I am afraid that I still continue to get a stream of letters from victims of charlatan and snake oil salesman Darren Winters. His courses are worthless and the claims he makes are just untrue, as the ASA noted here. Yet Winters regards brushes with the ASA or The Sheriff of AIM fighting on behalf of victims in the Courts  (and winning!) as just another cost of business and carries on, as he has done for almost 20 years, with industrial scale larceny. What follows is the teacher’s tale 

Just to make this one a bit harder, to win this contest you need to name all six of the fine upstanding citizens below and then tell me which is the odd one out and why ( and its nothing to do with gender). The first to give me seven correct answers in the comments section below wins a semi naked photo of Britain's top share blogger ( mornings only), Thirsty Paul Scott. The deadline for en tries is midnight tonight, Wednesday 10 April.

“Gooch & Housego PLC (AIM: GHH), the specialist manufacturer of photonic components & systems, announces that trading in the six months to 31 March 2019 was in line with management's expectations”. But I note an 1150p share price is down from approaching 1900p in October and more than 1500p as recently as February. Hmmm…

Hello, Share Picklers. It’s obvious that medical companies are risky. But the smaller outfits provide more perilous opportunities. The giants seem big enough to absorb the failures and obstacles to obtaining the necessary licences. AstraZeneca (AZN), like GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), is a jumbo pharmaceutical company and is worth a look...

Previously writing on online gaming operator Stride Gaming (STR), I noted in November having been set to record a provision of £4m… £7.1m Gambling Commission fine. In February this year, the company updated including “trading performance since the start of the financial year has been broadly in line with the board's expectations”. Now a further “Trading update”…

Tom Winnifrith noted in yesterday’s Bearcast that Neil Woodford had once again been selling liquid dividend payers in order to meet redemptions and so that Neil can prove the market wrong (reference Keir – which  slid alarmingly again today). In this case it was New River REIT (NRR), where he appears to have sold a large chunk of his holding to his old mates over at Invesco last Tuesday.

Yes we have exchanged at both ends and will move next Monday to the Grim North. And the good news is that the cost of that move is on you, the grateful taxpayer. I explain all before looking at Debenhams (DEB), Sosandar (SOS), Concepta (CPT) and 7Digital (7DIG). PS Why not join the roll call of heros today HERE.

Previously writing on self-styled “global leader in B2B end-to-end digital music solutions” 7digital (7DIG) in January it was “pleased to confirm” restructuring completion… but much it shouldn’t be pleased to confirm! – as the shares slumped below 1p… and still I concluded, I suggest “a detailed statement of the expected out-turn for 2018 once accounting issues related to the restructuring and revenue recognition under IFRS 15 have been resolved” won’t be pretty. That there’s the restructuring with “several operations and offices have been closed or discontinued and staff numbers reduced in all locations” and the HMRC situation of circa £0.417 million seemingly relying on expected receipts, also suggest financial distress – and hopefully my prior warnings were heeded. Natch, still a sell / avoid. Now a“Business Update”…

AIM-listed Sosandar (SOS) has announced a full year trading update. On the surface, a rise in revenues to £4.4 million, up 228%, looks good but the statement is a bit vague and I fear that growth has slowed down somewhat, though it is still very impressive.

The video below makes for pretty sorry viewing. It is hard not to feel sorry for LCF bondholders who will lose 80% of the cash they thought they were investing in “safe” bonds. But should they be compensated?

I have been a medium-term supporter of Barclays (BARC) shares, noting a couple of months ago that I thought the stock - with all the necessary caveats about the banking space - was cheap at around x0.6 tangible book and that the route to a higher share price may be if it 'pays a bit of respect to the activist on its shareholder books who is talking an interesting game about value creation'. It is the activist angle - and not another Barclays story (a judge discharging the jury in the trial of four former executives over the 2008 controversial global financial crisis Qatari fundraising) - that I turn back to today…

As you know my only concern over Yourgene (YGEN), where I remain a loyal shareholder, is an ethical one. A full year trading update, though badly crafted - note to board: sack useless PR - is incredibly impressive and removes any financial doubts. The shares have not yet responded. They will. At a 12.75p offer fill your boots at up to 15p – this stock will soon be in the roaring twenties and is a STRONG BUY...

Smaller companies often offer promises of imminent revenue streams which cause upward spikes in the share price, but for any longer term appreciation in value they need to actually deliver on the expectations of their shareholders. Currently that would definitely seem to be the case with Eqtec (EQT), which I have been bearish on since the share price was between 1.26p and up to 1.57p, and private investors in this gasification to energy company were quick to point out how wrong I was when there was a brief spike in the share price shortly after my initial coverage at the lower end of that range. So, it has really come as much of a surprise to me that the share price has steadily declined over the few months since then and it now trades at around the 0.84p level to buy...

Hello Share Muddlers. You may not be overly familiar with a company called Keywords Studios (KWS). But it’s part of that huge industry: computer gaming. Those of us who can’t understand the fascination for PlayStations and the like may wonder. But there’s no getting away from the fact that this ‘craze’ is here to stay. It’s now a bigger business than movies and the music industry. Who’d have thought it?

In today's podcast, my last Monday bearcast from the civilised south as opposed to the Grim North,  I start with a look at another blue chip high yield stock Neil Woodford is being forced to sell as a result of the flood of redemptions. Then I have a revelation of shame about Daniel Stewart (DAN) and executive largesse. Then I look at the Yourgene (YGEN) trading statement and the lamentable research note it produced from FinnCrap (FCAP) which I reproduce in full below. Really: it is time to sack FinnCap and get a proper broker on board Finally a look at Adept4 (AD4) and an appeal to you all to join the roll call of heros HERE

CEO of self-styled “leading smart home solutions provider” LightwaveRF (LWRF), Jason Elliott, is “delighted that Lightwave has maintained the momentum of significantly improved revenue in the quarter” – and the shares have currently responded back above 8p, 10% higher…

Totally (TLY) is probably insolvent, in that it cannot meet its existing current liabilities from existing resources,  but we do not quite know as today’s trading statement is just so much meaningless gibberish. What exactly is CEO Wendy Lawrence so desperate to hide?

Oh dear, oh dear, Julie “lingerie on expenses” Meyer really has lost the plot now sending out a letter to business contacts in which she declares she is innocent of everything and then tears into her critics including me. Thanks to Winnileaks I have that letter.

We own shed loans of shares in Concepta (CPT) and they are, in my view, still cheap. But today's placing fills me with utter disgust and makes me so angry as I explain in full. The image below is from the Boots website.

Writing in November on “provider of 'IT as a Service'” Adept4 (AD4) it was “Trading Update” = a late trading warning & even bullshit earnings on steroids can’t help!. Today “Customer Contract Termination”. Uh oh…