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As you grow old, you should learn from investing. In that vein, I discuss my 1997 encounters with Adonis Pouroulis of Chariot Oil & Gas (CHAR), and why I'd not touch Chariot with a bargepole. I also discuss investing in a bear market, what we should do and the irrational decisions others will make, looking at AAA, Asimilar (ASLR) and Audioboom (BOOM). I then examine Guild ESports (GILD), and what I believe is an upcoming placing at 1p. That will also kick Cellular Goods (CBX) in the golden balls. Finally, I discuss renting out the Greek Hovel, as you can see HERE, and urge the 95% of listeners yet to donate to Rogue Bloggers for Woodlarks, to do so HERE.
Shares in Aim-listed URU Metals (URU) have been on the rise and this morning the company issued an RNS regarding drilling news from 74.8% majority-owned ZEB Nickel, listed in Toronto (ZBNI) regarding the Zebediela Nickel project in South Africa. The RNS is, natch, very positive but I wonder if it really is.
It was announced at 2.54pm today that fully-listed – and suspended for two years in the wake of a catastrophic controversy involving undeclared debts and so on – has finally been placed into administration, under the care of PKF GM. Having lost a second auditor last week with no accounts published since August 2019 (the half-year to June 2019) that was already a very bad sign and now it is over to PKF to perform the last rites.
I start with a few thoughts on a visit this morning to the post industrial wastelands of Salford. Gosh it was grim. Then a schoolboy error on Skinbiotherapeutics (SBTX) but it only makes the case for filling your boots stronger. No, I have not got a scooby about why Bluebird (BMV) shares are up but I speculated and put together a few pieces of the jigsaw. I look at W Resources (WRES) but would not touch it with a bargepole and then discuss the wholly unacceptable greed of Andrew “piggy” Austin at Kistos (KIST)
A rise in the shares of AIM-listed Applied Graphene (AGM) caught my eye today. Like Haydale (HAYD) and Versarien (VRS) – apparently – it is a graphene play on the world’s most successful growth market. So how is the growth here? Er…..
Entirely predictably, AIM-listed John Zorbas vehicle URU Metals (URU) has slipped out its interim results on deadline day (never a good sign) in no-one-is-watching week, the few trading days between Christmas and New Year. As such it is a fabulous day to bury bad news……and there is, of course, plenty of bad news.
This is simple enough. The CEO of ADM Energy (ADME) is a lying Osa. The Winnileaks service has been provided with a copy of an email exchange between Osamede Okhomina and Richard “nobody likes me and I don’t care” Jennings of Align Research on 25 and 27 August.
RentGuarantor Holdings PLC provides a rent guarantee service to tenants wishing to rent property in the UK from the Private Rental Sector. The rent guarantee service is an online service where applications can be managed on a secure and bespoke digital platform designed and built by RentGuarantor Holdings PLC So says the company but ahead of its 8 December listing on the lobster pot c/o Alfred Henry there is already a massive red flag fluttering. In fact there are a number.
I noted yesterday that in a late-afternoon RNS Edge Performance VCT (EDGH and EDGI) was proposing to consign its I-shares to the dustbin, paying out the remaining 3.39p due to shareholders (by borrowing the cash from the H-share pool) and denying I-shareholders the chance to vote at the still to-be-reconvened AGM. This, despite a promise in the full year results published 24 August, to see all its directors face re-election in 2021.
I have this one bang to rights. It is all there in the IPO prospectus (page 135) and the most recently released annual report. On the basis of what I describe the so -alled independent NEDs need to consider their position, the Nomad Allenby needs to force an immediate repayment of the sums involved and the company, already seriously uninvestable though capitalised at £32.1 million is a 100% bargepole. The image below is from one of its sites and page 18 of the annual report. At least this company understands irony.
Since the arrival of the new management at what was St James House on 25 March 2021, there have been over 25 RNS announcements from the group now known as Tintra (TNT). That is enough on its own to scream caveat emptor.
Aquis lobster-potted Rutherford Health (RUTH) – formerly Neil Woodford favourite Proton Partners – has announced a deal to open new health clinics in partnership with BUPA. Great, whizzo……but there is just one tiny little thing wrong here!
Noting I would keep my watchful eye on Aquis lobster-potted Truspine (TSP) in the wake of a Christmas 2020 update that its FDA-approval paperwork was three months behind more-or-less on deadline day, I see that the company has announced that it has applied for its Cervi-LOK spinal product to be designated as a “Breakthough Device Technology”. Whatever……here we are in November and the FDA 510k application for this device, originally due last Christmas, has still not been filed. But it gets worse……
Aquis lobster-pot listed TruSpine (TSP) has announced a placing raising just £650,000 – of which only £500,000 of actual cash was raised (the balance being fee shares, one presumes to the fine Broker involved to cover coke and hookers costs). Quite why anyone would pay 10p for shares which are trading at just 8.75p (up 0.65p) even after the announcement) is beyond me! But the highlight was the update over FDA submission for its Cervi-LOK product.
In my last piece on AIM-listed Haydale (HAYD) at the beginning of this month I discussed a ramparoonie RNS revealing an undeclared related party and a tin-pot organisation casting a very different light on matters as presented by the company. What was the point? Of course – it was a pre-placing ramp and this morning it was time for Ouzo on cornflakes as Haydale revealed a fundraise at just 6p per share. That, against a peak last week of 7.55p.
I discuss a fascinating article about XL Media (XLM) HERE in the Times of Israel. If I wanted to list a fraud I’d be big on ESG as was XL. Chris Bailey’s fund manager pals would love it as I stole all the cash. I look at gender targets and ask what they should be, referencing Principals of Cambridge Colleges. I look at Mercantile Ports (MPL) and PrimaryBid and then what I plan, or hope, to do next about the fraud Umuthi (UHS), ask the victims to tell their stories. I look at Paul Johnson’s Power Metal Resources (POW) and its latest news which takes me back to 2007 and Mark Watson Mitchell’s Yellowcake. I comment on Asimilar (ASLR) and then go to town on Deepverge (DVRG) and its journalist trolling cock of a CEO Gerry Brandon explaining why I believe investors were materially misled in the run up to the £10 million June 7 placing and why the company is, for a variety of reasons, a total bargepole. It is just not investment grade material.
IQ-AI (IQAI) Chief Executive Trevor Brown is “pleased to announce… unaudited financial results for the six months ended 30 June 2021”. So ‘pleased’ that he’s done so at an intra-day 9:57am on the Friday before a bank holiday weekend… not usually a time to announce ‘pleasing’ financial results Trev! But then this is the Trevor Brown of pumping & dumping, spiv infamy. Now, why may these results not be pleasing for shareholders?
Sub-Standard-Listed Cloudbreak Discovery (CDL), which rushed its way onto the Standard List only in June as Imperial X (IMPP) before it had even managed to change its name amid a forest of Red Flags, has announced an industrial trough-load of options for directors, PMDRs and other staff. Its nice to be valued, but what about the shareholders?
As I prepare for blackberry picking with newly arrived Olaf, the bearcast today covers just one company, one where I was a shareholder but would not go back, Falanx (FLX). I do mention Jubilee Metals (JLP), en passant.
Well done to the Sheriff of AIM for calling this IPO out as a dog with fleas from the outset. A trading update for its year ended 30th June 2021 from Abingdon Health (ABDX) includes trading performance “in line with the guidance given in April 2021. As at 30 June 2021 the company had net cash of £4.9m”. So why are the shares currently 19% further lower to 30p?
AIM-listed Catenae Innovation (CTEA), which is almost revenue-free and surely heading for a Christmas cash-crunch, has announced a “Data Visualisation Oder” from SaxaVord UK Spaceport at a satellite ground station in the Shetland Islands. Good news…..or not, for we are told that revenues created from the order are not significant. So another revenue-free project, then!
Do you remember a few days ago when Lyin’ Steve Sanderson of UK Oil & Gas (UKOG) issued an RNS to tell us about the operational problems at the Basur-3 drilling site in Turkey, the one last drilled before England won the World Cup? No. For Lyin’ Steve neglected to tell us about that bad news as AIM Rules suggest he should have. But fear not! The problem has been solved, well sort of.
AIM-listed John Zorbas outfit URU Metals (URU) had a good day in the market yesterday as its shares shot up by 8% to 405p on news of developments regarding its “disposal” of the Zebediela nickel project in South Africa to Toronto Venture Exchange listed Blue Rhino (RHNO). Except as far as I can see it is not really a disposal as one might normally understand the word.
Since my last article on St James House (SJH), the Tintra connected Directors on the Board of St James House have been busy and there has been a flurry of announcements in July. But what they face is an Augean stable.
The morning, AIM-listed Catenae Innovation (CTEA) trumpeted a new pilot programme with a charity. Bully for it, but to me this morning’s RNS is extremely bad news and this is why.
I start with a request to you all, to help me nail some villains. Please can you send THIS OUTSIDE PAYWALL ARTICLE to all your twitter, instagram, facebook etc accounts. I then look at the frauds Zoetic International (ZOE) and Supply@ME Capital (SYME), as well as Best of the Best (BOTB) which is not a fraud but is a stock that for three reasons I would not touch with a bargepole.
I shall turn to the abject full-year results and trading update from Remote Monitored Systems (RMS) in due course. Suffice to say, what is unfolding is exactly what myself and Gary Newman have predicted so many times and the shares, though down sharply today, remain on the bargepole list. The real shocker is buried in the waffle and the cashflow statement.
On Friday morning at 7am fully-listed former Neil Woodford favourite Esken (ESKN) – formerly known as Stobart Group Ltd (STOB) – announced that its proposed sale of Stobart Air to Ettyl Limited was being delayed by change of control consents taking longer than planned. Given that the sale was due to complete by early May 2021 announcing this on the last trading day of May seems a bit ripe. But worse was to follow.
Last night, at 6.02pm – no-one-is-watching o’clock – AIM-listed URU Metals (URU) announced it has increased the death spiral facility with an outfit called Boothbay Absolute Return Strategies from $250,000 to $500,000 – and the bargain giveaway conversion terms which were originally due to expire within 90 days of the original loan have again been extended so that Boothbay can convert at just 85p……with the stock trading at 325p!
Schroder UK Public Private Trust (SUPP) – formerly Neil Woodford’s Patient Capital Trust (WPCT) has released its Annual Report for FY20 and the shocking write-downs are all too apparent, although no surprise to ShareProphets as we warned of this all along. The good news is that the gearing has been paid off and the company now finds itself with over 3% cash now that investee Kymab has been sold. But the red ink is everywhere, and led to another severe drop in NAV as write-down after write-down took their toll.
Here is another piece of fake news from Alliance News: “Losses widen at BSF Enterprise but cash position strengthens”. This followed the release by sub-Standard Listed cash-shell BSF Enterprise (BSFA) of Interims to March 2020 – just over three weeks AFTER it released full year numbers to September 2020 (which were released a day late on April 1st despite having been filed to Companies House on 4th March. What sort of shambles is this?
I get regular e-mails every Friday with often rude, but always amusing jokes. But nothing is a bigger joke or more amusing than UK Oil and Gas (UKOG) year-end accounts. This year was no disappointment and really had me chuckling – perhaps the Chairman had Tom Winnifrith and myself in his sights while he tried to justify the total disaster?
It is a while since I took a look at AIM-listed Igas Energy (IGAS) – the last big round of coverage followed Andrew Austin and his dodgy deal with Equities First, and the subsequent refinancing which we correctly called as the oil price plummeted. Today, the company revealed its accounts for FY20 and there was a striking similarity……
Cash-shell BSF Enterprise (BSFA) of the Sub-Standard List (surely two Red Flags already!) published its FY numbers to 30 September 2020 this morning – April 1st. Those with a sharp eye might notice they are a day late – which is a bit of a mystery given that they were signed off by the Auditor (PKF Littlejohn) and Geoffrey Baker on behalf of the board a month ago on March 1st, filed at Companies House on 4th March and released by Companies House on March 12th! So much for shareholders finding out what is going on via the RNS system first!
It was announced this morning that AIM-listed Catenae Innovation (CTEA) is to delay releasing its accounts to 30 September 2020 with the blessing of AIM Regulation, which has given the company until the end of June on the grounds of the Covid pandemic. I will come to this later, but we were also treated to a trading update……which was indeed a treat, if you are a bear.
Technically insolvent AIM POS St James House (SJH) made a song and dance yesterday of its latest bailout rescue finance package – which neither bails it out or rescues it – with Tintra Acquisitions Limited. There is a £250,000 loan convertible into a death spiral at 10p per share (take note shareholders, with the price currently 45p a pop!) but tied to that are two option deals which apparently bring in between them a fraction below £180,000. So how much of that will find its way onto St James’ balance sheet?
The good Professor Conroy and his team at AIM-listed Conroy Gold and Natural Resources (CGNR) must be feeling very pleased with themselves this morning, as the company announced a decent-sized fundraise to bring in £1.87 million in cash (before expenses) and a debt-for-equity swap regarding outstanding director fees and other debts to wipe out £379,000 of monies due. So does this finally cure Conroy’s long-running illness of technical insolvency, as highlighted by the Auditor in November’s FY accounts to May?
Neil Woodford’s shambolic Patient Capital Trust (WPCT) – now Schroder UK Public Private Trust (SUPP) after Woodford’s disgrace – has announced the completion of an asset sale to bring in £52.9 million. In theory this is good news, but since the original sale was announced as being at a 19% discount and the vast majority of the cash is being used to part-pay the bank there really isn’t much to celebrate for shareholders.
I commented back in January on AIM-listed URU Metals (URU) and its proposed sale of the Zebediela project in South Africa to Canadian-listed cash (-less) shell Blue Rhino Capital. Suffice to say I wasn’t impressed. Yesterday the company called its AGM and on the agenda is this “disposal”.
AIM-listed Mediazest (MDZ) has finally released results for its extended 18-month period to September 2020, and the numbers are a calamity as the Red Ink dribbles from every page. Of course, ShareProphets readers were forewarned, so I hope you have missed out on today’s share price drop of 10.5% thus far.
On February 11th AIM-listed Mediazest (MDZ) announced that it expects its results for the 18-month period to 30 September 2020 to be announced by the end of the month. Next week is the end of the month – the question is whether its expectations are to be believed, or whether they are in the same mould as Tom Winnifrith’s expectations with regard to Britain’s favourite chanteuse.
There is a flurry of new cannabis listings going on at the moment, and Peterhouse play Kanabo (KNB) joined the Standard List yesterday, having reversed into Spinnaker Opportunities – a cash shell which joined the sub-Standard list back in 2017. The RTO was accompanied by a placing, raising £6 million gross at 6.5p and the stock is, ahem, on a high at 17.25p giving a market capitalisation of a very tasty £62 million. So is it a buy or a bargepole?
AIM-listed Mediazest (MDZ) caught my eye this morning: it is currently top of ADVFN’s gainers leaderboard today with a rise of a very impressive 140%, with a share price of just 0.12p – having been as high as 0.175p. There was news of new business wins due to bring in £350,000 of revenues but as we know, revenues are one thing and cash is quite another. But apart from that, it looks like a forest of Red Flags is upon it: have the Bulletin Board Morons completely lost the plot? TW Note did they ever have it?
On 10 July 2020, I published a devastating and detailed bear dossier on AIM darling Manolete (MANO) with the shares at 515p valuing it at more than £250 million. The company and its odious PR firm Instinctif responded with a pompous and unconvincing denial. I’ve warned you repeatedly since then and yesterday in the late afternoon came a shocking warning. The shares closed at 200p but as lies are exposed, worse, including a bailout placing, will come. So let’s start with the lies.
The good news is that we did not have to wait until after-hours on New Year’s Eve for the latest set of Interim Results to September from AIM-listed John Zorbas POS URU Metals (URU). But the numbers are, as predicted, truly awful – it is Red Flags ahoy from this technically insolvent joke company.
Shares in Microsaic Systems (MSYS) are down by 60% today. Mr Market is showing Christmas generosity, this stock is still anywhere between 60% and 100% too high…
Oh dear, oh dear. Neil Woodford’s former Woodford Patient Capital Trust (WPCT) now under new management as Schroder UK Public Private Trust (SUPP) has announced this morning a 71% hit to its investment in Ombu, knocking £10 million off NAV. This follows the acquisition of Ombu by HP Environmental Technologies Fund (HPET), in which SUPP now has a stake.
After the company’s PR firm managed to persuade another lacky journalist at the Sunday Times to do a massive puff piece for Nightcap, a firm run by Dragon’s Den Sarah Willingham, I am this morning invited to invest in the AIM Casino IPO via Primary Bid. Here is what the Sunday Times and other pliant hacks do not tell you and this is why “I’m out” on this one. I’d rather eat my own toenails than invest.
Worthless Standard listed POS, Iconic (ICON), issued its final results for the year ended 30 June 2020 and they were dire. Truly dire. Unbelievably dire. And this comes after ramptastic RNS after ramptastic RNS penned by toxic Dave Sefton et al saying how well things were going.
Aquis-listed Rutherford Health (RUTH), the former Proton Partners that Neil Woodford so merrily put his former fundholders on the hook to fund at a ludicrous price, has published its Interims to August 31 this morning. What a shambles!
Shares in John Zorbas AIM outfit URU Metals (URU) are up today on the news of an advisory board appointment. The company announced the hiring of Mr Justin Cocharne to URU’s advisory board and the shares have motored by 6.4% to 250p but I just have one question: how will URU pay for his services, given that the company is quite clearly technically insolvent?
The company is cyber security outfit ECSC Group (ECSC) and in this podcast I dissect its finals from last year, interims, recent trading statement and other red flags leading me to explain why you should not buy into the hot sector argument and should not touch it with a bargepole.
This morning AIM-listed Catenae Innovation plc (CTEA) has issued two RNSs covering a new joint venture with BHA Medical – to which is it issuing 10 million warrants at 2.5p, and a further 2 million warrants at 2.5p to “other parties”….whoever that may be. Catenae’s shares are up to 2.8p on the news, so BHA and person or persons unknown are already in the money.
AIM-listed URU Metals (URU) – the company which drills shareholders as opposed to anything in the ground, according to Cynical Bear – has launched a new Corporate Presentation. That means its next confetti-fest is now under starters orders…
Gary Newman stuck the knife in to AIM-listed Adamas (ADAM) – of the ShareProphets AIM-China Filthy Forty, no less – at the beginning of September when it announced a share buy-back at a higher price than a placing and open offer first announced in July, but which only completed today – and only partially. If that is not bonkers enough, it seems that a large chunk of the placing cash is yet to arrive. We were told yesterday that:
AIM-listed Yu Group (YU.) announced its Interims to June this morning – deadline day, never a good sign – and the balance sheet shows it is in a mess.
This morning AIM-listed Eddie Stobart Limited (ESL) released its interims – the first reporting period following the accounting shambles which threatened to destroy the Eddie Stobart business and left the company with a (just under) half share of the business it used to own (less a load of 18% debt). So how are things?
When, on August 11th I looked at the rescue rights issue for fully-listed Hammerson (HMSO) and the terms, I concluded it was a slam dunk sell. At the time, the shares were (in consolidated terms) 264.9p with a mother-load of rights offer confetti to come at just 15p. The official ex-rights price calculation was 25.59p: now the stock is languishing at just 16.6p. A glass of Ouzo for me, then.
I have warned and warned and warned that AIM-listed Haydale (HAYD) needed more money and having jumped on the Covid-Bandwagon at the beginning of July and seen its shares slide from 8.45p on 20th August to last night’s close at just 5.1p, this morning the company announced a bookbuild at just 3.5p to raise £3 million. The only question is whether it should be Ouzo on my Cornflakes or my Rice Krispies.
When it comes to this enterprise, Iron Maiden was, as was often the case, bang on the money. Last week, Dozens Savings PLC made the following announcement:
AIM-listed Karelian Diamonds (KDR) – the junior sibling of Conroy Gold and Natural Resources (CGNR) – has announced a placing to raise £420,000 at 4p per share, a whopping 24% discount to yesterday’s closing price. That’s all very well, but by my maths it still leaves the company technically insolvent…
A few readers have been asking about Russian gold miner, fully-listed Petropavlovsk (POG). As the dust starts to settle after the latest round of corporate shenanigans, there are enough signs for me to give this outfit a very wide berth…
Controversy is putting it mildly! Yesterday morning at 7.25am AIM-listed Curtis Banks Group plc (CBP) announced the acquisition of Talbot and Muir Ltd , and fintech provider Dunstan Thomas Group Ltd for an initial consideration of up to £21.5 million to be funded through cash and an equity placing. Two minutes later a proposed Placing to raise £25 million was announced. The problem? Well, the company didn’t have the disapplication of pre-emption rights authority to raise £25 million in a placing. But that didn’t stop it.
AIM-listed Prof. Conroy lifestyle outfit Karelian Diamonds (KDR) offered up some good news this morning in that it it has secured vehicular access rights to its Lahtojoki diamond project. Well, it would be, but Karelian hasn’t any cash to spend on exploration so why the shares are up 24% is a mystery.
Last night, at no-one-is-watching o’clock (four minutes to six pm) it was announced that Mr Samuel Dayani, a NED at AIM-listed CentralNic Group (CNIC) has been dumping shares – the best part of £155,000 worth. We are told that he still has a boat-load of the stock (11.36% of the shares) but nonetheless that’s quite a bit of cash especially when the company has recently done a 'Capital Markets event' and seen paid-for researcher Edison produce a gushing note last month. Goodness me, that was good timing!...
On Thursday last week AIM-listed Eqtec (EQT) announced a placing and PrimaryBid offering which raised £10 million at 0.45p, a 33.8% discount. That will have hurt existing shareholders, but not as much as the new shareholders who today woke up to learn that the company is in receipt of a filing of legal complaint alleging patent infringement in California from Aries Clean Energy LLC. And the two are unconnected?...
It is ouzo time once again at Tom Winnifrith Towers: just 15 days ago he suggested that all was perhaps not at it might immediately seem at AIM-listed Trafalgar Property (TRAF) in that its disaster of a balance sheet with piles upon piles of debt – and thus, ordinarily, a slam-dunk sell –was tempered by the debt not being held at parent company level, but within subsidiaries. He suggested that disappearing and reappearing broker Peterhouse might have a plan involving Chris Ackers and so it has proved.
A letter arrived this morning. What is so unusual? Well, for starters, it is dated Monday – not last Monday, but Monday in two days’ time! Someone has got H G Wells’ Time Machine. But that was not the only curiosity……..
AIM-listed dog Catenae Innovation (CTEA) released its FY results to September 2019 and Interims to March 2020 this morning. What a dog’s breakfast! We have been saying for some time that Catenae was technically insolvent and this morning the hard numbers show that we were bang on the (lack of) money...
I suppose that 56% would probably go down as a success in normal times for an open offer from Stobart Group (STOB), but given that it was fully underwritten by placees and at 40p as opposed to the previous closing price of 69.2p, 56% looks pretty poor. Thanks gto the underwriters £100 million was raised but it gets worse….
AIM-listed serial property dog Trafalgar Property (TRAF) has announced the sale of land in Barnett Wood Lane, Ashtead for £687,500 which has seen a stonking 40% rise in the share price this morning. Good news - or is it?
On June 5th I flagged up that AIM-listed POS Inspirit Energy (INSP) had again failed to file its Confirmation Statement – the Annual Return as was – to Companies House on time. It was due on March 30th. On June 8th I flagged it up again, suggesting that perhaps it hadn’t filed it because nobody cares over at Inspirit Towers. Well, here we are on June 16th and guess what……it still hasn’t filed it!...
AIM-listed POS Catenae Innovation (CTEA) has announced that the holder of a warrant over 15 million shares exercisable at 1.25p has decided to cash in its chips. With the stock currently at 1.6p to sell, you can see why….!
Last time I wrote about former Woodford favourite Stobart Group (STOB), on April 6th, I predicted a placing…..and so it came to pass that on Thursday night it did indeed pass the hat around – time for an Ouzo, methinks! And the discount? Well, the stock closed Thursday (at 4.30pm) at 69.2p, having traded as high as 74.1p and the bookbuilding exercise was announced at seven minutes past six in the evening. On the closing price, the discount was a whopping 42%. Ouch.
Shares in AIM-listed jam-tomorrow IoT investment company Tern plc (TERN) have been on the rampage again. Having sunk to sub-4p in the wake of its last placing, which had been intended to raise £3 million but only notched up £0.8 million propped up by management support, the stock closed last week at 11.25p, having peaked at 15.75p on Thursday. What gives?
Back on 2 April, AIM-listed jam-next-century gold play (apparently) Conroy Gold and Natural Resources (CGNR) finally got around to fessing up that its much celebrated fundraise six weeks previously has seen a shortfall in that £188,000 of the £302,500 supposedly raised (ie well over half) had not arrived. The whole episode stank of AIM Rules breaches and a letter duly landed on Oxymoron-in-chief Marcus Stuttard’s desk. We were told a further update would follow as soon as possible and in classic Red Flags at Night fashion, yesterday at 4.51pm on a Friday evening – no-one-is-watching o’clock – the update duly arrived. Now if all the money had arrived, I reckon we would have found out at a more normal time like 7am……
After last week’s jam-tomorrow ramparoonie, today AIM-listed Haydale (HAYD) offered up a calamitous profit warning. Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear…..
As per my earlier piece, developments in the gold market have left me feeling very enthusiastic so I thought I would offer my thoughts on my various gold holdings, including AIM-listed Ariana (AAU) and Bluebird Merchant Ventures (BMV), fully-listed Centamin (CEY) and the BlackRock Gold & General and Junior Gold unit trusts – and a couple of other corners.
AIM-listed Haydale (HAYD) has announced an initial four-year distributer agreement with Dalian Yibang Technology Co Ltd (DLYB) offering exclusive distributer rights to market Haydale’s electrically conductive graphene-enhanced masterbatch in China and Taiwan. All well and good – and it does indeed appear to be good news – but for all the jam tomorrow, what about cash today?
Since Cynical Bear’s coverage of the Tinkler vs Rest the Board fiasco back in 2018 (when Tinkler and Neil Woodford lost), shares in Stobart Group (STOB) initially trod water and then went into a bit of a tailspin, closing 2019 at a shade over £1 a pop. But then Covid-19 struck: bearing in mind one of its two prime assets is an airport, it has been bad news ever since and the shares are currently just 50p. So what of today’s announcement?
In the current climate, I would be very guarded over handing over a cheque to subscribe for shares in any company, let alone AIM-listed St James House (SJH) – the former Lord Razzall disaster that was Boxhill Technilogies (BOX).
AIM-listed Trafalgar Property (TRAF) has made a total shambles of being a housebuilder in a housing boom. It listed on AIM in 2013 and at the last count was sporting just £14,000 of cash as at 18 December and recorded shareholder funds of MINUS £2.9 million at the end of September in its interims released at 4.23pm on the Friday before Christmas. Now it wants to utilise its property development skills to move into hydroponics – growing vegetables in test-tubes! Oh....
I said many times that Kier Group (KIE) would be Neil Woodford’s last gamble and so it proved. Having been a heavy buyer all the way down from around £10 he threw every last penny he could muster as he always knew best. But he did not know best and this morning’s interims statement shows that even with new management on board there is a very long way to go before investors see anything like real profits and dividends again.
I covered technically insolvent Conroy Gold and Natural Resources’ (CGNR) interims and came to the obvious conclusion that it was technically insolvent. Yesterday its sister company (with largely the same management), AIM-listed Karelian Diamonds (KDR) followed with its own half-year numbers and guess what. But the statements are just unutterable tripe which, I suggest, are intended to mislead.
The Times suggests that Muddy Waters may be kicking itself for not shorting both London-listed stocks from the stable of Dr Bavaguthu Raghuram Shetty. Whist its short on NMC Health (NMC) may be doing well enough, Shetty’s other vehicle – Finablr (FIN) has been having a torrid time, with the shares halving since December. Finablr has only been on the market since last May, but scratch the surface and there are many questions which look like Red Flags to me jumping out.
AIM-listed former Neil Woodford doggie favourite Eve Sleep (EVE) has offered up a trading statement. On the face of it the news appears favourable, with cashburn slashed by 51%, the EBITDA (bullshit earnings) loss heavily reduced by 43% and £7.8 million of cash in the bank at year-end. We are also told that the company reached break-even at an operating level in the last four months of the year. All good, but is there yet another fundraise around the corner?
AIM-listed Vast Resources (VAST), a company about which I have been a perennial bear and issued a sell call in the run-up to Christmas when the debt funding didn’t appear, has released interims to 31 October this afternoon. At 3pm on a Friday! What horrors do we find?
As followed on ShareProphets, AIM-listed Yolo Leisure proved a damp squib and reformed itself into Asimilar (ASLR), a Chris Akers – backed vehicle. As before with Concha (CHA – and now booted off the Casino), EVR Holdings (EVR) and Red Leopard Holdings (RLH), where it seems the involvement of Mr Akers brings the ability to ramp hot air to at least £100 million worth, Asimilar’s shares have been rising. But when the music stops, will this prove Asimilar to the others or will the shares collapse back down again?
Last week AIM-listed Inspirit Energy (INSP) released results at no-one-is-watching o'clock, on Christmas Eve Eve. It seems the trick of avoiding ShareProphets scrutiny by releasing bad results the day before good days to bury bad news is spreading, for yesterday – New Year’s Eve Eve - at 4.23pm came interims from AIM-listed URU Metals (URU). Except ShareProphets was watching, always keen to highlight news that companies don’t want you to see. And oh dear, oh dear…..
If you know your results are so poor they will be an immediate sell signal to even the most diehard of investors, the best time to release them is at no-one-is-watching o’clock. In theory, peak no-one-is-watching o’clock lies on Christmas Eve, especially after-hours, but with our annual watch on such matters perhaps Christmas Eve is not quite the best time to tell investors what a total POS your company is. And so AIM-listed Inspirit Energy (INSP) released its full year numbers to June 2019 at 2.35pm yesterday: truly the behaviour of pedants. But ShareProphets, always eager to share what companies do not want you to know, was indeed watching and the numbers were truly dire.
Perma-dog Aston Martin Lagonda (AML) has been a predictable disaster for investors since its latest iteration joined the stockmarket last year and ShareProphets readers were well warned off by Gary Newman ahead of the IPO and Chris Bailey was no less scathing HERE. Indeed, Tom Winnifrith wondered HERE whether it would go bust for the seventh time. On Friday evening after hours, at 5.05pm – no-one-is-watching o’clock on General Election results day - the company issued a statement. Uh-oh…….
Not content with leaving burying bad news on polling day to the likes of Purplebricks (PURP) or Versarien (VRS), this morning – election results day – AIM-listed Anglesey Mining (AYM) joined the fray with its Interims to September. They are truly horrid.
Following a dire sales and lack of profits warning on 21 August, AIM Casino listed software outfot Brady (BRY) has today served up interim results which are both piss poor and fundamentally misleading. Quite simply, as things stand, a reliable source tells me, the company will not be able to meet payroll in November. Worse still there has been massive material non disclosure of the mess this company is in.
AIM-listed Yu Group (YU.) released its interims this morning. For all the hope and bluster, as predicted, the balance sheet says it all for me and the shares are currently down 17% to 122.5p.
Once upon a time I had shares in Edge Performance VCT over several classes of share. It proved a disaster, and I sold out at a loss. I did cover some of the problems (see HERE) some time ago, but it seems that the shit show has continued ever since. On 29th August the shareholders decided enough was enough at the AGM, booting out three of the board and the auditor. This leaves the company with just one director – I believe company law is that it must have two as a fully listed plc, but the shares have not been suspended, nor has there been any announcement of an interim appointment.
I have provided input to projects in the UK power sector over the last 30 years, initially in the “dash for gas” in the early 1990’s building gas fired combined cycle plants but in recent years in the “renewable sector” of waste to energy generation. I thought as a change to looking at Oil and Gas companies I would have to detailed look at one active in the renewable sector - Simec Atlantis Energy (SAE) caught my eye. High technical and commercial risk, does not begin to describe my conclusions!
Previously writing on Autins Group (AUTG), in June I noted deteriorating finances and concluded bargepole / sell. The shares have recently been around the 28p of then, but now placing news…
News this morning, as I predicted on this site on Monday HERE of an £8.25 million raising by Anglo African Oil & Gas (AAOG) looks to be a disaster for existing shareholders once again under David Sefton's watch.
Tom Winnifrith and I have already stuck the boot into Woodford Dog Verseon (VERS, but formerly VSN) as it raised yet more cash to keep the lights on in March. Of course, that fundraise fell to Neil Woodford who ponied up 105p per share for 7.5 million shares of the 7.7 million share issue. That was bad enough, but being near-enough the only investor in town (armed with other people’s money) he coughed up 105p per share when they were trading at 74p – madness!
You heard it here first, folks: I said Kier would drop its dividend and today it has for the next two years. But worse still, it has now ‘fessed up that (even after the disaster that was the rights issue which fell to the underwriters) it is over-indebted. This morning’s statement is a horror show from start to finish.
Neil “I am not a forced seller” Woodford has been selling Card Factory (CARD). Why is this worthy of comment? Well just three weeks ago we published an article entitled Gambling Neil Woodford doubles down on sliding Card Factory after he doubled his stake to 10%.
I have suggested in a number of recent bearcasts that Bidstack (BIDS) was the most over-ramped and overvalued stock on the AIM Casino and also that it would have to do a placing within six months to keep the show on the road. A City source has now provided me with more specific information, an offering is already underway but it is struggling.
Neil Woodford dog, AIM-listed Netscientific (NSCI) seems to have been forced to put out a statement over its investee PDS which merged with Nasdaq-listed Edge Therapeutics (EDGE) and the combined entity is now listed as PDS Biotechnology (PDSB).
Dear, oh dear – every time we get an announcement from AIM-listed project management and technical consultancy purveyor WYG (WYG) the news seems to go from bad to worse, and hats off to Steve Moore for his unremitting bearishness on this. The latest news is that the banks have agreed to waive the 31 March covenant test (which the company had previously warned it would fail) but the 0.6p dividend per share - which was declared on 4 December 2018, payable on 4 April - has been cancelled. How embarrassing is that?
Yesterday it was Kier (KIE) and today his attempt to disrupt the world of bedding takes yet another glorious bow, for AIM-listed Eve Sleep (EVE) has published its 2018 full year results. Oh, and Halosource (HAL), which was revolutionising the world of water, was formally booted off the AIM Casino this morning after not being bailed out. What chance a Woodford hat-trick today?
Standard-listed AIQ (AIQ) – an investment company which rather caught our eye last year in the wake of its calamity of an IPO and repeat suspensions thereafter – has published its maiden full year results. Needless to say, they are nothing to write home about (unless you are a ShareProphets writer!)
I sincerely hope that no ShareProphets readers were left holding this particular baby we warned you often anough.
And so at last we have the results of the forensic accounting review which followed the confession from AIM-listed Yu Group (YU.) on 24 October 2018 that its accounts were, in effect, a work of sheer fiction and has seen the company’s £12 million placing at £10 per share being investigated by the FCA. We already knew that the bill would be around £10 million – but now it is going to be around £13 million. As ever, the ShareProphets RNS Translation Service is on hand to help us understand all this (original in bold).
On Monday I wondered out loud what was happening about the forensic investigation into various accounting matters – including accrued income recognition and impairment of trade debtors at Yu Group (YU.). Then there was the small matter of a £12 million placing on the back of FY17 accounts which now appear to be somewhat questionable. Well blow me down with a feather: now the FCA has notified the company that it intends to conduct an investigation and the shares (which I called a bargepole of the highest order on the initial ‘fessing up of 24th October) have now fallen below half of the IPO price of March 2016.
Back on 24th October, AIM-listed Yu Group (YU.) issued a devastating RNS regarding accrued income recognition, impairments of trade debtors and the shares collapsed 80%. Then on 5th November the company announced that it had appointed PWC and DLA Piper to carry out independent forensic investigations and promised to update the market in due course. So how about that update?
According to Cynical Bear, Neil Woodford’s Woodford Investment Management once held 24.9% of Halosource (HAL), when the shares were around 3.63p - and Invesco Perpetual (Woodford’s former stamping ground) held a further c.19%. Of course, failure after failure and emergency bailout placing after emergency bailout placing will have taken their toll. But even back in August Woodford held 27.3% (having bailed it out yet again). Now the company has warned that it is having a spot of bother raising cash – and that no cash by the end of December will mean a trip to the corporate undertakers. So Neil isn’t up for bailing it out this time?
In August it was announced that Cenkos was buying the Nomad operations of Smith and Williamson, with completion expected in November after due diligence had been done on Smith & Williamson’s Nomad clients. On Friday, at no-one-is-watching o’clock (natch – 6.09pm!!) AIM-listed Arricano Real Estate (ARO) announced that Smith & Williamson had served notice that it would resign on 23 November 2018. Talk about Red Flags at Night!
AIM-listed Yu Group (YU.) only joined the Casino back in March 2016, via a placing at 185p. Since then it has been a one-way street for shareholders, with the stock rising to a peak of over £14 in March of this year. And then the Finance Director resigned…..
Shares in AIM-listed Advanced Oncotherapy are up by 30% today on the back of yet another technological update and a Flash Note from its paid-for research ramper-in-chief GPSL, the second in less than a week. Of course, yesterday the shares were down by around the same amount which all leaves me wondering when’s the placing?
The shenanigans of the Standard-Listing of AIQ are well documented here on ShareProphets, which included an incomplete prospectus, two suspensions due to a disorderly market (the IPO shares couldn’t be traded) and a fund-raising which was delayed – all in its first five months as a listed company! Meanwhile, with assets (all cash – it is a cash-shell) of around 8p a share, the price rocketed to an incredible 135p. We have been saying sell all along.
AIM-listed Rurelec (RUR) has again warned that cash is extremely tight and income isn’t flowing in from Argentina. Well, we’ve heard it all before so many times and yet the company continues to survive (so far) but eventually there may come a day when it cannot.
AIM-listed China New Energy (CNEL) of the ShareProphets AIM-China Filthy Forty has this morning delivered its interims ahead of Friday’s deadline. So no pending execution here, then! Chairman Yu Weijun tells us that he is very pleased to report that the Company's continued revenue growth and profitability……The company has a current order book and work in progress of RMB 294 million (c. £34m) to be fulfilled by December 2019, and I am confident that the business outlook is for continued profitability. Well, that’s great news. Of course, there are a few questions to be raised, though….
Audioboom Group (BOOM) has announced that it is to announce results for its half year ended 31st May 2018 “on or around 20th July” - and also taken the opportunity to hit out at the share price decline since restoration of trading in its shares on 14th June. Hmmm…
On 29 June last year Israeli tech-company Ethernity (ENET) joined the AIM Casino at 140p. Today the shares sit at just 30.5p after a profit warning and dire results yesterday. What’s not to like?
I previously looked at AIM-listed Haydale (HAYD) last October (HERE), concluding It may be a great business in the making, but the lack of visibility of earnings (just £6 million over the next 3.5 years) is too thin – profits seem an awfully long way away and the carefully crafted obfuscation in the trading statement makes me steer a wide berth…. Today we got a warning that sales have been disappointing, the CEO stepping aside and cash sitting at £5.6 million. Given that it raised £9.3 million last October (at a 32% discount) one has to wonder how long it will be before the tin is rattled again.
I called Standard Listed AIQ (AIQ) lower when it announced its Open Offer and the shares have (very roughly) halved, but there is plenty more to go. This morning it announced that the offer, at 20p, had been oversubscribed but remember that the net assets per share (all cash) are around 8-10p.
Having made it back to the market after its second suspension (and it only listed in January!), Standard-listed AIQ (AIQ) has now launched the promised open offer at 20p. Meanwhile, the shares have been collapsing from the suspension price of 135p to just 55.5p last seen. So the open offer is a giveaway, right?
Amazingly, the cash shell that is Standard Listed AIQ (AIQ) – with somewhere around 8-10p per share of cash and nothing else – has again returned from suspension this morning. The shares, having peaked (ahead of the last suspension) at 150p to buy are now in free fall, sitting on a spread (last seen) of 80p (to sell) to 130p (to buy). I have no hesitation in recommending a sell – there is, after all, only 8-10p of value here. What does surprise me is that there has been no official comment whatsoever from the company – or, indeed, anyone else.
I have asked the same questions of AIM-listed Advanced Oncotherapy (AVO) twice before but there has been nothing forthcoming from Advanced Towers. Here we go again, on the day that marks three weeks from the end of Advanced’s loan from Blackfinch, a loan which is secured on its Harley Street premises and a loan which has not yet been announced to have been paid back. Advanced may be coy about answering, but it seems the market has been voting with its feet.
Yesterday the good professor Conroy’s elder child, AIM-listed Conroy Gold and Natural Resources (CGNR) released its interims to last November and it needs cash. Today it is the turn of little brother, Karelian Diamonds (KDR) and the picture is no better. And as you shall see, there is an air of one insolvent partner funding the other. At least, that’s how it looks. And I wonder about the maths….
AIM-listed Conroy Gold and Natural Resources (CGNR) published its interim accounts to 30 November 2017 this morning. Ignoring the jam tomorrow (we’ve seen that all before) it is clear that the company was up to its eyes in debt, not that chairman Prof Richard Conroy was bothered by that as he introduced his chairman’s statement with “I have great pleasure in presenting your Company’s Half-Yearly results”. He’s pleased – but I doubt any shareholder with half a brain cell will be.
I last covered AIM-listed Draganfly (DRG) HERE and concluded that it was one for the asbestos suit and a very, very long bargepole. Now, almost 15 months on, its (afterhours, natch) interims caught my eye. Apparently the Board are [sic] pleased to announce them, and so is the Chairman. So they are good, right?
I read with interest that fully listed Interserve (IRV) some good news in its RNS on Wednesday of this week. It has secured £180 million of short term funding to the end of March, and an agreement to defer covenant tests on its borrowing also until the end of March. Great news! Well, sort of. The problem – as revealed by Sky News (see HERE) later the same day - is that there were conditions which were not mentioned by the company.
Yesterday I described the FY17 results of Karelian Diamond (KDR) and a series of Red Flags to be found. Today we look at its stable-mate, AIM-listed Conroy Gold and Natural Resources (CGNR) and find a similar story. It is a car-crash festooned with more Red Flags.
AIM-listed (and no longer on Ireland’s ESM market) Conroy Gold and Natural Resources (CGNR) and Karelian Diamonds (KRL) released full year results this morning. It is a double set of Red Flags for these two lifestyle companies of Prof Richard Conroy – and despite the latter having been floated off by the former, more Red Flags come into play with related party transactions. But the biggest sin of all is treating your own shareholders as utter muppets, which is where I start.
I have to say I haven’t come across AIM-listed Midatech (MTPH) until now. However, with interims results just released perhaps I could get a handle on it. The problem is that the interim report has a few gaping holes in it, all of which leaves a strong sense of unease. The unease in increased when I note that the recent bailout placing (at a whopping 31% discount) showed up Woodford Investment Management as a major holder. Oh dear, not a good start….
Well here we are seven years (to the balance sheet date) on from the listing of ShareProphets AIM-China Filthy Forty play Northwest Investment Group (NWIG) and the interims are out. How close to meeting its investment policy is it now?
I told folks that uber ramp Bushveld (BMN) had to raise cash but the morons knew better as they always do. Better still today's bailout is a death spiral as no proper institution will touch this over-promoted crap with a bargepole. Then it is on to Big Sofa (BST), Saffron (SRON), Altona Energy (ANR) which needs a placing ASAP or it is toast, ITM Power ITM) - crazy valuation + placing ahoy, Albert Technologies (ALB) which looks all wrong to me and finally to Imagination Technologies (IMG) where calls to block a foreign bid are wrong at every level. The gay penguin reference is HERE.
AIM-China play China New Energy (CNEL) is one of the few remaining members of our Filthy Forty still trading on the Casino. This morning saw its interims to 30 June 2017 released and it claims to have turned over hugely increased revenues of RMB 69 million (c. £7.7 million) and registered a net profit of RMB 17 million (c. £1.2 million) as against the market capitalisation of £6 million. So why are the shares trading 4% lower? Er…look at the cashflow statement! And the company wants to conduct a buy-back of its shares! Ho ho, what with?
Having previously, in June, stated it “more than usually so… expect 2017 performance to be significantly weighted towards the second half” though also attempted to reassure that “whilst activity in the Public Sector is expected to be below last year's levels, this will be balanced by a better than expected demand from Retail and Lifestyle and Corporate Services clients”, there is now from interiors company Havelock Europa (HVE) a further “Trading Statement”. How’s that expected more so than usual second half weighting working out?...
The City's number one oil analyst Zac "the knife" Phillips of SP Angel has this morning torn into much ramped AIM dog Frontera Resources (FRR). I think you can take it that what the Knife means is BARGEPOLE!. Over to the great man:
On the back of a “Q3 Trading Update, Cash Flow Review and Funding” announcement in April, I warned on shares in Blancco Technology (BLTG), updating in July – with they slipping below 120p – that I retained a lack of confidence in what is going on here and thus also a stance of bargepole/sell. There’s now a “Updates on revenue and management” announcement, seeing the shares slump well below 100p…
Five months after its 31st March 2017 year-end, “creative audio-visual company” MediaZest (MDZ) “is pleased to provide shareholders with final results”. Hmmm…
On the back of a “New Contract Win” announcement, shares in Mirada (MIRA) are recovering having been heading towards 1p following a trading update earlier this month…
With the company having updated in early July on its performance to 1st July, I note shares in HSS Hire (HSS) amongst today’s biggest fallers – on the back of a results announcement for its half year to… 1st July!...
Previously writing on Nanoco Group (NANO) in October with the shares at 55p, I concluded that still a very high asking price for the ‘jam tomorrow’ story with cash burn concerns; sell. The following updates with the shares currently further lower below 30p on the back of a “Full Year Trading Update and Outlook” announcement…
I wrote on a trading update last month which would be assumed to be routine, but wasn’t from waste management company Augean (AUG) – concluding, with the current uncertainty and investor confidence now looking needed to be regained, I currently avoid. Hopefully this was followed as the shares are currently the biggest fallers today – on an “HMRC assessment and proposed board appointment” announcement…
Self-described ‘talent acquisition & advisory services’ company Norman Broadbent (NBB) “announces the appointment of Gary Browning as Strategic Adviser to the Board and CEO, the appointment of WH Ireland as Nominated Adviser and Broker, the issue of a £300,000 loan note and the commencement of CFO succession planning”. Hmmm…
Management Consulting Group (MMC) Chairman & Chief Executive Nick Stagg, with the company’s results for the first half of 2017, is “pleased to report that Proudfoot, Management Consulting Group’s continuing business, has made progress in the execution of its strategy”. The market is not however pleased – the shares down 8.5%, to 7p…
From the same stable as Entu (DISGRACEFUL: having only IPO’d on AIM in October 2014, now “all of the proposals received attribute little value to the equity”), a “Half Year Trading Update and Notice of Results” announcement from Epwin Group (EPWN)…
A 1:30pm “Notice of Results & Trading Update” announcement from Laura Ashley (ALY). With the time of it and “Notice of Results” stated first, surely just a routine announcement? Right?...
LightwaveRF (LWRF) has announced what CEO Andrew Pearson emphasises as “a further exciting development” in that its “next generation Apple HomeKit certified product range, for controlling smart devices with iOS apps and Siri voice commands, will be released on 3 October 2017… will be on sale in Apple retail stores in the UK and the UAE, online via apple.com and at other selected retail outlets”. Ramptastic!...
Last writing on Torotrak (TRK) at the end of May, I concluded hopefully the warnings here have been heeded. This stock remains firmly on the bargepole list. The shares are now slumping further on the back of results for its year ended 31st March…
Last week the Nomad and broker to Nyota Minerals (NYO) announced that they were quitting as of August 17. As I have exposed HERE and HERE the advisers have behaved disgracefully and if there was any justice they would be facing sanction. But I fear that it is Nyota that will suffer.
On 15th May the renamed from Fitbug Holdings, Kin Group (KIN) was “pleased to announce that it has secured up to £1.125 million (before expenses) of additional funding”. I bet it was – as I noted this bailout funding, with also amongst the conditions “the closing bid price of the company's ordinary shares (as reported by Bloomberg) not being below £0.001 (0.1 pence) for any five consecutive trading days on or prior to the relevant issue date” and concluding it remains bargepole ahoy. The shares had now slid towards 0.05p – and there’s a “Statement re. Suspension” announcement. Uh oh…
Back in February 2017 I was contacted by a private company Africa New Energies asking if I wanted to buy shares in a placing at 11 cents. Since the company is run by Stephen Larkin, a man who takes advice from loathsome Richard "Gollum" Gill I was nor rushing to sign up. But then I was told, but we are going to be taken over soon at 350p per share a bid has been tabled! Er... so is this placing not sort of insider dealing I asked?
Having listed at 100p per share in February 2014 and currently suspended at sub 10p amidst reverse takeover discussions for John Menzies' Distribution division, parcels, mail and logistics group DX (DX.) has now announced “an update on trading, reorganisation of the business and board changes”…
LightwaveRF (LWRF) “is delighted to announce that its next generation Lightwave Link Plus has been certified under Apple's licensing scheme as a ‘Works with Apple HomeKit’ product”. Ooooh, Apple hey. Cue a further share price rise, but what’s actually happening here?...
Having in May been “pleased to announce the completion of a placing of 5,800,000 new ordinary shares… at a price of 169 pence per placing share” (I bet it was pleased - as otherwise it was cash crunch within weeks!), Blancco Technology Group (BLTG) has today released a “Trading Statement” which currently sees the shares down by more than 20% at sub 120p. Those who took part in the placing won’t be “pleased” then!...
Last month saw a delayed profit warning from energy efficient-home improvement group Entu (ENTU) – and me particularly noting the net debt and that, although purportedly “strengthened”, the executive team still not seemingly having the answers themselves – ‘from bad (en)tu worse, issues “more complex and extend further” than expected’. There is now a “Strategic Review” announcement. Hmmm…
Proxama (PROX) “is pleased to announce its Full Year Results for the year ended 31 December 2016” and “pleased to announce the successful completion of an upsized bookbuild for the placing”. Shareholders probably aren’t so pleased – the shares having responded approaching 70% lower, to 0.04p…
And so another year passes and ShareProphets AIM-China Filthy Forty investment company which doesn’t invest, Northwest Investment Group (NWIG), racks another year’s loss and still not a single investment. That’ll be six and a half years to the balance sheet date, and 7 to the current date. Meanwhile the £3 million raised is down to….
eServGlobal (ESG) has announced results for its half year ended 30th April 2017 including “a strong outlook for the year” for the core business and that the Homesend joint venture payment hub “is experiencing a sales expansion which it expects to become more significant across the remainder of 2017”. So why do the shares remain sub 6p, well down from more than 8p reached earlier this year?...
A “Major Supply and Support Agreement” announcement last week from Starcom (STAR) saw me question how ‘major’ is it?, as well as noting, as the shares soared above 2p, “sufficient loan facilities are available to cover its cash flow requirements” came before a warning last month of order delays. Now surprise, surprise…
Previously writing on Kin Group (KIN) earlier this month I noted well that didn’t take ‘kin long; hits bailout funding share price limit – and, thus, a reliance on the funder retaining a “current intention” to subscribe for the remaining tranches of the loan notes. There is now a “new contract - NHS Trust” announcement...
October 2014, 100p per share, IPO, Entu (ENTU) has issued a trading update commencing that its strengthened executive team is progressing with the implementation of a detailed action plan, as set out in the full-year results statement, to reduce costs, improve operational efficiency, leverage its supply chain, improve cash collection and strengthen controls. Good, good. But what? The shares currently more than 30% lower on the day at well below 20p. Uh oh…
On the 15th May announcement from the former Fitbug, Kin Group (KIN) of bailout funding I noted amongst the conditions “the closing bid price of the company's ordinary shares (as reported by Bloomberg) not being below £0.001 (0.1 pence) for any five consecutive trading days on or prior to the relevant issue date” and later questioned how long the funding would continue. The company has now made a “Convertible Loan Notes update” announcement…
Writing last week on HaloSource (HALO), I noted a Chinese governmental approval to enable a cornerstone investment had not been granted and that the investor was now to seek to make another application for the approval. However, I questioned why will the outcome be any different this time? And, even if it is, how long will it take? There is now an “Update on Fundraising and Funding Options” announcement from the company. Uh oh – that was the funding option, so what now for this Neil Woodford dog?...
Writing on HaloSource (HALO) last week, I noted funding delay from China now leaves no margin for error. There is now a “Further Update on Fundraising” announcement, which includes “the Chinese governmental approval has not been granted”. Uh oh…
A “Trading & New Product Update” announcement from recruitment industry software group Dillistone (DSG) commences that, having previously noted some market softness, “as we have moved further into the year, we have seen some improvement in terms of the volume of new business wins and are pleased to have taken a number of clients from our direct competitors”. Sounds encouraging, but what? The shares currently down 15% (at sub 72p)! Better read on…
An 11:26am results announcement from tv distribution and production group DCD Media (DCD). Hmmm, why not a standard 7am release? Let’s take a look…
Last month I looked at a conditional fundraising announcement from HaloSource (HALO) – conditional bailout fundraising, kicks the can down the road (not very far!). It may be not very far at all…
An AGM statement from Starcom (STAR) includes that “gross margin is ahead of the average for 2016 and better than expected” and “some increases in order value on last year”. However, “revenues for the first four months of the year are slightly behind budget”. Hmmm...
And so it ‘kin begins (that and the title should appease Cynical Bear); Kin Group (KIN) “hereby announces that on 26 May 2017 it received a notice of conversion in respect of £100,000 in nominal value of the loan notes which were issued to Belastock Capital L.P. Definitions used in this announcement are taken from the company's announcements dated 15 May 2017”…
Yesterday lunchtime (1pm – the new no-one-is-watching o’clock) ShareProphets AIM-China Filthy Forty purveyor of all things fishy, Aquatics Foods Group (AFG) served up a Q1 trading statement showing broadly flat sales, but rising costs. The really good news is that the cash-pile is even higher than before, at RMB 485 million – c. £54 million, or about five times the market capitalisation. The bad news….
Commenting yesterday on the “Launch of Google Assistant voice control” ramparoonie (Oops) RNS announcement from LightwaveRF (LWRF), I suggested it clearly currently remains cash burn ahoy, with results for the six months ended 31st March 2017 following today…
AIM-listed Frontera (FRR) has rather slipped since I last wrote about it last month HERE and HERE, concluding that it had a gaping black hole in its balance sheet. The shares were then trading at around 0.4p. This afternoon the shares are 0.31p in the middle (last seen) and it has announced its AGM. Just one thing: where are the full year results? The company is trying to raise c. £40 million in cash and loan settlements, and won’t show us the balance sheet? How big a RED FLAG do you want?
Having previously suggested future ramparoonies for the company to place into somewhat more limited, Kin Group (KIN, the former Fitbug) “is pleased to announce that it has… agreed to issue convertible unsecured loan notes with a term of three years, to raise up to £1.125 million (before expenses), to Belastock Capital L.P., an overseas based institutional investor”. Hmmm…
An announcement from Blancco Technology Group (BLTG) entitled “Q3 Trading Update, Cash Flow Review and Funding”. Hmmm, I’d guess it ain’t gonna be positive…
HaloSource (HALO) has announced “Board Changes” and that it “is pleased to confirm that the company has conditionally raised approximately £1.9 million ($2.3 million)”. I bet it is…
Early this month ASA Resource Group (ASA) announced its directors had “received certain anonymous allegations relating to… certain aspects of the financial management at Freda Rebecca” (gold mine in Zimbabwe in which it has an 85% interest). However, it sought to reassure that “the company's directors believe these allegations to be completely mischievous”. Now though “the board is extremely disappointed to report”… Uh oh…
I think I should rename Deputy Sheriff Towers as Smug Towers. Having offered two sells in the ShareProphets Tipfest for this year, Igas Energy (IGAS) duly crashed to bottom out at 4.5p (I’d been saying sell from 18.5p - last year’s Christmas tipfest, and then 11.625p this year). Last week came the turn of Filthy Forty play Taihua (TAIH) to do the decent thing and collapse in the wake of an entirely squeaky clean suggestion that it delist from the Casino. There’s nothing wrong here at all – move along please, nothing to see……
I most recently cautioned on water technology company HaloSource (HALO) in February HERE. It has now announced results for the 2016 calendar year…
Corero Network Security (CNS) “is pleased to announce… it has conditionally raised approximately £5.6 million… at a placing price of 5p… to support SmartWall sales and marketing activities in the US and Europe, for further development of the SmartWall product and for the general working capital requirements of the group”. Hmmm, what do the also- (but not ‘pleased’ to be) announced results for the 2016 calendar year show?...
Fitbug (FITB) has announced 2016 calendar year results – including that it believes it has “an idea whose time has come” – and a proposed change of name, to Kin Group. Hmmm…
ShareProphets AIM-China Filthy Forty purveyor of all things fishy, Aquatic Foods (AFG), has updated on 2016 Q4 trading this morning. In a statement plastered with Red Flags it would appear that the company is nearing the final chapter of the China Norfolk playbook as we are warned that there has been a spot of bother getting cash out of China. Is it bye-bye to the dividend?
ShareProphets AIM-China Filthy Forty play China New Energy (CNEL) updated the market on trading for FY2016. The company reported a profit at the interim stage and continued to perform well in the second half of 2016 with revenue (subject to audit) expected to be up to about RMB 72 million. There are also contracts announced totalling about RMB 80 million expected to see project completion in Q3 of this year. So all is going swimmingly – except that the company has raised more money. Clearly the profits are not turning into cash. Why?
Dog Andalas Energy (ADL) was readmitted to the AIM Casino based on the back of the Tuba Obi East Farm In as described in its AIM admission document of 27 April 2016:
Shares in ShareProphets AIM-China Filthy Forty play Taihua (TAIH) are unchanged this morning on news of the result of its Tender Offer at 3.28p - paid for from the Open Offer last summer and conducted through the good offices of former Casino poster-boy and former Nomad Daniel Stewart (DAN). But we also see that company chairman Nicholas Lyth has dumped his entire holding. That’s already a bit of a concern, but then so is the statement that his disposal was not at the 3.28p everybody else got, but at 200p per share. What????
Having in December announced “an additional loan facility of $1 million on similar terms to that of the existing $3m facility, which is fully drawn… to cover short term working capital needs around the company's new business contracts”, OneView Group (ONEV) has now announced an additional $300,000 loan “to cover short term working capital needs”. Hmmm…
Shares in AIM-listed Rurelec (RUR) sprang into life late yesterday after the company released news of a three-way deal which looks to have relieved at least some of the balance sheet pressure the company has been under of late. It is not out of the woods by any means, but shareholders have had two positive RNSs which suggest that all may not be lost.
By pure accident of timing AIM-listed China play Grand Group (GIPO) missed the cut-off for inclusion in the ShareProphets AIM-China Filthy Forty. But it is littered with Red Flags and with the shares having collapsed from just shy of 60p a pop after a lack-of-accounts-induced suspension was lifted at the end of December to yesterday’s close at just 14.75p those Red Flags are fluttering brightly in the wind on the world’s most successful growth market.
Previously writing on Torotrak (TRK), I concluded that the shares were a sell at 5p on the back of “Trading Statement” announcement which was actually a ‘commercialisation delay’. I now write with the shares, on the back of a “Strategic Update, Group Refocus” announcement, currently circa 45% lower today, at around 1p!...
And so after its website disappeared at least as early as late November last year and two failed efforts at getting a replacement available so as to comply with AIM Rule 26, ShareProphets AIM-China Filthy Forty play Taihua (TAIH) has finally issued some Jackanory of a statement saying it now won’t be complying until Monday next week. The explanation may seem reasonable, but in context they’re ‘avin’ a bubble.
Having from November 2015 onwards been warning on the shares of water technology company HaloSource (HALO), I note an update on trading and its strategic review...
With prodigious cash burn the focus of my other sell tip of the year, the focus on this one is the balance sheet in conjunction with current trading…
Tungsten Corp (TUNG) has announced results for its half-year ended 31st October 2016, with CEO Richard Hurwitz statedly “very encouraged by the emerging momentum across our business”. Hmmm…
It seems the pantomime season has started early: AIM-listed lifestyler Milestone Group (MSG) has announced that it has raised a keep-the-lights-on placing at just 0.3p, and that of the original October placing which was announced to have brought in £1.385 million, only £60,000 has made it to the coffers. If Nomad Cairn Financial thought that its (currently suspended) client CloudTag (CTAG) was just a rogue case, Milestone begins to make it look more like carelessness.
AIM-listed lifestyle company Milestone Group (MSG) has updated on the placing that didn’t raise the £1.385 million announced on 20 October. Having previously announced that £1.25 million of the proceeds hadn’t arrived, it now turns out that the little bit of meter-money which did arrive has now been paid back and the company is trying to do a replacement placing. Shambles upon shambles.
Shares in ShareProphets AIM-China Filthy Forty play Aquatic Foods (AFG) put on 35% on Friday, following release of a third quarter trading update. Drilling through some of the numbers they seem to be impressive, begging the question of why an apparently profitable and cash-generative company which is drowning in cash worth about three times its market capitalisation would be considering its dividend policy, having chopped the half-year payment by 71%.
Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear. There’s trouble brewing at AIM-listed Blenheim Natural Resources (BNR) in the wake of a total disaster at the company’s AGM. In an RNS released yesterday at 3.19pm (HERE) the company announced that every single one of the resolutions put to the AGM were rejected. Thus, following the departure of Chris Cleverly of African Potash (AFPO) infamy, two further directors have been ousted as their retirement by rotation became permanent as shareholders voted down their re-election.
At risk of sounding like a broken clock, ShareProphets AIM-China Filthy Forty play Taihua (TAIH) announced a comical open offer which, apart from a bit of working capital, was to fund a share buy-back. That was back on 25 August – more than two months ago. So where is it?
I have long held the view that Pantheon Resources (PANR) over-egged the pudding with regard to its US asset base in order to get away its major equity issue of March. It seems that I am not alone and the City's top oil analyst Zac "the knife" Phillips agrees and has gone on the attack in a very hostile note out this morning. I would not touch this stock with a bargepole pro tem but over to the king for his attack...
In a corporate update released at 4.03pm this afternoon, AIM-listed (pro tem) New World Oil and Gas has announced the bad news that its Nomad, the disgraced Roland “Fatty” Cornish at Beaumont Cornish is to walk as at the close of play today. It also announced that its scheduled AIM execution under AIM Rule 41 is on 10 Nov, not 9 Nov as previously advised. One last hurrah for checking and verifying RNS announcements for the now ex-Nomad to the company. How fitting.
LightwaveRF (LWRF), “enabling domestic and commercial users to remotely monitor and control light, heat, power and security by smartphone, tablet or PC… is pleased to announce that it has entered into an agreement with its principal shareholder, Committed Capital Financial Services Limited for a loan of £150,000”. Uh oh – sounds like ‘keep the lights on’ stuff…
