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.

The action of Big Dave and the inaction of Mr Bear are explained in full. The podcast covers: Optibiotix (OPTI), Avanti Communications (AVN), Anglo African Agriculture (AAAP), Westminster Group (WSG) and IDE Holdings (IDE).

On 25th April Clipper Logistics (CLG) updated including “trading for the year to 30 April 2018 is expected to be in line with the board's expectations, with continued growth in revenue, operating profit and net earnings. Results for the year are expected to be announced in July”. They have now been announced – and the shares responded more than 20% lower…

We let you into a secret. We were looking at two stocks as the share tip of the month. It was a coin toss as at last night...

ShareProphets AIM-China Filthy Forty play Walcom (WALG) – one of just seven remaining – has announced that its largest customer still hasn’t ponied up the wonga. There’s a surprise…..not! Also unsurprising is the share price reaction, where the bid price has dropped to just 0.25p. If you wanted a bag of crisps, you’ll have to settle for Tesco Value ones now.

Well that was a damp squib: AIM-listed Minoan (MIN) announced its interims as expected this morning, but disappointingly there was no confirmation of the travel & leisure sale, nor of what will happen with Cavo Sidero. We are again left waiting – although not for long, I hope. There were, however, one or two little tit-bits in there to offer at least some encouragement.

This was the moment I had been thinking about for most of the 14 hours and 33 miles to keep me going but I could not have imagined the wonderful reception we would get at the Camp as you can see below.

There is nothing like a bunch of regulatory news statements in the morning to get your blood pumping...although I guess a profit warning or so is never good for the heart...or the bank balance. Anyhow the cardiac and fiscal resuscitation units were on standby earlier as three names that have disappointed me at various times in recent months updated the market.

A latest quarterly report from Berkeley Energia (BKY) includes “the government of the region demonstrated its continued support for the Salamanca mine in June when it rejected a resolution from opposition groups requesting that the company's potential €250 million investment be halted”, though also there’s been “issued a notice to the municipality recommending that the Urbanism Licence should not be awarded until two outstanding items regarding the licence are resolved”…

A trading statement from LED lighting products, wiring accessories and portable power products manufacturer and distributor, Luceco (LUCE) includes “the group expects to deliver year-on-year adjusted operating profit growth in the second half of 2018. The group's order book has improved and management remain confident in the group's long term growth potential”. So why currently a decline of more than 8% in the share price, to 34p, in response?...

Hello, Share Shovers. There are times when I'm so confident that a share is worth your further investigation that I feel I should keep on banging the drum. I sometimes do this when there is no immediate news to go on. And that's for the simple reason that when jolly news does break it's not always the best time to dive in. One should try waiting till the kettle is off the boil.

Globo (GBO) was a fraud which claimed to have cash but did not and is now bust.  Its downfall was precipitated by ShareProphets publishing a Gabriel Grego dossier after the FT and snot-gobbler Dan McCrum merely tipped off the CEO allowing him to dump all his shares and failed to publish. Now the Financial Reporting Council says that it is letting auditor Grant Thornton off the hook and dropping its enquiry.

Amazed to find that one of her share tips had actually gone up, Jo Hart of the Midas column In the mail on Sunday  advised the poor saps who follow her to top slice or sell Optibiotix (OPTI) on Sunday. Just as a buy note from Ms Hart is seen by most folks as a sure sign that a PR puff campaign is underway and that you should sell at once, the Midas sell stance seems to have pushed the shares ever higher as the chart below demonstrates. Yes £1 hit again, another case of ouzo Cynical Bear needs to send me. I discussed why I’d not be selling at this price as I expect fireworks soon HERE. Meanwhile…

Some might see Foxtons Group (FOXT) as a good recovery play given how far the share price has fallen in recent times... but is it?...