Hello Share Stripers. As predicted, British shares tumbled on the outbreak of the sad war in Ukraine. But as the war progresses, history suggests initial falls will be followed by gains. However, the time frame for a turnaround is unknown. And there’ll always be individual shares that will fall and rise more than others. Putin’s war could still diminish some shares, even as the majority of stocks start to recover. So what sectors are most vulnerable?

I start with a look at wider stockmarket sell offs in the UK, US and especially Germany and what we – who will all be down – should be doing about it. I warn that if you go full bear you could be burned when most shares spike or rebound as will happen at some point. I comment specifically on the frauds Chill Brands (CHLL) and Supply@ME Capital (SYME) and on Ukranian hookers and fake news and also on Ten Lifestyle (TENG). And I discuss pen Orphan (ORPH) vs Braveheart (BRH), the saintly Cathal Friel vs the spiv chancer Trevor Brown. It is all to do with returning capital or not.

Verici Dx (VRCI), a developer of clinical diagnostics for organ transplant, has announced a placing of “at least £10.0 million” at 35p per share, stating it “intends to use the net proceeds of the fundraise to… continue the accelerated progress the company has experienced to date”. So what of currently a 4% share price fall in response?…

Ten Lifestyle (TENG) describes itself as a “leading technology-enabled, global concierge platform for the world’s wealthy and mass affluent” . It is also a great believer in talking about adjusted EBITDA, aka bullshit earnings, begging the question of whether it wants to fool investors or itself. Today it blames Omicron for a “profits” warning.

Lucian Miers warns me that sentiment could change very quickly and so he’d be nervous of shorting Petropavlovsk (POG)at 1.52p with a £60 million market cap. But this company could be a zero for one of two reasons. Let’s start with the biggest shareholders:

I last wrote to the FCA as regulator, no sniggering at the back, of the Standard List, about the almost insolvent fraud that is Chill Brands (CHLL) on 31 January, just five weeks ago when for a second time I flagged up how it was deceiving investors with sales announcements that are bogus. Npw it is a 3^rd strike on this count and the FCA needs to suspend trading in Chill shares pending an enquiry and sanctions against its management team and advisers Allenby. I have gone to the head of enforcement Mark Steward with the letter below.

OptiBiotix Health (OPTI) has issued a trading update commenting that 2021 “total invoiced sales for the group were £2.2m (2020: £1.5m) an increase of 46.7% on the previous year and in line with market expectations” and including that it “has made good progress against its stated aims of focusing on a smaller number of large partners in key strategic markets and expects to see the benefits of these in 2022 and beyond”. What does that mean at the bottom-line?

Oh dear. Oh dear. Oh dear. Just when you thought things could not get any worse for the fraud Chill Brands (CHLL) they have. A trading statement signed off by adviser Allenby is a total shocker and exposes more deception by a company heading rapidly towards insolvency. Surely the FCA must, this time, act? If it does it is a quick death. If it does not the cashcrisis means it is still a fairly quick death.

Recent Income recommendation Rio Tinto (RIO) has announced record results for 2021 and that it is “targeting disciplined investment in commodities that will see strong demand in the coming decades”.

The only weakness in the bear case against Supply@ME Capital (SYME) , the only thing that made me doubt, if not for long, that it was a slam dunk fraud was its October appointed chairman Jim Coyle who had a creditable CV and looked utterly kosher. Today he quit with immediate effect.  Chairman do not walk out after just a smidgeon over four months unless there is something horribly wrong.

Hello Share Bunnies. Let’s look at a company with an unusual name that’s been appearing on the daily winners list lately. Kin and Carta (KCT) is one of those outfits that gives support to companies that want to keep up with the opportunities presented by an ever-complicated technological business world.

X-ray imaging company Image Scan (IGE) has announced a “New Industrial Customer”, emphasising the customer is a automotive catalytic converters and diesel particulate filters “significant player… with a global manufacturing footprint” and “there is potential, over the next few years, for further orders”. So what of a current share price rise in response to 2.25p?…

I refer to this blow-off piece in the wretched Mail on Sunday, sharedealings by the chairman the next day and alleged bid interest at Audioboom (BOOM). Surely something is wrong here? I discuss  the Europa (EOG) fund raise and what the real discount – not the pretend discount referred to in today’s misleading RNS – actually means for all small caps.  I look at the shock DotDigital (DOTD) warning and what that says about earnings visibiity generally and would I bottom fish that one stock? Finally I ask if oil proces are close to peaking and if one might bank a few profits?

With inflation and possibly stagflation now back with us for the first time in forty years what differently are you doing with your investments/pensions? Nothing is not the rifght answer.

Early this year we showed the top shorted London-listed shares at the start of 2022. How’s the performance (those in bold remain from 2021) as at the end of February?…

AIM-listed jam-tomorrow IoT investment company Tern plc (TERN) announced yesterday that it is to participate in the Sure Valley Ventures UK Software Technology Fund, to the tune of an initial £90,000 and a total of £5 million over the next ten years. So where is the money coming from as the deadline for converting Tern’s first round of warrants in Wyld (due at the end of the month) ticks down to an inevitable discounted bucket-shop placing?

Previously writing on marketing automation and customer engagement software group dotDigital (DOTD), only in January with the shares down to 160p I concluded there was still a premium valuation and that the latest share price response suggested an exceptional performance needed to maintain the share price, sell/avoid. The shares last closed at 149p and on the back of half-year results are currently… below 80p!

AIM-listed Barkby Group (BARK) has announced the completion of a clinical study by Verso Biosense, a minority shareholding of the company. There were, natch, no numbers from this missive from a lookalike of the Adam Reynolds keyboard, so it is hardly an RNS released to inform shareholders…..but then, it is an RNS Reach.

IGas Energy (IGAS) has been performing well recently in terms of the share price, but following the latest trading and reserves update it has taken a bit of a hit and pulled back more than 14%.

AIM-listed Mediazest (MDZ) announced its full year results to September this morning and the numbers were a horror show. The shares are 18% down as I write, to 0.0775p and there is every reason to expect them to fall further.