At the weekend I noted that Neil Woodford was blaming the markets for his terrible underperformance – it was nothing to do with him, natch. Yesterday the FTSE100 put on 1% and the FTSE All-Share, his benchmark for both the Woodford Equity Income Fund (WEIF) and his Income Focus Fund (WIFF), put on 0.93%. But according to Morningstar, those two funds only put on 0.61% and 0.70% in NAV per unit respectively.

Yesterday Burford (BUR) served up a risible response to questions about the Napo case as I detailed HERE and Drunken Sailor took apart HERE. Today the case in question is that of Epicenter which begs all sorts of questions, notably about a $200 million claim against Burford by its own client!

The share price of Bahamas Petroleum (BPC) almost doubled following an announcement of progress on its ambitions to drill an exploration well next year, but is such a big rise really justified? Today there is a further ramptastic "technical update", world class prospect, yadda, yadda, yadda.

I first invested in NYSE listed  McEwen Mining (MUX) in early 2016, after watching a podcast on ShareProphets featuring a very impressive interview with Rob McEwen, the founder, CEO and 22% shareholder. . Rob has had previous success in mining having been the founder and CEO of Goldcorp, which he built to a market cap of over $9 billion. His innovative style of leadership has no doubt contributed greatly to his corporate success, as well as seeing him win a multitude of awards in his native Canada.

Bear raider Muddy waters credited ShareProphets reader Drunken Sailor for his work in discovering the Glenmark case fought by Napo and funded by Burford (BUR). Yesterday Burford released a report which tried to explain the seemingly bogus profits booked on Napo in 2013. I tore that release to shreds in a special Tom Winnifrith bearcast HERE. Now Drunken Sailor has posted his response which is devastating. The great man writes:

Hello, Share Tremblers. As most of us are nursing current setbacks on Footsie investments, allow me to say that a load of lesser companies continue to buck the downward trend. Two of my more recent selections continue to forge ahead. And I would suggest that shares which rise when the big index falls are probably worth being optimistic about...

In a short bearcast I discuss what questions one should ask a CEO, Burford (BUR), Watchstone (WTG), my whistleblower and a paronoid Aiden Earley, Cabot Energy (CAB) and Begbies Traynor (BEG).

Early this year we showed the top shorted London-listed shares at the start of 2019. How's the performance at the end of August? (those in bold remain from 2018)...

For reasons that will become apparent I wish to attend the AGM of Begbies Traynor (BEG) in Manchester on September 19 as I have a few questions for its esteemed chairman. If there is a shareholder out there would would be willing to make me a proxy might they drop me an email at tomat49@gmail.com - thanks in advance. 

Maintel Holdings (MAI) has updated including first half of 2019 “adjusted earnings per share at 30.0p (H1 2018: 25.9p)… interim dividend per share proposed at 15.1p (H1 2018: 15.0p)” and that it “continues its transformation into a cloud and managed services provider with growth of 32% in unified communications seats on our ICON cloud platform and revenues from cloud and software customers now representing 20% of overall turnover… Underlying demand for our services remains high and our new business pipeline remains strong with some significant project opportunities”. The shares have responded to 425p – er, approaching 3.5% lower!...

“MySale (MYSL), a leading international online retailer, is pleased to announce an open offer to raise up to approximately £2.1 million (before expenses) by the issue of 102,887,768 open offer shares in the company at an issue price of 2 pence per open offer share”. It has also just conditionally raised £11.2 million in a placing at the same price – with these after it having IPO’d on AIM just over 5 years ago… at 226p per share!…

Trump and Brexit are evidence of a decaying economic system, where money has been over gamed by politicians with very short term interests. Change is coming in a substantial way and being prepared will present great money making opportunities. Those who choose to ignore the current siren calls will be left severely impaired, both financially and probably mentally. It is not an understatement to say the world will not be the same again after the next global monetary reset; historically this occurs every 80 years or so...

Fund Manager John Newell discusses how historically gold will often go through long periods of sideways action and then breakout fairly rapidly once overhead resistance is overcome. Eventually, there is a waterfall decline, and then the cycle tends to repeat. Today there is little overhead resistance left in gold.

Burford (BUR) has today issued a statement regarding Napo and the 2013 accounts. The statement, below, itself fails to address the two critical key points and indeed raises a stack more red flags as I discuss in some detail having chatted at length about this to the Dark Destroyer, Matt Earl.

I’ve made no secret that I view AIM-listed Karelian Diamonds (KDR) as a lifestyle company, as per its big brother (and under largely the same management), AIM-listed Conroy Gold and Natural Resources (CGNR). Both have achieved very little, both have balance sheets in a total mess and shareholders in both have endured massive shareholder value destruction over the years. In July a group of shareholders forced a sack-the-board EGM but as per CGNR last year, the vote went against them. Now they are back for round two.

Hello, Share Creepers. When one prefers posh shoes, one visits charity shops in superior locations. Recently, I was delighted to discover that a pair of Bally brogues I acquired for £5 are - if bought new - about £650. At the other end of the price scale is the high street chain of Shoe Zone (SHOE). I live close to a branch which always has real bargains in the window...

The most common issue that I hear about the ShareProphets Radio Show podcasts is that they start playing, then start playing again. This is because they haven't fully loaded on your browser. I've made a few changes that may help.

A source acquainted with the Serious Fraud Office Investigation into Quindell (QPP) now known as Watchstone(WTG)  has confirmed that the fraudster in chief Rob Terry has now been interviewed by the Serious Fraud Office twice, the most recent time being in late July.

Investment is a credibility and confidence game. And part of this game is admitting that sometimes (actually quite often) you are wrong on shares.  But as always it is how you react that matters and with psychology being an important driver of share prices in the shorter-term, trying to work out what the average investor is thinking is part of the game.  

He is the one chartist we rate and he is clearly still bullish on gold and precious metals. In his latest podcast with Palisade Capital the great Jordan gives us an overview of the latest COT results. The Net spec position is currently at an extreme.  He cautions that gold may keep running up in spite of the COT spec positions.