I start with the disaster in my study where I am recording as you can see HERE. Then I look at Remote Monitored Systems (RMS), Amur Minerals (AMC), Kefi (KEFI), Dispersion Holdings (DEFI) and Argo Blockchain (ARB).

Having already admitted that it was going to run out of cash, the only questions are when will shamed Remote Monitored Solutions (RMS) do a placing and how massive a discount will the bucket shop spivs demand to get it away? To that end one can expect a stream of ramptastic RNS announcements using the Adam Reynolds keyboard and which often contain lies. Here is the first one today and it seems to have got the morons creaming themselves with joy even though this is, in fact, Remote announcing the same thing for a second time. If you needed evidence of just how dim shareholders in this company are….

Canadian and Aquis listed Yooma (YOOM) has today bought the leading British CBD brand Vitality for, depending how you look at it, £8 million or £10.2 million. The read across for the valuation of Chill Brands (CHLL), the fraud formerly known as Zoetic, is a disaster.

It is far from being a quiet Friday in August. And whilst there is plenty of scope to chat about the commodity sector given the excitements in China, once again I find myself wanting to comment on the UK grocery and related sector. 

We are told that company directors need incentives – you have to pay for quality! Often this involves handing out share options “to align directors’ interests with those of shareholders” but often they are anything but. Often, the options are free and thus offer directors a one-way bet with no upfront cost (or risk) involved. As a general thing I dislike options – they dilute me as a shareholder and directors are well paid enough anyway – but they are a fact of life. However, options packages can be structured in such a way as to leave plenty in it for shareholders and this morning’s announcement from standard-listed Gold explorer Canada and Australia Panther Metals (PALM) seems to tick all the right boxes.

Hello, Share Screeners. When all shares are falling, it’s the ones that buck the trend that fill you with most confidence. There’s just been a big stock market fall, apparently fuelled by renewed fears about the Delta variant. Or maybe it’s just the usual trader’s trick of producing a big fall, so stock can be bought more cheaply. One share which rose despite the odds though was Capita (CPI).

Tonight’s offer from Primary Bid is Mercantile Ports (MPL) at 0.45p. If you register for Primary Bid through us (and please do so here), we earn a small fee each time you take part in an offer. Notwithstanding that, I suggest you do not take up this offer. This is a bargepole stock, a company that should have been slung off AIM years ago as it is a disgrace to capitalism. I have written to Primary Bid.

AIM-listed Gold and Silver producer in Turkey Ariana Resources (AAU) has released yet another round of drilling results – this time from the Karakavak area of the Kiziltepe sector. It does seem that the joint venture with Proccea and Ozaltin, of which Ariana owns 23.5%, is going flat out to prove up more resource for the Kiziltepe mine.

I discuss two developments at the Welsh Hovel. There is great news HERE but also a bit of a disaster which could have been fatal for the cats and bad for me. Then I look at backing proven failures or chaps who wave red flags mentioning Sensyne (SENS), Nigel Wray, me and a few others. That leads me on to the wall of silence from Central Copper Resources about its AIM IPO and me explaining what is really going on, notably at broker Brandon Hill. Finally I look at today’s news from Skinbiotherapeutics (SBTX) and where, as a result, I expect its shares to be at Christmas.

Previously writing on manufacturer of plastic and paperboard packaging Robinson (RBN), in June I reviewed sales growth… so why significant share price decline? with the shares down at 112.5p. They last closed at 122.5p, but what now of half-year results which currently see the shares at…112.5p?

Not satisfied with having lost the first requisitioned EGM, where shareholders in AIM-listed Block Energy (BLOE) were invited to sack the chairman and replace him with the one remaining NED, the rebels have another requisitioned EGM for shareholders to consider appointing one of the big four accounting firms to conduct a full forensic. This will, of course, be expensive – and having lost round one the rebels have made a seemingly helpful suggestion.

Previously writing on cleaning and hygiene products private label and contract manufacturer McBride (MCB), last month with the shares around 90p I concluded it “continues to discuss margin recovery actions with our customers”. With these major retailers and brand owners, good luck with that! I look forward to more detail with 7th September-scheduled results for the company’s year ended 30th June 2021, but the noted clear challenges see me presently continue to avoid. Today a further “trading update”…

Analyst Craig Hemke, founder of TF Metals Report is no fence sitter. Craig discusses the growing shift in wealth inequality since the untethering of the dollar from the gold standard. The ending of the gold standard required faith and confidence in the US government. Today, that confidence is steadily waning.

Maybe I am just a dinosaur. I wrote the same sort of articles back in 2001 asking why a start-up company with websites selling masturbating gnomes was suddenly worth £50 million. Of course clever young folks just said I was a dinosaur and that the world had all changed and I did not get it. These days it is NFTs and tokens. I have covered the tawdry Bixby/Edwards/Novum spivs enterprise Dispersion Holdings (DEFI) before but I challenge anyone to explain the business case of its latest investment.

It was about two years ago when I last talked about Rank Group (RNK) shares. The basic gist back then was that I thought shares in the Grosvenor and Mecca casino, bingo, gaming machines and much more owner were ‘worth a punt’. Given the then c. 160p share price almost doubled by early 2020, that worked out pretty well. However, today the shares are back at a 175p share price (and via a sub 100p level nine months ago). So how do I feel now about the company that has been ‘entertaining Britain since 1937, by bringing people together for fun and entertainment’?

On February 3 2021 I published a damning 60 Red flag dossier on a fraud called Zoetic (ZOE) with the shares at 76p. The response was utterly poisonous.

Hello, Share Wallowers. Recently, I’ve suggested you take a favourable look at Legal & General (LGEN). One of my reasons is the pensions market is strong and post Covid is likely to get stronger. All that extra money flying around, you see, as folks have been unable to spend it. Another pension play I rather like is XPS Pensions Group (XPS).

AIM-listed Rurelec (RUR) remains in deep trouble so many years on from the ousting of former leadership under Peter Earl, the latest problems having been covered HERE. In fact, as I have said many times, I am amazed it is still going at all. But yesterday it released news which I fear may spell the final curtain.

As I prepare for blackberry picking with newly arrived Olaf, the bearcast today covers just one company, one where I was a shareholder but would not go back, Falanx (FLX). I do mention Jubilee Metals (JLP), en passant.

Following a strong upwards move, platinum group metals have taken a bit of a dip recently but are still at levels that should generate plenty of free cash flow for producers, and the share price weakness that some of those have shown the past couple of weeks could present a buying opportunity.