AIM-listed Yu Group (YU.) has posted its much awaited results for the year to December 2018 – much awaited because during the year it ‘fessed up that its previous numbers had been less than believable. The opening lines make good reading – and the market has reacted well, marking the stock up by a whopping 67%, last seen, to 155p but I wonder about that.

TLA Worldwide (TLA) has updated that “further to the announcement of 19 December 2018, TLA confirms that its discussions relating to the sale of its Australian business continue. In order to allow these discussions to be concluded, the period of forbearance granted by SunTrust Bank has been extended to 29 August 2019. There can be no certainty that any transaction will ultimately be forthcoming, nor can there be any certainty as to the terms of any such transaction”. Hmmm…

Woodlarks is an amazing but incredibly unfashionable charity. If you give £10,000 to an organisation like Guide Dogs for the Blind or the RSPCA it makes no difference. Give £100 to Woodlarks and it will help change a life. And that is why, in EIGHT days time I shall be walking the 33 miles from Horse Hill to the Woodlarks camp site.

Chris Rynning, the former boss of ShareProphets AIM-China Filthy Forty play Origo Partners (OPP) can rest a little easier today as we continue to follow the fine work of Norewegian E24 as the scandal of Rynning and Origo continues. Today we learn that having left Origo, Rynning was helping Norwegian entrepreneurs get a foothold in China as Innovation Norway referred them via its own website to Nhack, another Rynning company, based in Shanhai. Of course, Innovation Norway had checked him out.....hadn't they?

When bear raiders Boatman Capital savaged Babcock (BAB) with its first report, Babcock tried to play the man not the ball, casting aspersions on its anonymous critics but history has rather vindicated the bears not the board. Now Boatman has produced a second report, focused on the need for further write downs and on the complexity of the company's structure. The report, in full, is below.

Previously writing on provider of telecom services to UK SMEs Toople (TOOP), it was argues “tremendous progress”… but what about to that ‘positive cash flow generation’?. Today results for the company’s half-year ended 31st March 2019 argue “this has been an excellent six months for the company… Current trading is strong with another record month in April and a healthy new business pipeline… initiatives and our excellent product offering and customer service will, we believe, ultimately set us on the road to achieve our stated goal of long term future profitability”. The shares have currently responded, er, towards 0.50p – more than 7% lower…

Hat tip to Andrew Monk for this really very interesting piece on coffee. I pay £2.45 for a take-away here in the Grim North so I must be flushing away a good bit. Is this sustainable? Monk asks "Has the Era of coffee shops peaked and are we now going to see a gradual decline?"

At 10.30 AM tomorrow I shall be in the City of Lost Causes for the AGM of Neil Woodford’s investment trust dog Woodford Patient Capital Trust (WPCT) where, as the loyal owner of 10 shares, I have a few questions for Britain’s most conceited fund manager.

On 2 May Management Resource Solutions (MRS) held an investor lie-fest at the offices of its uber expensive PR posh-tards FTI Consulting. It was recorded so hapless Nomad Arden has full access to what was said. I have already detailed, here, a stunning admission by boss John Zorbas which would have seen any normal Nomad resign on the spot. But there was more….

Lots and lots of numbers out today but something that really stuck out to me was the quarter one update from Aston Martin Lagonda (AML), which floated less than a year ago above 1800p a share...and today is on sale only for a few percent above 800p a share. Now that is ugly from anyone's perspective…

Hello, Share Troopers. Are we still 'Going Well with Shell, Shell, Shell?' The words of the famous Bing Crosby TV advert of the 1950s still seem pertinent here. The oil jumbo Royal Dutch Shell (RDSA) & (RDSB) is my biggest holding, mainly for the high dividend. But I also have hopes for the share price, which, given the rise and rise of Brent Crude, seems too low to me...

Shares in SaaS marketing technology group Eagle Eye Solutions (EYE) are currently approaching 7% higher on the day, above 160p, on the back of a partnership announcement with News America Marketing…

AIM-listed Turkish gold-play Ariana Resources (AAU) has updated the market on its Salinbas exploration target and forestry permits this morning. Coinciding with a bit of a China-USA spat spike in the price of the yellow stuff, Ariana’s shares have reacted positively and I suspect there is still more short term upside as we await the full production numbers from Q1 which are due any day.

Semiconductors company CML Microsystems (CML) has updated commencing; “The company expects to report revenue for the full year of circa £28 million. This represents a decrease of 11% against the prior full year period which is marginally better than reported in the trading update announced on 1 February 2019. Unaudited full year figures show a profit before tax of close to £3m. The group retains a robust balance sheet with a net cash position of £12.8 million at 31 March 2019”. The shares currently remain below 300p, comparing to 440p as recently as January…

This gets worse and worse for Chris Rynning, the former boss of ShareProphets AIM-China Filthy Forty play Origo Partners (OPP). Having discussed how a billion Kroner disappeared to tax-havens under this self-styled China expert, today E24 looks at the company credit card. If you thought Nilesh Jagatia of Teathers (TEA), Insprit (INSP) and Octagonal (OCT) was, ahem, generous (to himself), this appears to take the biscuit.

I start with a tale from my early career and then cover Mosman Oil & Gas (MSMN) - the two are related - Iofina (IOF), Portmerion (PMP) and its profits warning, but is it a buy? And finally I look at Audioboom (BOOM) and worry that another placing will be needed soon. Finally, we are over £20,000 now but most bearcast readers are yet to donate to Rogue Bloggers for Woodlarks, If you have donated I thank you. If not, please go HERE TODAY 

Portmeirion, Spode, Wax Lyrical, Royal Worcester and Pimpernel ceramics and home fragrances group Portmeirion (PMP) has updated on trading. With 21st March-announced results having included “we look forward into 2019 with confidence”, should be ok…

Last time Neil Woodford piled in for shares in Card Factory (CARD), back in October 2017 at c. 315p, the shares were hit by a profit warning and slid to 232p in January 2018. With 5.02% of the company, Neil Woodford was sitting on a loss (of other people’s money) of some £54 million and Tom Winnifrith was scathing. Well, the shares are now around 186.5p and the market (including Tom Winnifrith) is wrong, natch. We know this because Neil has been buying again, taking his holding to 10.06% last Friday. Heck: only 40% down – this is a winner, let’s buy some more!

There is much I could write about today including Greggs' (GRG) continued success with vegan sausage rolls (good), Vodafone (VOD) admitting it had to cut the dividend (bad) and yet another property sector shocker, this time from behemoth Land Securities (LAND)…

Jordan Roy Byrne is the one technical analyst we take remotely seriously on this website and in his latest Palisade Capital video he remains bullish on gold but with a caveat...timing.