Heroic Tim Martin of JD Wetherspoon (JDW) has again waded into battle against the media and political classes in their GroupThink bubbles, this time on Covid. He offers up some hard data on his bars and infection which appears to challenge the narrative we are told, which is justifying policies that throttle his industry. Well done Tim. The great man writes:

I discuss this ethical question as my brother in law salivates at the idea of picking up a gun and heading off to fight the invading Infidels.  Should I sell Ariana (AAU) or not? I look at wider gold issues. I cover Versarien (VRS), ASOS (ASC), the so called economic recovery, and finally Verditek (VFTK) where I am vindicated by today’s fess up but it is not enough of a mea culpa, boardroom heads should be rolling. The stock is, pro tem, uninvestable.

Shares in self-styled “creative audio-visual company” MediaZest (MDZ) are rising again today – currently to 0.07p, with that comparing to 0.045p only a week ago. There has since been a “Project Completion” announcement…

On February 4 2018, I asked if Murray d’Almeida of Management Resource Solutions (MRS) would care to explain his links to an outfit called Halcyon as you can see HERE. Natch the FCA and AIM Regulation, the Chocolate Teapots and the Oxymorons, did nothing about this or numerous other matters we raised. Now Management Resource is no more but might the authorities care to reconsider looking at those responsible for its collapse, those who made money from it before the collapse, notably D’Almeida’s business partner, and those City advisors who enabled the sh*t show to run and run by turning a blind eye, or - in the case of legal tosser Peter Reynolds of Fladgate in threatening a journalist who exposed this scam (viz me) – I ask in light of the article below from the Australian press.

I said yesterday that this correction in gold and gold stocks was not a time for worry, it was time to get out the buying boots. Gold tumbled all the way down to around $1875 per ounce overnight – quite a drop from the recent peak of $2067 and gold stocks were pretty much in freefall yesterday. Some corrections mean hanging around the same prices for an age but this was a good old sell-off. As I write, gold has recovered to $1935…

Verditek (VDTK) has been forced by my expose of last week to admit today that it DID mislead investors with regards to 2019 contract wins and revenues…

Online travel group Hostelworld (HSW) states it “is pleased to announce its interim results for the period ended 30 June 2020”. Hmmm – how ‘pleasing’ can they be?…

Last month I observed that in terms of the shares of fund manager M&G (MNG) I was ‘taking it off my personal potential buy list’ despite having previously post spin-off loved up a 250p target price potential (a level effectively hit on Valentines Day earlier this year). As today’s first half numbers show, you still get a lots of assets under management and administration (AUMA) at £339 billion for its £4.5 billion market cap (to save you the maths, it trades at 1.3% of AUMA) and a 6p interim dividend should put it well on the way to generate a high single digit dividend yield. So far so good, right?…

Gold miner in Kazakhstan Altyn (ALTN) “is pleased to announce 2Q20 production update” and it emphasises “ore mining output up a significant 55% quarter-over-quarter with 143,400 tons of ore mined in 2Q20 (92,324 tons in 1Q20). The positive momentum in production growth is expected to be maintained over the coming quarters”. Why then have the shares responded little changed?…

I am sure we all think that the bank we bank with is useless. But changing banks is such a pain in the arse. I’ve experienced it firsthand. Direct debits go awry, auto payments on your card bounce, you have to remember a new PIN, and so we don’t bother. But boy, Barclays (BARC) in the Isle of Man is in a class of its own for being useless.

A “Further Copper Tailings Resource Secured in Zambia” announcement from Jubilee Metals (JLP), with it emphasising this looking “to deliver copper units well in advance of Jubilee’s previously announced copper transaction in Zambia and is significant step towards achieving Jubilee’s stated goal of 25 000 tonnes per annum of copper production”…

Hello, Share Scoopers. That German bank Berenberg, for whom I have a good deal of respect, reckons that a fair price for BT (BT.A) shares is 130p. Currently, they’re below 110p, so that would be a fair profit. But are BT shares really worth a punt?…

Another intra-day update from St James House (SJH) sees the shares leaping higher, but this just as farcical as previously?…

A source who is 100% reliable tells me that the first member of the Quindell crime gang to face legal consequences will discover the good news this week. I shall keep you posted but I am in the right place to secure barrels of ouzo with which to celebrate. Elsewhere, I discuss Eqtec (ETQ) and why an eminent poster on our comments section is wrong to give it a clean bill of heath regarding its fraud. I debate valuing stocks in relation to NAV with respect to mining stocks and investment companies and I explain why it is different. I look at Cineworld (CINE) and bid rumours, Supply@ME Capital (SYME) and lunacy, and at the atrocious results from Versarien (VRS) and its startling admission re its illegal taxpayer loan. I also discuss why I am not panicking on gold and the gold shares I own.

I sit and marvel at the share price of fully listed Hammerson (HMSO) which has announced a share consolidation and a rights issue. Have I got this right – if so, surely it is a slam-dunk sell! Answers on a postcard……

Interior furnishings company Walker Greenbank (WGB) has updated including noting “recovery in the business at the half year end with the improving trend continuing month on month”. The shares have though currently responded to 45p, a few percent lower…

It appears that a second charge has been registered at Companes House by taxpayer-backed Innovate UK for its £5 million loan to Versarien (VRS). This means that if Versarien defaults, taxpayers may well not get all their cash back. That on its own seems a clear breach of Innovate UK rules and a reason why this loan should not be made. But there is worse. In its quite atrocious results today, Versarien itself gives a reason for why the loan application is illegal. Lucian Miers has written to Business Secretary Alok Sharma to flag this up.

And so the correction in gold and gold equities is in full swing. Jordan Roy-Byrne of TheDailyGold.com was right (yet again) all along. Should I sell anything or just sit it out on my veranda overlooking the woods where my secret stash of the yellow metal is buried, with my feet up?…

Good news this morning for AIM-listed jam- (or, rather, gold) tomorrow explorer Conroy Gold and Natural Resources (CGNR) as it has raised a fairly decent amount of cash – £800,000 – at 25p. Heck, if this goes on for much longer the company will no longer be technically insolvent! It might not be already, although I wouldn’t be too sure. So are the shares now a buy?…

‘Nothing exists in a vacuum’. This was drilled into me as a neophyte analyst and it is why I continue to spend a significant amount of my time thinking about macroeconomic issues and how they impact the risk environment for individual stocks…