Having listed on AIM at 100p per share in late 2016 and the shares having recently slid towards 80p, a half-year trading update from geotechnical engineering company Van Elle Holdings (VANL) includes “new contract starts have progressively gained momentum”, “gross margins have continued to improve” and “the positive momentum exiting the first half has continued into the start of the third quarter and the group's orderbook at 31 October 2018 was 16% ahead of last year at £32m”. So why have the shares responded further lower, below 80p?...

Markets are being roiled by politics, soiling themselves on trade war panics, scared witless by mounting populism and it's pay-off time for massive policy mistakes and the waking up to the horrendous unintended consequences of the last 10-years of monetary experimentation and over-regulation and the working out that every single financial asset (by which I mean listed stocks and bonds) is price-distorted, will be painful for the unprepared. In fact; every aspect of modern finance is distorted. Sentiment is bruised which means the global economy is vulnerable to being pushed over the edge as the current fears of recession in 2019 become a self-fulfilling prophesy...

Whilst Tom Winnifrith enjoys an early morning glass of ouzo upon confirmation that MySquar (MYSQ) has finally departed the Casino amid allegations of fraud and someone’s fingers in the till, there is another party going on at Deputy Sheriff Towers: fully-listed Interserve (IRV) has finally confessed that its shareholders are going to get clobbered. Indeed, the shares this morning fell way below their nominal price of 10p in the scramble to get out and currently sit 47% down on the day at around 12p...

I had far too much to drink last night. But it really was not my fault. Thus as I travel across Greece today and back to Bristol I feel a bit worse for wear. In this podcast I comment on Hollywood Bowl (BOWL) in light of yesterday's corrupt journalism bearcast. I look at Andalas (ADL) forced to make a belated statement by this website's expose on Saturday HERE. I cover Big Sofa (BST) and LB Shell (LBP) another AIM Casino dog whose sole purpose was to support the lifestyles of crony capitalists.

Several people have asked me about Thomas Cook (TCG) recently where there is certainly an element of déjà vu from seven years ago. I was short then on the basis that the company was insolvent and was waiting patiently for the shares to go from 10p to zero...

Revolution Bars Group (RBG) is a company that caught my eye a while back, but at the time it was for the wrong reasons as I’d noticed that the share price seemed to be on a steady downwards trajectory. In terms of this, nothing has really changed and it has been making new lows around the 100p area, losing around a third of its value in the past year – which included a brief spike to around 175p in January. This is one where there could be an argument for waiting for the trend to turn positive, if indeed it does from here, but with the market cap back around the £50 million level I can see value in buying here...

I have been over-bullish about gold ever since it popped its top at around $1800 per oz in the aftermath of the financial crisis and quantitative easing (ie printing money) became all the rage. But rather than sell out, I have held firm. At the time I seemed to be wrong, but with what should be a momentous week for the UK about to hit us, I see the gold price is up a tad at just shy of $1250 per oz...

Hello, Share Rascals. For a change, let me steer away from my topical suggestions on which shares to buy and sell in the run-up to Christmas. Because there are still big companies which are not really affected by any Yule rush to buy. One of them is Unilever (ULVR).

I start with news of a washing panic at the Greek Hovel. Then I look at why the mainstream financial press are part of the problem not the solution to stockmarket over-promotes and indeed outright criminality. In the podcast I look specifically at The Times on Neil Woodford and at The Sunday Times on Hollywood Bowl (BOWL) and Midas in the Mail on Sunday on the IPO of AJ Bell (AJB)

My favourite deadwood press article this week is all about the comment from a reader below it, rather than the article itself.  I talked about Domino's Pizza (DOM) back in August and basically said that I would only get warmed up at 250p odd a share.  Well we are nearly there and - superficially - not too much has changed.  The UK franchise keeps on growing aided by that near omnipresent 'official food of everything' advertising, various Scandi markets remain workable...and angst continues at the managerial and franchisee levels.  

We have commented here on ShareProphets on the recent sales of shares in BTG (BTG) by Neil Woodford’s Woodford Investment Management. Given that BTG is the subject of a cash offer of 840p per share is seems a little odd that he is offloading stock before the offer completes, especially with the shares trading at around  825p – but then, he does have some pressing cash issues of his own. But what is even more odd is his irrevocable undertaking to accept the offer, for it appears to have been given over a rather small portion of the shares he was actually holding.

Sound energy (SOU) is a company that I’ve been negative on in the past, and justifiably so considering its recent fall from grace as one of the most popular shares amongst private investors.

Is there anything better than sitting back and reading a well-written article on a lazy Sunday? Every week ShareProphets features some long form journalism that you'll find of interest. Grab your cuppa and enjoy these five articles.   

Last week’s release of half year results from Zafar Karim’s personal plaything (sorry, listed entity) 8 Peaks Group (8PG) provided much amusement here at Karma Towers. Where to start?

On Friday evening at 4.27pm – just as the city was packing its bags for the weekend – fully listed Ted Baker (TED) released an RNS announcing that its embattled CEO was to take a leave of absence. The shares, which had been trading at around £15.20, crashed into the close and ended the day on a spread of £14.58-14.79, and an official close of £14.93 – but I fancy there will be more weakness to come as the city returns to work on Monday.

Last week, ShareProphets member Phil suggested that in the comments that we'd sell more subscriptions if we covered more main market companies.

About 3 years ago Nigel Somerville was waxing lyrical about the Institute of Chartered Accountants of England and Wales (ICAEW), who regulate most audit firms domiciled here.  Whilst it was clear from the excellent response Tom gets from FRC that it is a proper regulator, I thought I would try ICAEW for the issues I highlighted regarding TXO’s accounts here.

I have given Andalas (ADL) a week to fess up to what looks like bad news but there has been no RNS. And so though my patience is legendary and I am trying my hardest to be a nice guy, enough is enough. I know this is the AIM casino and Rules, like 10 and 11, do not really matter but surely there are some limits.

Petropavlovsk (POG) has announced the initial processing of refractory concentrate at its pressure oxidation (‘POX’) hub – emphasising this “marks a significant moment in the company's history, as we begin to process our refractory ore via the newest and most technologically advanced POX processing facility in Russia, a month ahead of schedule”…

AJ Bell (AJB) made its introduction to the London Stock Exchange this week and it promises to be a great few days for those that got in on the IPO, with shares soaring almost +35% within the first two hours of trading. The tips have already started rolling in; Miles Costello (The Times) recommends buying as “the shares weren’t aggressively prices, and offer considerable growth and yield potential”. In this week’s article, we take a look back at tipster and broker sentiment towards three other key IPOs over the last six months: Amigo Holdings (AMGO), Aston Martin (AML) and Quilter (QLT).