It would be churlish not to concede that if the aim of Cineworld’s (CINE) £3 tickets on Saturday was to pack cinemas, then the company succeeded. I am hearing numerous reports of packed theatres and even of some folks being turned away as all seats were sold out. Assuming that the folks buying the tickets gorged on diet Pepsi and sweet popcorn as is the norm, then Cineworld will have been profitable this weekend just gone. But … 

I noted yesterday that FY results from sub-Standard-Listed AIQ (AIQ) were due today. To leave one’s results to deadline day is of itself at Red Flag, but a brief nose through the numbers what a horrific shambles has been made of this VSA Capital/ Andrew Monk IPO from 2018. Fortunately, ShareProphets readers were warned right from the off.

Hello Share Pickers. When a company goes for a hundred years growing, you can expect your investing money to be a bit safer than it might otherwise be. Segro (SGRO) is a property company that began in the roaring twenties as Slough Estates. It develops and invests in property located in the UK and Europe focusing on business space at the edge of town.

Tomorrow will be four months since Eurasia Mining (EUA) announced that its supposed “Buyer” had completed due diligence for its supposed asset sale.  It’s two years and four months since Eurasia first announced that its assets were up for sale and yet still, shareholders have no idea what assets are for sale, what the sale price is, who the supposed Buyer is or when a sale might complete.  Given that Eurasia is mining in Russia it should come as no surprise that its share price has collapsed since my last update – down another 36% since then, a total decline of 64% from the 40.5p share price peak in November 2020.

We are (almost) at the end of February and the world appears to have changed very much for the worse. So how are my five slam-dunk sells of Tern plc (TERN), Trafalgar Property (TRAF), URU Metals (URU), Barkby Group (BARK) – all on the AIM Casino – and AIQ (AIQ) of the sub-Standard List doing?

The deadwood press, notably CityAM, really seems to have it in for its former columnist Julie Meyer, dredging up “revelations” that appeared on this website months and years ago as new examples of her unwillingness to pay debts as they fall due. In response to this sewer plagiarism, Ms Lingerie on Expenses has hit back with the tweet below. As ever she is bonkers.

Bullion manager Stephen Flood says his company is seeing a lot of demand due to inflation concerns. The broader consumer base is not interested in buying gold but he expects this will change. He claims that we’re seeing seven percent inflation and it’s likely much higher. It’s not going to take long for money to halve in buying power.

Here are five long reads that have nothing to do with shares. Put the kettle on, find a comfy chair. You have the time, don’t you? 
 

Two stocks to talk about today.  You may remember back in December  I observed about McColl’s (MCLS) after observing plans for change – and a troubled balance sheet – at the convenience shop and newsagent operator, ‘whilst I am going to keep watching this one, I am not buying today’. That was smart as the shares have fallen from c. 10p when I wrote in December to about 7p on Friday. 

Grab a cup of tea, sit back, and test your knowledge against the other ShareProphets members. Write your score in the comments, there are no prizes, and most important of all – no Googling!

These are the most-read articles and most listened-to Bearcasts of the week. The most-read article non-Tom article is Postcard From Montana As Gold Blasts Higher and Putin Blasts Ukraine by Nigel Somerville at number six or number 11 including Bearcasts.

Standard-listed Panther Metals (PALM) had a wild ride last week. Given that it is a Gold explorer and the yellow metal had a wild ride too, that is not a surprise. But Panther’s share price movement was the exact opposite of what was going on in the world’s yellow backstop currency.

Yes it is Mrs Darren Winters and I’d send the snake oil salesman to the salt mines of Rotherham too.  I have spoken to a £35,000 victim this morning and this really is a stain on UK financial services that I hope the FCA will finally act on after 25 years of doing nothing. I explain why I hope they might.

Developer and manufacturer of touch sensors for use with electronic displays in industrial, self-service and public access equipment, Zytronic (ZYT) was a September tip here and a share price fall in the last month has looked harsh to us. The company now clearly seems to think the same.

Forget Ukraine it is not the real driver of the bull case for gold. Analyst Keith Weiner explains what is and why the makes him a gold bull.

When Mr Leo Malkin of Crowe UK performs his audit of the fraud Supply@ME Capital (SYME) he will be required to perform an audit of the accounting for the acquisition of sub scale asset manager Tradeflow Capital including the valuation of the assets and liabilities acquired and the fees paid to its advisers.  I have helpfully set out below some questions he should be asking. If he doesn’t I shall be asking the FRC to investigate his conduct. I have flagged this matter up with the FRC already.

The big news this week was, of course, the Russian invasion of Ukraine. It is horrendous, and once again my thoughts are with those in the firing line. The market’s initial response was to mark up Gold and oil/gas, and sell everything else. But then a recovery set in – although I am not convinced it will last.

Hello Share Jumpers. Most of the time the stock market is erratic and illogical. But there are periods when it behaves with precision predictability. Like the thankfully rare occasions when a war breaks out. The path is nearly always the same. 

I start with events in Ukraine and possible peace and where that leaves some Russian owned stocks.  Then I turn to Ncondezi (NCCL) and then a detailed explanation of why today’s Versarien (VRS) analysis matters but also why the cash crunch is coming far sooner than most morons realise and the next bailout for the loathsome Ricketts will not be pretty. And then I ask where next for gold and oil prices and stocks?

Previously writing on Studio Retail Group (STU) earlier this month I noted hopefully my warning of “funding crisis ahoy” last month was heeded as now it’s ‘Intention to Appoint Administrators’!. In that I noted ‘the major shareholders include Frasers Group (FRAS) of Mike Ashley (in)famy (28.89%), Schroders (18.94%) and Lombard Odier (11.26%) – and what odds of Ashley now buying this out of administration with nothing for smaller shareholders?’. Today a “Sale of Studio Retail Limited”-titled announcement…