Have you ever looked at iomart (IOM)? I am sure that many of you would think that a ‘Scottish information technology and cloud computing company which provides managed services from data centres and offices across the United Kingdom’, would be in a great industry for the 2020s.  However it is facing a few challenges out there as Friday’s 17% share price fall showed (and hello a 44% year-to-date decline).  So what is going on?

Okay, it’s the final day of the weekend. Grab a cup of tea, sit back, and test your knowledge against the other SharePropgets members. Write your score in the comments, there are no prizes, and most important of all – no Googling!

When I commented on AIM-listed URU Metals (URU) at the end of August, following the “disposal” of its Zebediela nickel asset to TSX-V listed cash shell (with no cash) Blue Rhino, now Zeb Nickel (TSX-V:ZBNI) the shares were 405p and I said sell as it was an accident waiting to happen. By mid-September they were down to 320p and I still said sell. Now, following after-hours full year results to March, slipped out at no-one-is-watching o’clock on deadline day (never a good sign) – and showing it had net current assets of MINUS $1.5 million – the shares are down again, to 270p – and in my view they are still monstrously overvalued and a sell.

The top non-Tom article this week is The View From The Montana Log-Cabin as Gold Tests Nerves And I Beat the Rush to Stockpile Beans by Nigel Somerville at number 1 or number 2 if you include the Bearcasts.

I have a few words on Malcolm’s article of earlier which, by definition, makes me old according to him. Pot. Kettle. I talk about the general mood of insanity. Then, in that context, I look at the Optibiotix (OPTI) vs Skinbiotherapeutics (SBTX) debate. Should one short one and go long the other as PL has suggested? I discuss what I am doing and why.

Life sciences compounds developer OptiBiotix Health (OPTI) has announced results for the first of calendar 2021, emphasising “sales of LP_LDL and SlimBiome of £1.076m, a 44.5% increase over H1:2020… pleasing given the continued uncertain global economic environment and challenges of the subsequent waves of COVID-19, particularly in countries like India and the USA”. The shares have currently responded slightly higher, to 50p.

In the last week shares in Cineworld (CNE) rose 25% from 66p to 83p, adding around £230 million to its market cap. To put that number in perspective it represents more that its entire profit before tax in 2019, the last full year without Covid.

The Gold price rose a little this week to $1761 from $1751 a week ago despite at least short term fundamentals being against it. Interest rate expectations are for rising rates, bond yields have been rising and equity markets haven’t cracked: the immediate outlook isn’t all that great for Gold, but it’s hanging in there.

Following half-year results from Jadestone Energy (JSE) recently, we noted the financial improvement despite challenges and that with the growth potential suggested the 77p share price too harsh an appraisal. There is now a “Montara H6 well successfully brought onstream”-titled announcement and the shares are further higher.

Having asked for readers tips for 2021 for the prize of 1/2 litre of Tom Winnifrith’s Greek Hovel olive oil (2021 harvest) HERE, the following is an update on performance as at the end of September (to be eligible needed to have selected, on a once per username basis, a buy & sell pick from the LSE or AIM casino and the stocks not to have been suspended at the commencement of 2021)…

Hello, Share Bashers. This old punter has an illogical leaning towards picking companies with eye-catching names. For example, I once bought more shares than I ought in a firm called Sleepy Kids. Older readers will remember it was a studio which made very imaginative cartoons. Budgie the Helicopter was one popular title.

Previously writing on online electricals retailer AO World (AO.), in April with the shares at 323p I wrote a lockdown winner… but now to be a share price loser?, concluding with also demand concerns as lockdown measures are eased and economic realities start to bite, at anywhere around the current valuation I’d still sell. The shares last closed at 217.4p and today a “Trading Statement” – and the shares currently more than 20% further lower!

Jeepers, the answer will shock you but is a reminder that Fleet Street does read this website avidly.  In the rest of the podcast, as my son spends the day vomiting I discuss a work life balance that is becoming increasingly daft. Then I head back to work looking at Ariana Resources (AAU) where I disagree with Nigel and probably lose another friend (Kerim Sener),  Chesterfield Resources (CHF), Boohoo.com (BOO), AO World (AO.), Parsley Box (PUKE), Mercantile Ports (MPL) and Primary Bid and what it needs to change.

It should not be me contacting the Oxymorons at AIM Regulation about this it should be Nomad and broker Cenkos Securities and Primary Bid which raised money at 0.45p per share on August 19, putting their clients into this serial dog. Indeed, Lagos Securities should be considering whether, in light of today’s share suspension, it can continue to act as Nomad for Mercantile Ports and Logistics (MPL). I believe that should be resigning at once. I have written to the Oxymorons as you can see below.

As things stand at 69p, we are 289% ahead on this share tip but there is much more to come. SkinBioTherapeutics (SBTX) has announced its probiotic food supplement to help alleviate the symptoms of psoriasis, AxisBiotix-Ps, is to launch on 29^th October, following highly positive results from its consumer study in May and key commercialisation activities since.

Very wisely, big Dave Lenigas stepped down as chairman of the company he founded on 30 July leaving his buddy Andrew Monk in charge.  That the company’s adviser and broker on London’s standard list is VSA Resources run by er…. Andrew Monk is obviously not a conflict of interest at all. Anyhow, it is all ending in tears as an RTO underway for two years has hit the buffers and the company appears to be insolvent, What’s not to like?

As African Potash (AFPO) this company was booted off the AIM Casino after its Nomad quid when discovering – thanks to me – that the company had told grotesque lies to get placings away, it had committed fraud. Chris Cleverley, cousin of leading Tory James who is no longer claiming he wants to buy West Ham, then took Potash to the Aquis lobster pot, changed its name to Block Commodities (BLCC) and carried on telling lies to investors for which the company was censured and fined, after I pointed this out to regulators. Could it get any worse? You bet.

I keep being promised a call from the chimpanzees that claim to manage Primary Bid explaining why it was prepared to raise cash for Mercantile Ports & Logistics (MPL)  at 0.45p on 19 August. Here we are, just six weeks later, and the shares have been suspended at 0.3p to sell. At this point will Primary Bid finally accept that its due diligence process for client take on needs a dramatic overhaul.

The Mrs was doing a seminar yesterday on data analysis. I doubt it was half as good as this classic from her husband given to the woke morons attending Bath Spa but she challenged their preconceptions on covid an a very entertaining way. Which profession has suffered most covid deaths per thousand?  The students said nurses. The answer is, of course, security guards. Take back those pay rises for nurses whose average wage (more than £33,000) just a few years into the profession is already more than the UK national average wage.  Anyhow back to our hero Tim Martin…

AIM-listed URU Metals (URU) – the firm which prefers to mine its own shareholders rather than anything in the ground, according to Cynical Bear – slipped out its full year results to March last night at 5.35pm on deadline day. Truly, this is no-one-is-watching o’clock, but ShareProphets was watching and the numbers are – again – horrendous.