This is undoubtedly good news for AIM-listed Advanced Oncotherapy (AVO) and the meagre 4% discount in quite a bonus. But I find it hard to get too excited.

Yesterday, Paddy Pantsdown took to twitter to deny that he was speaking at Julie Meyer's Follow the Entrepreneur conference on Croatia in October. He is, by my calculation, the ninth claimed speaker to deny that he is attending. Today the Croatian regulators have stepped in, as you can see below, to warn the good folks of Croatia to steer well clear. I have had the Croat press on the trombone this afternoon and I guess that means Julie is going to have some more journalists to bully with fascist lawyers letters and smear on the internet.  Make no mistake, the net is closing in...

Towards the end of May online gaming operator Stride Gaming (STR) announced results for its half-year, including “central to the success of our core UK market performance is our focus on compliance, regulation and responsible gaming. Stride has continued to adapt to new requirements and regulations including the forthcoming introduction of GDPR as well as the new POCT applied to free bets introduced in August 2017”. Now, 10 weeks later, a “Gambling Commission Notice” announcement…

Having asked for readers tips for 2018 for the amazing prize of a meal with Tom Winnifrith (or the chance to fob it off on someone you don't like) HERE, the following is a monthly update on performance (to be eligible needed to have selected, on a per username basis, a buy & sell pick from the LSE or AIM Casino and the stocks not to have been suspended at the commencement of 2018)...

The leopard does not change its spots. Pumping UK Oil & Gas (UKOG) hard as it was trying to arrange a bailout placing is bad enough. But now we come to Angus Energy (ANGS) another Horse Hill play and one where the CEO has just "been resigned" in disgrace following revelations HERE. But Big Dave has, as you can see below, been pumping its shares hard on twitter. What happens after a Big Dave pump?

Bluebird Merchant Ventures (BMV) has updated that it has delivered “the final deliverable needed for the formation of the 50:50 joint venture with Southern Gold” and that the work “supports its previously stated view that the establishment of a low capital cost mine at Gubong is achievable”…

I gave some freebie advice to the Barclays (BARC) board a week or so ago HERE and thankfully today's first half numbers from the banking behemoth did not include an unwise stab at the US retail space. What they did say however was quite sensible stuff and there has been a bit of progress on most fronts including capital generation to support the 3%+ yield, good progress on cost control and even an investment banking unit which did not disappoint for once.

With its shares dipping towards 4p, Falanx (FLX) has announced that its recently acquired SecureStorm unit has enjoyed a renewal of a “critical managed cyber security services contract.” So what?...

BigDish plc (DISH) is a restaurant services company newly entered onto the Standard List this morning. At an IPO price of 4.5p it is calitalised at £12.9 million.  I spoke to Aidan Bishop, founder and chairman of BigDish plc. about how BigDish works and where it fits in between existing restaurant plays Groupon (NASDAQ:GRPN), Deliveroo, and Just Eat (JE).

Hello, Share Swishers. At a previous Global Group UK Investor Show, Uncle Tom invited some of you onto the stage to see if you preferred Fevertree tonic water to another kind. All but one of you opted for Fevertree (FEVR). Which helps to explain its amazing rise and rise in the supermarkets, shops and pubs.

Transense Technologies (TRT) “is pleased to provide a trading update for the year ended 30 June 2018”, noting some revenues over 40% ahead of the prior year and “monthly recurring operating lease rental revenue at 1 July 2018 being over 200 per cent. higher than at 1 July 2017”. So is a muted share price response – and the shares down from 69.5p at the start of the year fair?...

In this podcast I look at the REAL state of the Totally I(TLY) balance sheet and I also cover FastForward (FFWD) and the job of a journalist, Cenkos (CNKS) and the future of the AIM Casino, Boxhill (BOX), Avanti Communications (AVN), Pantheon Resources (PANR) and UK Oil & Gas (UKOG)

Having previously been sceptical on Filtronic (FTC) – including from March 2015 at circa 14p – I note the shares currently approaching 30% higher today - at circa 13p, capitalising the company at around £27 million - on the back of a “Contract win” announcement…

Even a fashion luddite like me knows that clothing retail works best when you have a clear and distinct winter and summer period. The fashionistas and general public alike buy to look on-trend and functional as the temperatures respectively plummet or rise. In that vein then, the recent bout of extended hot weather was a retail bullseye - assuming, of course, that you have sufficient online capability to be active where increasingly the action is.

The results which came out in early July made it clear to anyone who could do basic maths that Jim Mellon's FastForward (FFWD) would be passing the hat around shortly. Three ramptastic RNS's followed and today I can reveal that the company is on the road trying to raise £5 million in fresh equity. 

Three weeks ago Optibiotix (OPTI) Chairman Neil Davidson bought £150,000 worth of shares in the company at 71p and said in a TV interview that he would buy more when the time was right. Heck, he has now averaged up!

The Communications Director for IP Group (IPO) is a former workmate and all round superstar Ms Liz Vaughan Adams, aka Lizard. So Lizard,  I'm sorry to be writing this but I picked this up on the broker wires this morning and I cannot disagree with this sell/go short thesis.  

Surprise, surprise, as predicted, despite the statements of Boxhill Technologies (BOX) to the contrary the day before that the audited results would be issued on 31 July, they failed to materialise and the stock has been suspended. Not bloody surprising though as the preliminary results are an absolute can of worms particularly the hole in the client accounts to the tune of a few million quid!

As Cornelius Nepos said: “After the darkness comes the light” and having been in despair last month writing June’s update, I am back to my bouncy best as Optibiotix (OPTI) has become the second Mythical Wonder to become real and in some style…..although I hope it now performs better than the first!

Hello Share Snatchers. Back in the fifties when dads were obeyed, pater urged me to be an estate agent. I'd rather be a reporter and I summoned enough courage to defy him. And jolly good too, as these days estate agents may be becoming a rarer species.