Luke Johnson will be among the star speakers at UK Investor Show 2018. Those with a golden ticket will also get to hear him in conversation with Nigel Wray at the Saracens evening the Wednesday beforehand - that will be a battle of the pizza men, a real treat - more details HERE. In his Sunday Times column last weekend he echoed my post-election gloom about how we entrepreneurs should feel terrified - HERE. It is brilliant stuff. Frankly Luke is THE reason to buy the Sunday Times. Luke opines:

Hello Share Smudgers. Companies which manufacture plastic bits and pieces have done rather well in my bag in recent years. But one I have not so far touched, yet ought to do so soon, is Carclo (CAR).

As I write a couple of thousand protesters are marching through London demanding, inter alia: an end to ethnic cleansing in London (could have fooled me), an end to cuts in public spending ( don't let the facts spoil the story) and that Mrs May's useless Government be overthrown ( how democratic). So why are you not on the demo?

Is the UK consumer completely shot? For the last year we have had a waxing and waning in views from 'the experts' on this. The reality is that it depends who you talk to but, biggest picture, what is needed is a great product, attractive marketing and a base underlying need. I last chatted through the Whitbread (WTB) investment case in late January, where I concluded that the stock was still worth a punt...

A “Major Supply and Support Agreement” announcement last week from Starcom (STAR) saw me question how ‘major’ is it?, as well as noting, as the shares soared above 2p, “sufficient loan facilities are available to cover its cash flow requirements” came before a warning last month of order delays. Now surprise, surprise…

I am pretty much finished here in Greece as I explain in the podcast. And as such I start the journey home tomorrow to spend time in sun-drenched England with the Mrs, Joshua and - of course - Oakley, my utterly pampered three legged cat who is, I gather, now being given iced water to cope with the heat. In this podcast I look at Barclays (BARC), the SFO and the nature of fraud. I look at Thor Mining (THR) where events disgust me and at Ariana Resources (AAU) where I am dissapointed and less accepting than Nigel Somerville is.

There is clear evidence that Mercantile Ports & Logistics (MPL) has misled investors ahead of raising vast amounts of cash on the AIM Casino. Its Nomad Cenkos Securities (of Quindell infamy) appears unconcerned as long as it keeps banking the fees. When this company unravels and goes to zero as it surely will, the shameful way that Lagos Securities has brought the casino into disrepute by ignoring stacks of red flags shown to it, will surely leave it in the merde. A shareholder who happens to be a ports industry specialist has written to Cenkos’s representative for Governance matters Amber Wood (ccing in PR specialist Redleaf which also acted for the Quindell fraud). The damning letter is below. It is truly shocking...

The term “Special Situation” has often been used as labeling by the marketing teams of funds as a means of attracting added investor interest in some of their funds where a strategy to invest in a “Special Situation”…….well sort of exists.......the actual fact is, the discovery of true “Special Situations” that offer real opportunities for investors to gain an advantage because of the “Special Situation” rather than the underlying fundamentals of the equity in question are actually not so easy to come by. Which leads me nicely onto Solo Oil (SOLO) and Helium-One.

Previously writing on Kin Group (KIN) earlier this month I noted well that didn’t take ‘kin long; hits bailout funding share price limit – and, thus, a reliance on the funder retaining a “current intention” to subscribe for the remaining tranches of the loan notes. There is now a “new contract - NHS Trust” announcement...

AIM-listed CyanConnode – Cyan to its friends – (CYAN) again looks set for a fair ride the wrong way after Beaufort Securities drew the red pen to its speculative buy note. It is now flat – a plain hold – which to normal people means sell. Of course, Beaufort was until recently a broker to the company, but that obviously has nothing to do with it. Beaufort states:

AIM-listed Advanced Oncotherapy (AVO) has announced the latest death spiral on steroids conversion by Bracknor: £400,000 into 1.6 million shares. But with the shares sitting a country mile below the 25p nominal price they have to pay £190,000 back. That works out as 11.875p per share and thus means that Bracknor gets its new confetti at just (effectively) 13.125p. Not bad, bearing in mind that the lowest daily VWAP came in at 15.79p.

Surface Transforms (SCE) has made an “Operations, Customer and Pre Close Trading Update”, including that a German OEM is “now expected to introduce the company's products earlier than expected - on racetrack cars - in 2018” and “the company is now in full production, on all processes, at Knowsley”. However, other news is far from positive…

Hello Share Swipers. Quite a few insurance policies of mine have been taken over by one firm which seems to flood the market these days. I refer to Aviva (AV.), a firm which knows a lot about generating cash.

HaloSource (HALO) “is pleased to confirm that the company has raised approximately £1.8 million ($2.2 million) through the issue of an aggregate of 117,692,560 new common shares to new and existing investors at a price of 1.5 pence per new common share”. I bet it is…

I thought I would pause before commenting on yesterday’s RNS from Xtract Resources (XTR) relating to the Manica alluvials as I felt it was odds-on that more dilution would come from one source or another following the ramping off the back of it. Surprise, surprise, Yorkville cashed in and announced a loan note conversion today, but let’s take a closer look at the announcements in any event.

The underlying problem with Milestone Group (MSG) is that it is a crap business that never generates any cash. Thus in order to keep CEO Deborah White in the lifestyle to which she has become accustomed and to keep paying crony capitalist advisers such as shamed PR firm Walbrook (Eden, Fusionex, Advanced Oncotherapy etc) it relies on bailout placing after bailout placing with shareholders seeing value destroyed every time.

A blast from the past yesterday as I note that the Singapore-based investor, Epsilon Investments, has acquired 10 million shares in Toople (TOOP). As Epsilon’s history shows, it really is the modern day patron saint of lost causes, AIM’s very own St Jude; although I wonder if it recently had a very narrow escape.

Well that solves that: a big placing and a very disappointing 1.3p price tag to boot. So what to do now? 

Condor Gold (CNR) has still to inform its long suffering investors of the enormous opposition it faces on the ground as it tries to develop the La India gold mine in Nicaragua. Perhaps it is because CEO Mark Child knows that his company is acting like fascist bullyboys in the way they deal with poor local peasants. Child's actions probably impress his offshore based asset stripping millionaire mates but in the wider world the mood is changing and robber capitalism is not so cool any more. So what is overpaid and underperforming Mark not telling you?

Few, other than the clowns such as Marcus Stuttard at the LSE, can argue against AIM having delivered absolutely dreadful returns for investors. Since its launch the AIM Index is down by 5.4% (dividends included). The FTSE 100 has doubled over the same period and the FTSE Small Cap Index is 250% ahead. Actually the numbers are even worse. Strip out a handful of massive winners like ASOS and Domino's Pizza and the AIM Index is into double digit losses. But are private investors who have born the brunt of this wealth destruction now getting revenge with spate of attempted boardroom purges? Yes and No.