Tom was absolutely correct in yesterday’s Bearcast to observe that the news late Wednesday/early Thursday that Carnival plc (CCL) “has priced its previously announced underwritten public offering of 102,139,621 shares of common stock of the Company at a public offering price of $9.95 per share”, was not the greatest. Somehow the shares are still up in July…but we will not mention the year-to-date or last three-year performance.

Previously updating on the UK’s largest pawnbroker and a leading retailer of new and pre-owned jewellery and watches, H&T Group (HAT) we concluded that we continued to look for further news flow to drive a return to an above 350p share price. The shares have now reached further higher than that.

Thursday was a busy day with a thousand (and one) corporate names reporting and the European Central Bank finally seeing common sense and raising interest rates after 14 years to (wait for it!) 0%. What a world we live in… And talking about the excitable world out there brings me back (again) to Ocado (OCDO). Last month - despite being an occasional user – I noted it is still bonkers that the grocery technology name has a c. £6.5 billion market cap (even if it continues to sign various global deals). What did Ocado’s first half 2022 numbers say yesterday then? No surprise it is still talking about losses (and hopes for the future).

I am, after all, an expert on divorces and failed marriages. But this one failed even before the two made it to the altar, as Pires Investments (PIRI) shareholders rejected an all share merger with TERN (TERN). I salute them. I look at why this deal failed, the logic behind it for Tern (TERN), viz an escape, the logic for Pires - arguably the right strategy but the wrong target - and where both go from here. I make Pires an offer it should accept, if it is to consider any more M&A activity.

As it promised, the fraud Supply@ME Capital (SYME) is launching an open offer to qualifying morons (oops, I meant shareholders) at 0.05p, to raise up to £320,855. Natch the statement contains outright deceptions and misrepresentations, but also shocking news on the sub scale loss making asset manager, Tradeflow. The misrepresentations first.

Hello Share Takers. One wizard ploy when contemplating ways of making money from a falling market is to research companies that should benefit from the various crises now besetting the world. One such issue is the rising price of food. Which leads me to a futuristic outfit called Agronomics (ANIC). 

I refer to 5 year old Joshua and explain. Then it is onto Carnival (CCL), Guild ESports (GILD), MyHealthChecked (MHC), Red Rock Resources (RRR), Predator Oil & Gas (PRD), Parsley Box (MEAL) and S4 Capital (SFOR)

Osirium Technologies (OSI) “is pleased to announce a new contract… represents 8.9% of the total bookings achieved by the group in 2021 and reflects the continuing trend of increasing average contract values from the new clients closed in 2022”. With the company describing itself as “a leading vendor of cloud-based cybersecurity and IT automation software”, what of a current 8.7% higher share price response to 6.25p?

I commented before that the proposed takeover of AIM-listed Pires Investments (PIRI) by AIM-listed jam-tomorrow investment company Tern (TERN) reminded me of Tom Winnifrith’s image of two drunks trying to prop each other up, as neither had any money. Today we learnt that they had fallen over each other and were lying in a heap on Paternoster Square.

After 40 years in the markets Jim Welsh combines charting ( i.e. believing in gibberish) with fundamentral analysis. I forgive his youthful naivete.

As you sweat in your place of work trying to earn an honest crust, think of the banksters who list so many crap AIM and Standard Listed stocks for you to lose money on. What are they doing today? It seems that at least one has now decided what sort of champagne to swill and as he rests at his luxury Cornish second home, Mr Andrew Monk of VSA Resoiurces has time on his hands and tweets of his arduous day ahead.

Dramatis Personae: The Mail on Sunday, a low grade rag whose financial pages ramp any scam going in return for scoops ( see Neil Woodford), Ben Harrington, a “journalist” close to fraudsters like Rob Terry and other colourful characters who will publish stories that suit the fraudsters and colourful characters which may or may not be true, Audioboom (BOOM) a grossly overvalued and overhyped tech play – see HERE – and Robert Bonnier a speculator whose share dealings have been a source of controversy for 23 years (see HERE). Today Audioboom served up shocking news.

Previously writing on Franco Manca and The Real Greek restaurants company Fulham Shore (FUL), in December with the shares at 16.75p I questioned whether the ‘ahead of expectations’ justified the valuation. The shares last closed at 11.5p but are currently up to 12.5p on full-year results, so what’s the situation now?

Previously writing on beauty and personal care products group Brand Architekts (BAR), last year with the shares at 157.5p, noting trading challenges from responses to covid and pressures on disposable income, I retained the cautious stance that had served well here. So what of a latest trading update today?

Sacked from his last job as the boss of WPP (WPP) for allegedly visiting a £300 an hour West End brothel and sticking the tab on expenses, Sor Martin Sorrell’s new venture S4Capital (SFOR) has been doing very well until today’s shock profits warning. But it is the nature of the admission that really horrifies me.

AIM-listed member of the Woodford disruptive revolutionary front, Eve Sleep (EVE), has updated the market this morning on its formal sale process and trading. The news is not good and I suggest that anyone holding shares here is truly certifiable.

Hello Share Faneroonis. I can’t think of a better time to bring today’s selection to you attention. Water Intelligence (WATR) is an enterprising outfit that conserves water, often in fire-threatened locations. It saves water by using the latest science to seek out leaks and put them right. This has always been vital work. But in these fiery days, it’s essential.

I wrote recently about Fevertree (FEVR) whose shares are now heavily down. I have closed and will not gloat because I was kind of right for the wrong reasons.

I end with a few thoughts onb your fires back in Blighty and the relative lack of fires here in Greece and what it says about the global warming scam some folks are pushing. Then dividends, ADVFN (AFN) and Royal Mail Group (RMG). Then Morses Club (MCL) and Optibiotix (OPTI). And I admit to being bored with gold. What does that tell you as I am a real gold bull?

Describing itself as “the owner of The Scotch Malt Whisky Society, the leading curator and provider of premium single cask Scotch malt whisky and other spirits for sale primarily online to a discerning global membership”, Artisanal Spirits (ART) has announced a half-year trading update and the shares have currently responded 11% higher to 60.5p. So what’s the excitement?