Minding the London Stock Exchange’s Business
Independent and Fearless Financial Journalism Funded by Readers
Even a few of our detractors have now come around
As we await the latest heavily discounted bucket shop bailout placing – or worse – from AIM-listed UK Oil & Gas (UKOG), we have already had ramptastic 2D seismic processing from its duff Turkish assets and this morning it was announced that CEO Lyin’ Steve Sanderson has been buying shares. Quick, follow the man……..or not!
It was announced yesterday that CEO Lyin’ Steve Sanderson of AIM-listed UK Oil and Gas (UKOG) has again been buying shares in the market. But if you think this might be a buying signal, you need your head examining.
Today Morses Club (MCL) served up a horrible profits warning and announced that its CEO Paul Smith was leaving with immediate effect. The shares have crashed by 26p to just 15.95p. But last last week one lucky trader dumped 464,119 shares at 42.65p almost his entire holding. That lucky trader was Paul Smith. If this is not insider dealing I am a banana. Here is the timeline and why the FCA MUST feel Smith’s collar asap.
Just under a week ago I talked about Headlam Group (HEAD), noting I have been a bit of a fanboy after doubling my holding during 2020 but I had a couple of questions for the company at an upcoming planned conference call (despite last week’s update observing “profit slightly ahead of expectations, with strong cash generation…Early trading in 2022 has been encouraging…has continued to be able to largely mitigate the persisting industry wide supply issues and associated inflationary pressures”). However because it was the first day of February and hence I was a bit busy, I did not make the live call. However – thanks to the power of the internet – I caught up with it earlier today. So what did I think?
If the share price of a company is in sharp decline and the CEO walks it is for one of two reasons and neither is good. It could be that the CEO knows that things can only get worse and wants to put as much clear blue water between him and a ship that is bound to sink. Or the rest of the board know that stakeholders will only do what is needed to try to keep the ship afloat if there is a change of captain, it is an admission that the ship is in deep trouble. Either way it is always a sign to sell or short or add to shorts and that brings me to Omega Diagnostics (ODX) where I have been a long term bear.
Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear. It was already clear that Aquis lobster-potted Rutherford Health (RUTH) was in big trouble as funds from a placing back in August had not arrived and last Friday the company had promised news of bridge financing this week. Back on 25th October my back-of-an-envelope calculator suggested that the company was already on the brink and on Thursday this week – at lunch time when nobody was looking – the company announced the departure of the CEO and the chairman. Did somebody say rats and sinking ship?
It was announced this morning by both AIM-listed Gold and Silver producer in Turkey Ariana Resources (AAU) and Standard-listed Panther Metals (PALM) that Panther’s Australian assets have been floated on the Australian Stock Exchange. This is good news for Ariana, as its subsidiary Asgard has a small stake and for Panther Metals it means that the Australian portfolio is now separately funded, leaving Panther with just its Canadian assets to fund to production/sale.
The stink arising from the alphabet soup that was Edge Performance VCT (EDGI and EDGH) continues to grow. I have written to Dame Carolyn McCall, the CEO of ITV (ITV) regarding the involvement of her chairman, demanding a full enquiry.
The journalist trolling arse of a CEO, that is Gerry Brandon of Deepverge (DVRG), has already been exposed by this website for breaching AIM Rule 11 and misleading investors ahead of his last bailout placing. But today comes news that such deception has happened before. Gerry, you are a very naughty boy indeed and if you had a shred of integrity you’d be quitting in disgrace right now.
Floorcoverings distributor Headlam (HEAD) has announced that Steve Wilson has “stepped down” as Chief Executive and from the company having “been instrumental in the company’s success throughout his 30 years with Headlam, the last five years as Chief Executive”. Bad news or time for a change?
Late last month I observed that boohoo (BOO) was uninteresting to me, but I was going to have a look at shares in ASOS (ASC) which was due to give a big update this Thursday…but it has come out early. I bet you cannot guess why!
Centamin (CEY) says that it is “pleased to announce” the results of a review of its West African exploration portfolio. Companies always say they are pleased to announce – should Centamin be pleased? The shares are down on the RNS.
Good news arrived this morning from AIM-listed Ariana Resources (AAU), the Gold (and Silver) producer in Turkey, as the dates for the Court hearings to reorganise Ariana’s share capital to allow the payment of dividends have come through. Hooray!
Standard-listed Gold explorer Panther Metals (PALM), under the oversight of Ariana Resources’ (AAU) CEO Kerim Sener in the position of Chairman, has announced that the Australian listing of its Aussie assets has moved a step closer with the completion of a pre-IPO funding round. This is good news – especially if one considers the implied valuation.
ShareProphets reader P asks about the position in Turkey with regard to the recent sacking of Naci Agbal – the third Turkish Central Bank governor to be shown the door in less than two years which caused another hefty drop in the Turkish Lira, reports of Turkish jewellers being required to deposit their gold at the central bank and wonders whether there may be a danger of gold confiscation or nationalisation. This, in relation to a holding in AIM-listed gold-producer in Turkey, Ariana Resources (AAU).
Oh dear, oh dear – I would have thought that the board of AIM-listed John Gunn enterprise (or lack of it) Inspirit Energy Holdings (INSP) would have learnt by its previous errors. But alas, no. For five of the last six years, Inspirit has missed the deadline for filing its Confirmation Statement or Annual Return……and guess what?!
AIM-listed gold producer in Turkey Ariana Resources (AAU) this morning announced that its CEO, Kerim Sener, has been buying shares – 582,000 of them – and why not, for the company is on the verge of declaring the long-awaited Special Dividend which I reckon will be around 0.7p. At approx. 4.9p a pop, that is £28,500 worth which is substantial enough to catch my interest, but there is another thing….
AIM-listed gold producer in Turkey Ariana Resources (AAU) has announced completion of the corporate action bringing Ozaltin into its joint venture with Proccea, under which Ariana has reduced its ownership to 23.5% of its assets at and around its producing Kiziltepe plant and at Salinbas in Eastern Turkey in return for $37.75 million. It has taken over a year, but finally we are there. So what will Ariana spend the resulting £25 million on?
AIM-listed technically insolvent POS Trafalgar Property (TRAF) today announced a director share purchase: CEO Paul Treadaway has bought a million golden tickets. The stock is up on the news, but I fear that this is just a textbook spoof.
With all the law enforcement hassles over at Octagonal plc (OCT), which shares the Chairman, CEO and Finance Director in the same roles as at AIM-listed Inspirit Energy Holdings (INSP) one might imagine that their attentions are rather taken up at Octagonal. After all, being charged by the SEC in the USA is a serious matter which could have devastating consequences. So I wonder if anything has been forgotten…….such as this:
Some time in the next week or so we should hear from AIM-listed Ariana (AAU) with another quarterly report from the Kiziltepe gold production plant in Turkey. Ordinarily I would suggest that it will come next week, but given the amount that is going on – especially with regard to the partial sale of assets to Ozaltin – Kerim Sener and his team might be forgiven if it takes a little longer. But with the stock having closed at just 5.05p in the middle on Friday, what news might we expect?
My second tip for 2020 has got off to a bit of a flyer: (sub-) Standard Listed Australian and Canadian gold play Panther Metals (PALM), tipped at 13.75p a few days ago, closed out 2020 at 15p. But on New Year’s Eve – no-one-is-watching o’clock – out came an RNS entitled Year End Review. Was there a dead body to be found?
At 1.25pm AIM-listed POS Inspirit Energy (INSP) issued a statement relating to fellow AIM-listed Octagonal, where its CEO and Chairman John Gunn, and Finance Director Nilesh Jagatia also reside in the same roles, whose subsidiary, Global Investment Strategy is Inspirit’s sole broker – the very same subsidiary which has been charged by the SEC – alongside John Gunn, for aiding and abetting – with violating US broker-dealer registration provisions of the Securities Exchange Act 1934. Given that Jagatia and Gunn make up two thirds of the board of Inspirit, there clearly is a problem here!
It was back in January that I asked if fully-listed Finablr (FIN) was a house of cards. Well, it was – and having denied any problems over and over again, we finally learnt that it had suffered the same fate as fellow Dr Shetty vehicle NMC Health (NMC) with secret cheques being written, director shares being sold and a mountain of debt racked up. Earlier this month Finablr announced it had entered into a definitive agreement to sell Finablr Ltd for just $1.
Fully-listed Egyptian Gold-producer Centamin (CEY) has released RNSs showing that its top brass have been dipping into their own pockets to buy its shares in the wake of last week’s updated mine plan. As discussed HERE and HERE there is plenty to suggest that the offering of a very attractive dividend has much to commend the shares and now Chairman James Rutherford and CEO Martin Horgan have shown the way.
Chris Heminway has called for an EGM to boot off one member of the board of AIM-listed Inspirit and see himself and one other elected instead. In response to the onslaught, Inspirit has suddenly sprung into action, announcing two deals which saw the shares roof it.
We were promised news on AIM-listed Turkish Gold-producer Ariana (AAU) and its proposed corporate action involving Proccea and Ozaltin by the end of this month. At 7am there was nothing and the shares started to slide sharply, especially because CEO Kerim Sener has been selling shares. But fear not…..
Suspicions that the shareholder register of AIM-listed Inspirit Energy (INSP) were not correct were confirmed yesterday lunchtime (the new no-one-is-watching o’clock) when the company admitted that CEO and Chairman John Gunn’s total interest was not 28% as previously claimed on November 25 last year, but 25.4%. Needless to say, the original announcement was signed off by Inspirit’s hapless Nomad, Roland “fatty” Cornish – the worst Nomad in town.
It was announced this morning that Kerim Sener, CEO of AIM-listed Turkish gold-producer Ariana Resources (AAU) has exercised 7 million options at 1.55p and sold five million shares at 5.9p, a further 1.5 million at 5.75p and his wife has sold a further 2.4 million at 5.75p. He subsequently bought 92,000 into his SIPP but that is a fair amount of selling. Should we follow the lead?
The deadwood press gives Ms Gilmarrtin an easy ride because she is a female CEO so will not call her out for bullshit and her convenient share trading. But, having no truck with such woke niceties being a gender blind meritocrat, let’s tell it as it is on the day Claire has announced that she is to step down as Trainline (TRN) CEO in six months time. For starters, her company has not delivered for investors, is in crisis and clearly never will deliver.
That bottle of Ouzo was already on ice, but this morning we learned that partner of AIM-listed Ariana Resources (AAU), Proccea, is to pony up $5.75 million to Ariana for its proposed share in Salinbas to add to the $30 million we already knew about from proposed new partner Ozaltin under the new joint venture scheme currently on the table. Of course, anyone who listened to Tom Winnifrith’s interview with Ariana CEO Kerim Sener at our MineProphets online conference would have known there was more to come, but this morning’s news was a welcome surprise as to its magnitude…
It was back in 2014 that ShareProphets nailed Rob Terry and his sidekicks after they did a stock loan with Equities First which turned out to be a discounted outright sale with an optional buyback clause, and spent a tiny proportion of the proceeds on buying a handful of extra Quindell shares. Of course, the transaction was presented to the market as them buying more stock when in fact they were selling vast quantities of shares – the killer punch being that those Equities First deals were non-recourse.
And now from Wales, by just 30 yards, it is my new, I hope, weekly show. This costs 99p per episode to access and you can either listen or watch very sparky interviews with our in house gold guru Nigel Somerville on why you must be in gold and on the stocks or ETFs to own to maximise your bull market gains and with Union Jack Oil (UJO) boss David Bramhill, the most underpaid oil CEO on AIM. I also serve up a red flag-spotting session with reference to Diversified Gas & Oil (DGOC). You can access the show HERE
The FCA investigation into her antics at Ariadne Capital continues but there is no stopping Julie “Lingerie on expenses” Meyer who is now seeking to dominate the world of fleet logistics. A gushing interview in that must read publication Fleet News tells her exciting story, or rather does not.
Last Monday ShareProphets AIM-China Filthy Forty play Walcom (WALG) offered up yet another statement saying that again its CEO/CFO Mr Francis Chi had failed to offer up a bailout loan, that he still intended to do so (as he has since January!) and that in the absence of further funding it would be a one-way trip to the corporate undertakers last Friday, June 19. There was no statement on Friday, and here we are on Monday and there still has been no statement. Is Walcom bust or not? We need a statement.
The seemingly never-ending Wagnerian Opera of ShareProphets AIM-China Filthy Forty group Walcom (WALG) and its lack of a bailout director loan to avoid a one-way trip to the liquidator’s office saw the latest deadline yesterday pass without a statement. Oh dear: has the curtain finally come down?...
You were warned and warned and warned again here on ShareProphets to get out of fully-listed Finablr (FIN) as it became clear to us that it was facing the same problems as NMC Health (NMC) which is already surely a zero and with which it shared much of the same senior management (until it was fired by NMC) and where accusations of fraud and theft now abound. Quite why the shares were not suspended weeks ago is a matter for our useless and not-fit-for-purpose FCA which, after all, is supposed to protect investors. This morning the shares were suspended, the CEO has walked, dodgy cheques have turned up and the company’s financial position is unclear (for that, read a zero for shareholders). It would be a mind-bending shock if it had not been so predictable, and it is a calamity.
The Wagnerian opera of the eventual demise of ShareProphets AIM-China Filthy Forty play Walcom (WALG) continues, as we learnt today that the bailout rescue loan from its CEO is still not in the bank, but apparently more orders and perhaps more importantly measures from the Shanghai government in response to the corona virus mean that the company will survive until a week on Monday in the continuing absence of the CEO’s largesse.
Withshares in NMC health (NMC) – a soon-to-be-retired member of the illustrious FTSE100 – now suspended in the wake of a string of revelations over founder and now ex-co-chairman’s share dealing shenanigans, dodgy related party share guarantees which one assumes will haunt the company’s bank balance in due course and apparent discrepancies at the bank, Muddy Waters must be celebrating a seemingly total win. But what of fellow main-market play Finablr (FIN), where the warning signs are surely flashing red for similar revelations regarding the same people but as yet the company is remaining tight-lipped. That surely is a giant-sized Red Flag…
One of the signs that all is not well at a plc is when directors pile in for share purchases of a poxy amount to try to show confidence. And that brings me to Future plc (FUTR) which has been on the receiving end of a duffing up by our own Tom Winnifrith and the Dark Destroyer Matt Earl at Shadowfall. Of course, as Tom Winnifrith points out, Future’s response would have made the US fraudster-turned-fraudbuster Sam Antar proud: the report and criticisms were totally ignored.
ShareProphets AIM-China Filthy Forty play Walcom (WALG) updated at lunchtime today that after weeks of prevaricating its CEO and CFO, Mr Francis Chi, has finally signed on the dotted line to give the company a lifeline in the form of a further loan of HK$ 270,000. But as lifelines go, this is as short as it gets for even with further loans which may or may or may not follow we are told that the cash will still run out in early February.
Having announced plans to depart the AIM Casino on Thursday, Cloudbuy (CBUY) slipped out a Director Dealing RNS at no-one-is-watching o’clock last night at 5.47pm showing that departing Chairman Ronald Duncan and his departing CEO wife Lyn Duncan have been dumping shares as fast as they can. If ever there was a signal to follow…….
Two days before Christmas AIM-China Filthy Forty play Walcom (WALG) announced the departure of Yong Tian Chan from the board as of 1 January (ie today). Now the deputy CFO, Jessie Chan, is off, from the end of February. Meanwhile, the company is still teetering on the brink of insolvency as discussions with the CEO regarding another bailout sticking plaster continue.
AIM-listed Eddie Stobart Logistics (ESL) was spun out of Stobart Group (STOB) is, of course, a Woodford Dog – Neil holds about 23% of the stock. When the shares were suspended last month in the wake of an accounting scandal because the interims would be delayed, we were told that the numbers would appear in early September. Well, they haven’t appeared and the next opportunity for release falls on Monday – the sixteenth of the month. According to my maths, that will therefore be the second half of September. Where are the numbers?
I commented HERE some three months ago that fully-listed Centrica (CNA) bosses seemed to be helping themselves to big piggy pay-rises and bonuses ahead of chopping the dividend. Well here we are: the papers are full of stories that the payout it indeed now to be hacked.
It emerged last night that Neil Woodford is still buying shares in Kier Group (KIE) like they are going out of fashion. Mind you, with the stock again plumbing the depths, I guess they are – and Neil Woodford appears to be the only buyer in town
AIM-listed Woodford dog Netscientific (NSCI) has announced the departure of its CEO, Francois Martelet as from 30 April 2019 – just a few day’s time – in order to assist the Company in reducing its central costs and pursue other career opportunities. Well I daresay not having to pay his salary, bonuses and medical insurance will help a little with the company’s forthcoming cashflow difficulties, but if he is departing to help the company why is this all in accordance with the terms of his service agreement?
RBS (RBS) has announced that after five and a half years of earning a basic salary of a million quid a year plus numerous bonuses, LTIPs etc, Ross McEwan has resigned from his role as Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and Executive Director. We are told that bankster fat cat Ross is on a 12 month notice period.
It is becoming like groundhog day at BlueJay Mining (JAY) and the oft trailed "offtake agreement" that never materialises... Originally touted in early 2017, nearly 2 years later and despite much promotion by disgraced share promoter Michael Walters and John Meyer, the shameless head of research at scumbag Nomad SP Angel, there seems little sign of one for BlueJay's investors.
It was announced on Friday that the former CEO and now former board member of AIM-listed Haydale (HAYD) has been selling shares. Back in December it was his two colleagues at Haydale Ceramic Technologies dumping shares (over £110,000 worth). In September, former boss Ray Gibbs sold about 38,000 bits of confetti and now he’s sold a further 80,000 shares. That’s a fair bit of selling by insiders!
And so, at long last, AIM-listed graphene play Haydale (HAYD) has raised some money. With the shares closing at 25.5p last night, it raised just £250,000 in a placing at 20p (a 21.5% discount) and £750,000 by way of a loan from the Development Bank of Wales at 11%. Oh, and we have a new finance director (did he jump or was he pushed), the former CEO (who stepped down on the profit warning back in June) is off (did he jump or was he pushed too?) and so is a NED.
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.
Fully listed BT (BT.A) is the largest holding in my small collection of dividend munchers by value, although for the purposes of the portfolio it is marked as one unit, along with Centrica (CNA) and ITV (ITV). Vodafone, the fourth member, is half a unit – thank goodness! Yesterday’s interims went down very well with the market, which marked the shares up to around 267p at the peak, and closed at around 260. The shares haven’t been this high since last January and you have to go back to last October before you see an extended period of higher prices than that.
Like Tom Winnifrith I am licking my wounds, after AIM-listed Big Sofa (BST) announced awful interims (after the deadline, but escaped being suspended by releasing the numbers first thing this morning before AIM announced today’s suspensions) and a placing so heavily discounted that it made the interims look like the company had won the lottery. It has been a bad couple of weeks. Having been keen I suggested that readers pile in when IPSOS bought at a big premium yet the shares hardly moved. If it looks too good to be true…..lesson learnt.
Chris Bailey is away, so can’t enjoy his ouzo o’clock moment here on ShareProphets. Instead, that falls to me. Back on May 10, when covering the full year results of BT (BT.A), Chris wrote: …the CEO - who surely the new Chairman is considering whether to keep or not. I, on the other hand, noted only last week that there looked to be a battle going on in the boardroom. So I’ll enjoy my ouzo (but I’ll save Chris a glass)!
Lucian Miers can be heard singing in the bath this morning as shares in BNN Technology (BNN) have been suspended. In the last year alone the shares have dived from over 160p per share to the suspension price of 41p, at which its market capitalisation was still a whopping £94 million. Do the maths, at peak price that’s something like £360 million.
Previously on this website regarding MITIE Group (MTO) we noted a Financial Reporting Council investigation, now there’s a “Financial Conduct Authority Notification”…
Perhaps Sam Smith, CEO of Nomad FinnCap which appears happy for the CEO's of corporate clients to engage in industrial scale insider dealing, can help us with this problem? What exactly was the banking covenant Telit (TCM) breached on June 30th? The answer will help to determine how long the CEO Yosi Fait should spend in jail for his crimes. While Sam is about it...
A surprise announcement from AIM-listed Management Resource Solutions (MRS) at 9.49am detailing board and management changes. At that time of day it hardly looks routine and it wasn’t.
It is almost three years since the Equities First Holdings story hit the headlines with the deal signed up with by Rob Terry et al at what was then called Quindell – now Watchstone (WTG) – whereby the sale of shares via a non-recourse sell and buyback deal was dressed up as a director share purchase.
AIM-listed ASA Resources (ASA), formerly Mwana Africa, has been getting into a right mess of late, with significant funds having been remitted from operating subsidiaries in Zimbabwe and not properly accounted for. Funds remitted to group entities in Hong Kong have not been accounted for and it seems that the bank accounts in Hong Kong appear to remain under the control of two recently sacked directors, Mr Yat Hoi Ning (CEO) and Mr Yim Kwan (FD). It is an all too familiar story for followers of the ShareProphets AIM-China Filthy Forty: directors walk off with the cash, get sacked but can’t be reached. Now ASA tells us that it’s shares are suspended pending financial clarification – and a third director, Mr “Brian” Ching Fung Hung having gone AWOL has now also been removed from the board.
Doesn’t time fly when you’re having fun? It’s now been a year since Boxhill Technologies’ (BOX) CEO stepped down and Lord Razzall stepped into the role of Executive Chairman while looking for a replacement. Worth having a look how the boss has done – not good is the short answer, so doubt shareholders have been having too much fun. Read on for the longer answer.
ShareProphets AIM-China Filthy Forty play Taihua (TAIH) has finally announced the long-awaited buy-back first announced way back last August when launching an Open Offer to pay for it. Hurrah! So it wasn’t a massive spoof to get a fundraising away after all, although the net result of the exercise appears to be a lot more shares in issue and a net inflow of well over half the funds raised.
I surprised myself to note that I haven’t commented on the quality outfit, Boxhill Technologies (BOX), in over two months so thought I should start the New Year by asking the question that must be on every investor’s lips: when is the new CEO going to start and who the hell is it? Surely the company's not struggling to find a suitable mug / candidate?
Hello Share Tootlers. It's quite a bit since I last suggested you might do some further research on Assura (AGR). Since then the company has found another £300 million from investors.
She was horrified. I am not sure she agreed with my line that the mainstream press were part of the problem not the solution but she agreed that AIM had its issues. On the bearcast today I look at Red Leopard (RLH), Formation Group (FRM), Mobile Streams (MOS) and its charming CEO - Andalas (ADL) - whose CEO is a tosser - Strat Aero (AERO), Finnaust (FAM), Inspirit (INSP), Plus 500 (PLUS), Advanced Oncotherapy (AVO)), TrakM8 (TRAK) and Cloudtag (CTAG) plus one way of looking at it which sees 300 companies on AIM as a sort of fraud.
Given what we now know about the guaranteed sales order from Second Chance and the binding heads of terms deal with Cities, I just had to have a chuckle at the content of an RNS released by AIM-listed jam-tomorrow (and product some time thereafter) CloudTag (CTAG).
Cloudtag (CTAG) shareholders might expect that Amit Ben Haim, the supposedly superstar CEO, would be wholly focused on building Cloudtag’s business but based on filings at Companies House he has a number of other directorships. Let's look at how a few other businesses led by the great man are doing....
I cannot say that I agree with all that is said or written by Richard Jennings of Align Research but a letter he has sent to the boss of Providence Resources (PVR) is bang on the money. The time has come to fire Tony O'Reilly junior.
Talk about a good day to bury bad news: every media commentator is trying to come to terms with the election of Donald Trump (with the notable exception of our own Tom Winnifrith, who is off to get his new Poll Sheriff’s badge) and so at 3.41pm yesterday AIM-listed Milestone Group (MSG) slipped out a “miscellaneous” RNS. It may have won two big contracts recently but in terms of this RNS, there was nothing miscellaneous about it: this company is in serious trouble.
Yesterday saw a shocking litany of scandal regarding Iraeli tech play TrendIT (TRIT) of the LSE’s Standard List on the main market. We saw how it managed to gain admission claiming to be raising £4m which didn’t arrive, how its accounts suggest that it was not solvent either before or after the IPO, lost its Broker (Peterhouse) which is yet to be replaced, confusion over which firm was acting for it in its IPO and admission placing, a boardroom merry-go-round, a going concern warning from its auditor and suspension from trading “pending an announcement” we’ve all been awaiting for almost three months – and it only listed in January! Today we bring you, courtesy of the Global Shorting Conspiracy, a translation of an article published by Israeli newspaper Calcalist.
If you thought that AIM was badly regulated then the Standard List seems to be making great strides to demonstrate how much worse it could all get. We already have Cynical Bear’s Sub-Standard Shockers XI but in the form of Trendit (TRIT) an extraordinary set of events suggests a real scandal is brewing. Will anyone step up to the plate and take action?
Hello Share Pippers. The chain store firm of Dunelm Group (DNLM) has produced some jolly good figures. They are in line with other reports that consumer spending is actually up since the Brexit vote. So all those gloomy folk who predicted hard times ahead after our decision to divorce from Europe are wrong.
In a quite astonishing statement released yesterday, the non-exec Chairman of AIM death-row inhabitant Galasys (GLS), Mr Kim Seng Teh, has given his account of an unbelievable systemic failure on the AIM Casino to control the behaviour of the board of a member of the world’s most successful growth market. WH Ireland, as the Nomad responsible for this train-wreck until a few days ago, has a number of serious questions to answer, as does AIM Regulation – which, I hope, will be asking a good few questions of its own. I wouldn’t like to second-guess who is the villain in the boardroom and who is the innocent party, but I am sure of one thing: heads must roll in the oversight department.
It was announced on Monday afternoon that stricken ShareProphets AIM-China Filthy Forty play MoneySwap (SWAP) has drawn down another additional £147,000 under a keep-the-lights-on bridging facility whilst it tries to get a refinancing together. It has now borrowed $395,000 of a $200,000 facility, plus three extensions. Oh, and its CEO walked last week, with (apparently) non-Exec Chairman Craig Niven stepping in as interim CEO. Except on Monday he was still being noted as non-Exec in the RNS.
We have already noted that AIM-listed Galasys (GLS) appears to be minus a company secretary, minus a registered office, minus a Nomad, minus a Broker and minus a NED or two since the board declared war upon itself last year. Now it seems that two disgruntled shareholders have decided enough is enough, but the implications as to what has been going on are dreadful.
With a business model which has seen red flags ahoy noted and recent performance “weaker… than we would have liked” (sorry, in order to help the company ‘realise its considerable potential’), Utilitywise (UTW) has announced the appointment of Brendan Flattery as CEO, effective 1st October 2016…
On Tuesday AIM-listed ECR Minerals (ECR) put out a stinker of an RNS which crashed the share price. Yesterday we learned that the CEO is stepping down, effective at the end of this month. Did he jump, or was he pushed? And was Tuesday’s RNS completely truthful, and where does that leave the Nomad, Cairn?
Who is the best CEO out there? In the world of financial services maybe we should go to the Wealth & Finance International Magazine as it hands out its gongs. It leaves nothing to chance stating:
Tom Winnifrith described the deal under which AIM-listed E-Therapeutics (ETX) repurchased a company called Searchbolt (having spun it off some while back) as stinking like a pile of rotting kippers at the height of summer. In the event, two directors of E-Therapeutics ended up with (between them) almost 3.4 million shares in the company from the transaction. Now the CEO (who accounted for 3,350,228 of those shares – plus a cash sum to cover capital gains tax) has quit with immediate effect.
Steve Moore has already ably covered the Newmark Security (NWT) profit warning this morning, which see the shares marked down to 1.75p and makes my Buy rating as published here in May look rather foolish. Indulge me and I’ll see if I can offer some insights as to what investors ought to think about.
ShareProphets likes to bring you the news that companies don’t want you to see. In that vein we bring you yesterday’s RNS from the AIM-listed mile-high croc of **** with no CEO and which is running out of cash otherwise known as Fastjet (FJET) which was entitled Notice of AGM. To make things look really kosher it came out at 3.36pm on a Friday: no-one-is-watching o’clock. Whilst some in the square mile may already have been off lining up the Friday night coke and hookers, we were still watching. Blow me down with a feather, it wasn’t just a notice of AGM.
Recent profit-warning issuing creator of digital advertising platforms, Crossrider (CROS) has now made an announcement entitled “Board Changes including appointment of CEO”. The new CEO also follows the March departure of Koby Menachemi “to pursue other opportunities”, but who is it and what are the other board changes?
Oh dear, oh dear. I have the utmost respect for Richard Poulden who had the grim task of overseeing today’s awful trading update from AIM-China play PCG Entertainment (PCGE) and like Tom Winnifrith I had hoped that his outfit might prove to be a rare winner on the Filthy Forty. My experience of him has been one of immense integrity a very sharp mind so it is with considerable sadness that I am writing this. But a bit more digging later, it looks just awful – although, I must stress, not on Mr Poulden - and there is a worrying implication on fellow Filthy Forty play MoneySwap which is already is considerable trouble. Sadly, I fear that AIM Regulation needs to do a full steward’s here.
Hello Share Samplers. Investing in airlines has produced nice gains of late, thanks largely to the cut in fuel prices. But it may be that this little line of money-making is dropping off, now that the oil cost has been factored in for most air operators. But there may still be some benefit in investing in companies which supply airlines. One which comes to mind is Senior (SNR). It is a top-flight engineer which operates in 14 countries. It makes parts for aeroplane engines, including gear that helps air circulate.
It will come as no surprise to readers of ShareProphets that main market listed Goldenport Holdings (GPRT) is to leave the LSE, as announced this morning. Shareholders are set to lose everything just as predicted (see HERE, HERE, HERE and HERE) but amazingly the shares are still trading pro tem. You can still get your bad of crisps….or perhaps just a couple of penny chews, for the shares have collapsed (so far) by 70% today, to 1.5p mid. So there is another 1.5p to go….
This morning saw a most interesting “Holding(s) in Company” RNS from Red Flag strewn ShareProphets AIM-China Filthy Forty play GTS Chemical. Now perhaps all is completely above board and we are looking at an unfortunate coincidence. Or perhaps the company has just announced that its CEO has been offloading shares. A clarification is surely needed.
This podcast looks at three men. First is the criminal fraudster and expenses thief Rob Terry and I discuss what sort of trial and what sort of punishment needs to take place and be imposed. Then it is fund manager Neil Woodford and I look at his growing biotech headaches. Finally the greedy pig Richard Chase of Nyota. If you have not yet listened to yesterday's special on this failure of a CEO please do so and send the email I request.
With a hat tip to a reader who is clearly as much of an anorak as I am, I trek over to Companies House and discover that on 9 February, shortly after its piss poor interims, folks behind Avanti Communications (AVN) established three new Companies. Hang on Henry, what on earth is David Williams, the most bombastic CEO on AIM up to?
It seems that amongst the crony capitalists coining it in from the coke & hookers subsidy machine that is the AIM Casino this website is not terribly popular. I think we can take that as a vindication of what a good job we are doing. An AIM CEO emailed me to say - and I take this as praise indeed:
Last commenting on processor and communications technology group Imagination (IMG), I noted vindication in the face of some bulletin board derision but that the shares were now on the watchlist as a buy - see HERE. Does an announcement today of “CEO change, trading update and restructuring” change this?
Following the appearance of AIM-listed DQ Entertainment (DQE) in our Red Flags at Night series regarding the resignation of its Nomad and other matters, slipped out at no-one-is-watching o’clock on 3 Feb, we had a Director Shareholding RNS yesterday afternoon. It is a complex announcement, but it stinks. Certainly it did not give any reason to question the wisdom of the Nomad, Allenby, to step down on 22 Feb. The shares remain a big sell even after the collapse of last week.
It was announced yesterday at 11.32am that the CEO of AIM-listed Rurelec (RUR), Mr Mark Keegan, had walked with immediate effect. Having only been on the board since late July this year, and with the first RNS released which bore his name as CEO having been on 13 October this year this looks to be an ominous development - not to mention the well-chronicled tale of financial and other woes besetting the company.
On Thursday at no-one-is-watching o’clock (5.54pm) AIM-listed Rightster (RSTR) issued a very odd RNS detailing peculiar dealings in the company’s shares by its CEO, Mr Patrick Walker. From the text of the RNS it would appear that his director shareholding is – as I understand it – under the control of a third party. Who might that be, and why? Then there is the reporting of a transaction dating back to 7 August – is that delay a breach of AIM Rules?
ShareProphets AIM-China Filthy Forty member and Jersey-registered Asia Ceramics Holdings (ACHP) recently featured HERE in the wake of its after-hours (and Red Flag riddled) full year 2014 results. What emerged was a large market capitalisation relative to (almost) non-existent earnings. But there was also a long string of related party transactions, and a CEO who appeared to be running businesses in China doing the same thing as Asia Ceramics does…in China. But what catches the eye now is an RNS on Tuesday of this week which describes a very peculiar set of loan agreements between CEO Dr Pu and the company.
Via his PR I have asked Robert Fielding, the CEO of Quindell (QPP) questions about the sleeping arrangements at the recent Quenron management away day at a luxury hotel in the Lake District. No comment is the response. So I tried a different tack
I’d like to remind certain people who’ve attacked the mercurial David Lenigas, in recent weeks, that this is the man who a couple of months ago was being praised by the vast majority for making them collectively, hundreds of thousands, if not millions of pounds. (Where are they all now David?) Fast forward to the present day and Mr Lenigas is now being demonised on financial web sites, bulletin boards, comments sections & twitter.
Together Robert Sutherland Smith and Tom Winnifrith have now been working in finance for 71 years - the last ten or so together. Tom wishes to stress that RSS accounts for most of that, the great value investor starting his City career at the Unilever Pension Fund the year before Tom was born. In their NEW book they outline 71 tricks of the trade for making money from shares. Here are rules seven and nine.
The post bank holiday cobwebs were well and truly blown away by this morning’s Telecity (TCY) regulatory statement innocuously titled ‘Board Change’. No third level non-executive director shuffling his range of fee paying obligations…no, this was a big one: the resignation of the CEO.
At the weekend we asked our readers for their view on CEOs who commit fraud. And yes this does refer explicitly to Rob Terry at Quindell (QPP) who really must answer the simple question posed in today’s article HERE as well as numerous others as a matter of urgency. We asked how you viewed fraud in investment terms. You said:
Having announced “preliminary discussions in relation to a possible merger” with Carillion PLC (CLLN) on 25th July, Balfour Beatty (BBY) has now announced that it has terminated the discussions after “Carillion's wholly unexpected decision to only progress the possible merger in the event that (US-headquartered engineering consultancy business) Parsons Brinckerhoff remained part of the potential combined entity”. Below I analyse this strange twist of events, after the prospective merger was originally described by the companies as having “the potential to create a market leading services, investments, and construction business of considerable depth and scale”
Shares in design and engineering consultancy Hyder (HYC) fell more than 38%, to below 400p, in the aftermath of a February warning that “results for the financial year are expected to be materially below current market expectations due to delays in new contract awards in Australia following the election, and project delays in the Middle East”. However, a recommended 650p per share cash offer for the company has now been announced. Are there lessons to be learned here?
I penned a piece on Astar Minerals (ASTA) a few days ago talking about why the market is acting irrationally and why the stock was worth a fraction of its price.
