With shares in SpaceandPeople (SAL) slumping from a 1st February 15p close to just two days later a 10p close, the company still don’t bother to make an announcement last week. It has now eventually got round to doing so, and the shares are currently at 12.25p. So what to make of it?…

Back in December I observed that Johnson Matthey (JMAT) had fallen out of the FTSE 100 and “it might not be one of my top two tips for next year, but it probably makes the top five and that most certainly makes it a BUY”. Part of the rationale for doubling my shareholding in the 204 year old ‘multinational speciality chemicals and sustainable technologies company’ is that I bought during the early COVID-19 fear days at a share price of below 2000p. That worked well until – as mentioned late last year – there was a bit of share price volatility, ultimately taking the shares from above 30 quid a year ago to about an 18 quid share price now. I still think though there are many reasons for holding this share in 2022, and that brings us to today’s 31 page ‘Clean Air: delivering sustainable cashflow’ presentation by the company…

My views on the state of the economy as a result of Covid are well known – which is why I have piled a large chunk of my cash into Gold-related investments. And that brings me to this morning’s news from Great Portland Estates (GPE, formerly GPOR) of the FTSE250, which is apparently up a whopping 33% on a trading update. Is it too good to be true?

Amigo (AMGO) has today given us an update on the scheme of arrangement which will, almost certainly bit not certainly, eventually see nineteen new shares issued for every one now in issue. Whatever happens, at 3.58p the shares are monstrously overvalued.

One year and one month after Wildcat Petroleum (WCAT) lied about having raised £600,000 and took its place among the worthless joke companies on the Standard List, its long promised RTO of an E&P asset is still nowhere to be seen. However, nearly all of the money which did come in after spiv investors flipped the shares they had been issued without paying for, has now been spunked. Cash is now well under £200,000 so serious spoofing is needed.

Hello Share Fans. There’s little doubt that companies which service the NHS should be able to benefit from more government spending on the medical world. Hospitals will have more funds and so will GP’s. And that’s jolly good news for a company I’ve mentioned before called Primary Health Properties (PHP).

I start with KPMG and another scandal but the real scandal is the way it deals with its employees who are fraud enablers by act or by omission or both. Then onto the Methodists and why its stance on Rio Tinto (RIO) is, I suggest, not what Jesus would have advocated.  Moreover it highlights how ESG driven investing has created valuation anomalies on both the long and short side. Finally, THG (THG) and PE bid speculation. 

Gold ended the week at $1808 – so still around the $1800 mark. It has been here for what seems to have been an eternity. Yet at the same time, whilst the yellow metal has held firm, gold stocks have been selling off and silver has slipped back to $22.50, having been as high as $24.50 only a couple of weeks ago.

It was a busy last week and it is going to be a busy next week too.  Such is this time of the year.  It’s all good fun.  Particularly entertaining – no doubt – will be the conference calls after full year updates from GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) and Unilever (ULVR).  Sensibly the former is splitting up its business, whilst the latter really should be considering it a bit more.  It will be enjoyable to listen to and react to (after all I own a bunch of shares in GlaxoSmithKline).  But today I wanted to talk about Rio Tinto (RIO)…

I previously covered the ignominious delisting of Rutherford Health, formerly Proton Partners, from the Aquis lobster-pot. But I fear the denouement for this Woodford favourite has only just started, as a quick trip to Companies House shows and for those left holding the baby – the remains of Neil Woodford’s Equity (lack of) Income fund (now LF Equity Income Fund) and Schroder UK Public Private Trust (SUPP) – there is surely more bad news to come.

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? 
 

We are just over a month into the year: how are my Slam-Dunk Sells for 2022 doing? My portfolio of disaster for this year was Tern plc (TERN), Trafalgar Property (TRAF), URU Metals (URU) and Barkby Group (BARK) of the world’s most successful growth market and, from the sub-Standard List, AIQ (AIQ).

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 talks about an article from Private Eye, so make of that what you will. The most-read non-Tom article is Catching Up On My Gold Shares As Sentiment Nose-Dives: Centamin, Panther, Ariana and Golden Prospect by Nigel Somerville at Number 2 excluding bearcasts.

Ahead of West Ham vs Kidderminster and Wales vs Ireland I am obviously rushing to get things done. But this is a full length Bearcast covering Kefi (KEFI), Love Hemp (LIFE) and Powerhouse Energy (PHE)

UK North Sea and Malaysia hydrocarbon producer EnQuest (ENQ) has published an Operations update, noting that it delivered free cash flow of around $395 million in 2021 with a realised price of c.$69/bbl, resulting in a stronger balance sheet with net debt reduced to $1,222 million and that net production averaged 50,810 Boepd last month. Good news? You bet.

Without making a specific call, analyst John Roque makes gutsy bold points worthy of note and the short equities/long gold long energy stocks short tech thesis is at the core of what Roque says.

Sports, leisure and mobility equipment group Tandem (TND) has announced “FY21 profit before tax expected to be well ahead of the prior year and slightly ahead of the current market expectations” and that its order book “remains materially ahead of the comparative position in the prior year”.

Writer Jesse Felder warns that equities have NEVER been more overvalued but that gold offers a … golden opportunity to get rich

Hello Share Churners. The news is full of vulnerable folks stricken by the rising cost of living. This can give share shifters like us the heebie jeebies. We expect that the whole country will be unable to spend very much because the cash needs to go on bigger bills for electricity, gas, petrol, council tax, national insurance and food. Well, sadly many lower income folks will find it harder. But they were not the ones spending on non-essentials, anyway.