Hello, Share Divers. Allow me to take a break from my latest list of more speculative shares and remind you about the worthiness of a successful Footsie giant. My choice today is one of the few big index members which is holding up rather well in spite of the Brexit chaos...

I am plagued today by Bulletin Board Morons reporting me to the FCA, by Roger Lawson and some ungracious comments on fraud busting at Globo (GBO), Quindell (QPP) and Patisserie Holdings (CAKE) and by our former in house Bulletin Board Loon who has returned to really rile me with some vile comments on the holocaust which expose him as the Jew hating vermin that he is - HERE. I comment on Angus Energy (ANGS), UK Oil & Gas (UKOG), Domino's Pizza (DOM), Feedback (FDBK), Photonstar Led (PSL), Starcom (STAR) and Cabot Energy (CAB).  Footnote, Roger is now planning to run an amendment flagging up that I did advise folks to sell/short Patisserie warning "something's not right". Roger you are a gent.

Mayan Energy (MYN) has today raised £750,000 at 0.12p in its latest bailout placing but it comes with an admission that it has forgotten to file returns to the US taxman, the IRS, for an unspecified period and thus who knows how much of that cash will be swallowed up in unpaid tax bills. As such we have no idea how fast the clock is ticking on the next bailout placing. The City’s top oil analyst, Zac Phillips of SP Angel is scathing. He writes:

In November, previously writing on veterinary group CVS (CVSG) I concluded still a sell as the shares slid further lower to 650p. Today a “Trading Update” – and the shares currently approaching 30% lower on the back of it, heading towards 450p…

The whore blogger Malcolm Graham Wood urged shareholders in Frontera Resources (FRR) to hang on after the shares – 0.28p at suspension, down more than 99% on the IPO – were booted off AIM.  The morons insisted they would be buying more as soon as they could and that shorters would be unable to close. Here, c/o the great Northern bear Waseem Shakoor is proof of the reality.

AIM-listed Advanced Oncotherapy (AVO) announced director and significant shareholdings this morning, following its latest fundraising in December and resulting share issues yesterday. But it seems that one of the directors has been – undisclosed – selling!

Too many names to comment on today, so I will keep my observations down to just four of them...and all have exhibited some element of caution (which is a useful market and macro insight)…

Noting that one of Neil Woodford’s earliest investments for Woodford Patient Capital Trust (WPCT), Verseon (VSN) – trading on AIM but a US biotech outfit in the disruptive space (natch) – appears to be headed for trouble I commented that at least the company has the services of the good Xavier Rolet (yes, the former LSE boss!) on the board. So all’s well! Well, it was until this morning! Oh dear….

Oh well that is settled then. All those frauds we exposed, all those promotes and ramps we revealed, all those RNS lies we showed to be lies, it was all a smokescreen.

It is not, in my view, a great time to be shorting UK names which are sensitive to the underlying market direction as I believe that the UK market, currently suffering from peak uncertainty from Brexit, could see a major re-rating in the event of any solution bar a general election, particularly if there is some sort of fudge of May’s deal which is, I think, the most likely outcome (I am long FTSE 250 not 100 futures to avoid currency considerations). This is not to say that I have downed tools completely on the short side in the UK...

AIM-listed Sensyne Health (SENS) was spun out of Drayson Technologies and joined the Casino last August, raising £60 million in the process and has just published its first set of accounts as a listed company. No doubt Neil Woodford will have enjoyed the market response as the shares put on 7% (Woodford holds 20%), although not enough to extinguish his pain at Utilitywise (UTW) as the latter announced the dreaded “strategic review”. I doubt he will have enjoyed Sensyne’s ride as a plc either, as the IPO was at 175p per share and even after this rise the shares are 167p. Hardly a cracking endorsement! So what does Sensyne do? Well, it is – of course – disrupting its world! According to Woodford:

A 2018 trading update from provider of communications, cloud and managed services Maintel (MAI) includes “adjusted EBITDA expected to be at the top end of the range” and “the board remains confident in delivering growth in both revenue and EBITDA for the current financial year to 31 December 2019”. The shares have responded higher to 460p – but this still compares to 650p at the commencement of November…

Hello, Share Takers. I’ve been searching for more companies which, like Zoo Digital (ZOO), have A-list companies among their clients. My thinking is that firms which attract household names among their clients must have been given a very careful look-over first. Big companies cannot afford to make mistakes and they have the funds to do a bit of quality snooping before they buy...

Previously writing on Utilitywise (UTW), in July it was a “Strategy Update” only David Brent & major shareholder Neil Woodford are clever enough to understand? – with that including CEO Brendan Flattery attempting to reassure that “the strategy update outlined today will enable Utilitywise to meet its two new financial targets, as well as maximising the medium term potential from the business”, though I concluding of course though, there is no guarantee that it will – and I’ll continue to avoid at least until there is some clear net cash generation demonstration. Today a “Strategic Review and Formal Sale Process” announcement…

In today's podcast there are repeated references to Cheryl Cole as I discuss Utilitywise (UTW), Sensyne Health (SENS), Neil "smug bastard" Woodford, Flybe (FLYB), Eqtec (EQT), Phontonstar Led (PSL), Active Energy (AEG) and Altona Resources (ANR)

PCI-PAL (PCIP), “the customer engagement specialist that secures and protects payment card data for companies handling payments by phone, is pleased to announce a trading update for the six months to 31 December 2018”. Then again last year, previously writing on the company the shares were down on “pleased to announce” results which had followed a private investor screwing…

As punters think Brexit will be delayed...

Zac Phillips at SP Angel has opined on the AIM demise of the Frontera (FRR) fraud and does not mince his words. The great man says...

I noted earlier in the month that Tesco (TSCO) was 'no longer on the ropes and is flexing its muscles'. I think the Sunday press story - which I see the company did not deny but did not offer further comment on - concerning 15,000 job cuts (c. 3% of its workforce) as it reconsiders the future of some fresh food counters and bakeries, is very consistent with this...

AIM-listed Rurelec (RUR) has been little short of a disaster for the past few years, and more recently as the company has struggled to survive it has been hit by plenty of bad luck. I keep saying it, but I am amazed the company is still here at all. Last week things started to look rather better – or at least less terminal...