oriented.

It seems that Roger Lawson of Globo and blinkx fame is not impressed by my suggestion that he is a bull of Purplebricks (PURP) and that it might therefore somehow be jinxed. But in a couple of after the pubs opened O'clock comments here last night he focusses the mind on what a select group he himself belongs to.

Another day sees another piece of good news from Optibiotix (OPTI) with the shares again ticking higher, to 72p, on the back of it. There is a lot more news in the pipeline, a lot more blue days to come in the next few weeks and months. So where are we now? Let's start by dispelling a myth or two.

Evil Banksta is an occasional writer here and is evil because he really is a banker by profession. As such he does know about banking covenants, the relationship between corporate borrowers and lenders and that sort of thing. As such his comments on Telit (TCM) really are damning and merit a wider audience. Before we get to Evil Banksta I am just flabbergasted by why CEO Yosi Fait has not been fired.