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Hello Share Fanatics. This time last week I said I was changing from a bear to a bull. Not a moment too soon, either. Yesterday. the Footsie reached an all-time intra-day high of 7,906. More of that to come, I fancy. Here’s why.

I refer at the end to a podcast on the Northern Ireland census I recorded today. Honestly it is more interesting than it sounds and is HERE. I start with Malcolm's failed career as a bear and where blue chips and small caps go from here. Then onto our bombshell on Caracal Gold (GCAT) today HERE and all the other red flags and why it matters that the FCA acts on this one.

Home REIT (HOME) has today published a very detailed and wordy attempted rebuttal of the bear dossier served up by Fraser Perring at Viceroy Research, HERE. But has Home dealt with the bears? Au contraire. Both Fraser and another leading grizzly have hit back with a series of questions and comments which  I can reveal exclusively, below ahead of a conference call at 11.30 AM.

AIM-listed Barkby has released a trading and strategy update. It reads quite well, but I wonder if beneath the surface there might be a nasty shock for shareholders on the way.

Reader Ouzo man is brave enough to be short of Versarien (VRS) historically this has been a wise move but the shares have surged in the past couple of weeks to 21.5p from a low of c13p.

I am not being paid to promote this but flag it up anyway as libertarian gloom monger David Scott is always entertaining, as well as always bearish about the world we live in. Thus, if you are at a loose end tonight at 7.30 and fancy coming away really depressed, he is holding an online zoom seminar. Accessing it is simple.

Maybe I shall save the celebratory ouzos for tonight and double up as I watch liberal tears as we see a Red Wave in the mid terms. I discuss that briefly then go on to look at Applied Graphene (AGM) and what it is like running a company facing corporate death as well as the ethics of my scoop last night. I look at Online Blockchain (OBC), Mello destroying its brand c/o Zamaz (ZAMZ), Argo Blockchain (ARB) and a couple of points about Seraphine (BUMP) from an accounting perspective and in terms of changing consumer behaviour and also how as a bear one can do non financial DD.

My friend Gabriel Grego has, along with a stack of other bears, been hit by a law suit from a biotech company he has taken on, Cassava (SAVA). Gabriel is too much of a gent to steal my catchphrase “see you in Court bitchez” but he says so in rather more gentle words. As my old pal Evil Knievil once noted “legal action is not an invitation to go short but an obligation.”

The photo below was of me at Sharestock talking about fraud. I discuss the day and ask those who attended to say which speakers I should drop for next year and to make any other comments. Then I discuss what profits warnings are inevitable a week on Tuesday.  PS Thanks to those offering gifts of wine and ouzo yesterday. It is much appreciated although I am not inquite  the right place to start on them today.

From a long-standing Woodford bear, it may seem an odd question as to whether Schroder UK Public Private Trust (SUPP) might now be a buy. But with the latest published NAV standing at 36.04p as of last night, and the shares trading at a mammoth 52% discount at just 17.26p, it is a question that I have to ask myself.

It is nearly a Bank Holiday weekend, so typically you would have very quiet markets (with only a few dodgy small caps slipping out very late and very shabby numbers). However, even for boring larger cap ex-institutional investors such as myself, there is plenty happening. Admittedly, I am fed up hearing about the world’s media talking about higher gas and electricity prices as if they barely knew that Ofgem existed. Here is my top tip for macro and micro economy watchers: just because something has not gone up for ten years, does not mean it cannot go up. It is just like people borrowing money at super-low interest rates for a decade or more and then complaining when the yield (finally) goes up. And talking about interest rates, I guess I will be keeping half an eye on the views of the chairman of the Federal Reserve Bank at the Jackson Hole Economic Symposium later today.

I have no skin in this game, though I wouldn't wish to own shares in Flip Flop's Kavango Resources (KAV). However, as the two men go to war, it is time to grab some beer and popcorn and enjoy from the sidelines. Then, I look at Asimilar's (ASLR) cash crisis, and Red Rock Resources (RRR) where, despite Andrew Bell pulling his usual trick, I hang on. Finally, I take a detailed look at Ince Group (INCE), where I am now 90% vindicated, with the shares crashing to c. 5p. I await an apology from its PR man, who suggested that, at 52p just before Christmas, I was wrong to be such a bear. To watch my next hat eating, go HERE.

I start with the weekend: a pointless covid test, Jaya's christening and a possible road trip to Greece. Then, I discuss Malcolm Stacey's Damascene Conversion to the bear cause, which makes me think that I should become a bull.

I have just arrived in Wales with my battered diesel van. Bed beckons, as I am still cream-crackered following yesterday's walk. The photos below are from two towns along the route, and show the likes of me and Lucian are greeted with the respect we deserve in that part of the world. I discuss Brian Basham's 26-mile cheat, but still, he is amazing. We have now raised £29,000 with gift aid, and that should rise this week. Feel free to donate, HERE. I discuss the big macro lesson from the walk, referencing Kinovo (KINO); St James Place (STJ), and the troubles one has in a bear market; and Hargreaves Lansdown (HL). Now to bed.

Lucian Miers’ (the bear raider) top three UK short positions are:

In today's podcast, I look at: Vast Resources (VAST) and the bogus bear squeeze; Eurasia Mining (EUA); Powerhouse Energy (PHE); Kinovo (KINO) and the fallout from my scoop yesterday, which is now confirmed; Made.com (MADE); and why Petropavlovsk (POG) is a zero. Also, do grab a (free) ticket to UK Investor on Saturday; tomorrow, I shall give the question you must ask one of the presenters. The Rogue Bloggers for Woodlarks have now raised 21% of their target. To the 95% of listeners yet to donate, please do so HERE.

I cannot help but notice that a good many of the shares of which I am a bear are dropping at the moment. With some, it is a case of the ramptastic froth being blown away. With others, it is surely a case of gravity asserting itself.

Author and journalist Larry McDonald writes about global political and systemic risk and how to make money from it. He starts his bear thesis with assessing how dangerous the extreme leverage within ALL markets has become.

I start with the University of Chester and despair. Then a win for the bears, well done Fraser. Then I look at Nanosynth (NNN), Advance Energy (AVD), Omega Diagnostics (ODX), Supply@ME Capital (FRAUD), Chill Brands (LIARS) and the GM called to sack Clem Chambers at ADVFN (AFN)

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.

2021 was not a good year for bears. Markets were in a rip-roaring bull phase and in my view all common sense went out of the window, so even the most ridiculous speculative plays went up. But my strong view is that 2022 will be different: QE is being tapered away, interest rates are rising, inflation is soaring and government helicopter money is no longer there (at least for now). In 2021, bears had to hide behind the sofa and short positions could be attacked by an army of pitch-fork armed private investors. That is not the case now and I expect some hefty declines as a result.

In today’s podcast I look at a raft of utter triumphs for me as a bear: Rosslyn Data (RDT) – no longer run by a former pornographer – Supply@ME Capital (FRAUD), Chill Brands (CHLL), Braveheart Investment Management (BRH) and Parsley Box (PUKE).

Two or three weeks ago I clambered off the fence and explicitly told you to short Eurasia Mining (EUA) at 28p. The shares are now 23.6p in the middle. So far so good for we bears but the company is still valued by the market, on a fully diluted basis as there are loads of in the money options, at well over £700 million which is insane. A placing announced yesterday is the cue to add to your shorts.

And now from Wales, by just 30 yards, it is my new weekly video show. This costs 99p per episode, and you can either listen to, or watch, sparky interviews with two great bears and some thoughts from myself. First up is the Bard of the Boleyn Lucian Miers followed by David Scott of Andrews Gwynne. Stocks to short and buy, asset allocation, macro-economics, it is all covered You can access the show HERE 

Yesterday twitter was buzzing with shareholders in Supply@ME Capital (SYME) trolling me and attacking me about this article which they clearly had not even read. That is double evidence of how dumb they are. But in case you think it is just me who gets this sort of low grade trolling, check out these tweets sent late last week to Fraser Perring, the bear who exposed Wirecard and is now sticking it to Grenke AG. I often wonder if ther wife’s of folks who send such tweets have any idea what their other half’s are up to and such despicable morons they think such behaviour will actually protect their investments in duff companies? 

And now from Wales, by just 30 yards, it is my new weekly video show. This costs 99p per episode, and you can either listen to, or watch, some sparky interviews with Ed McDermott of FastForward Innovations (FFWD) on cannabis stocks and his company. This is, I think, the most interesting CEO interview to date. Then I discuss a new share I have invested a five figure sum into on behalf of the company. Finally there is bear raider turned bull, the bard of the Boleyn, Lucian Miers. You can access the show HERE

I start with the annual horror that is doing a tax return for the Mrs. It was a pleasant shock. Then onto Left and Gamestop. Then I look at MyHealthChecked (MHC), Novacyt (NCYT), Jubilee Metals (JLP), another man with a posh wife who might struggle with her tax return – Mr David Beckham and E-Guild (GILD) -, and the real issue at Supply@ME Capital (SYME).

It started in October 2018. Boatman Capital published its first bear dossier on Babcock International (BAB) with the shares at 672p. After yet another dire warning today, the stock trades at just 215p and still looks overvalued.

I see that Supply@MECapital’s (SYME) multi-shamed boss, Alessandro Zamboni, has done yet another soft interview with the Sith Lord Zak Mir. Repeated interviews with a man who makes Justin the Clown look like Jeremy Paxman are a strong red flag. You can’t deliver operationally so try to get the ramping away with a man who won’t ask awkward questions. So I asked a bear, who is short, when the shares will stop dribbling lower as they do most days and completely collapse. He said:

Given the shape of my portfolio, I really would not mind if Brian Hirschman, the Managing Partner of Hirschmann Partnership, is right with this call. Brian’s firm is known as the “World’s Most Bearish Hedge Fund.”

If you are feeling a bit low, you’d better not tune in to this one. Writer David Morgan is a bear at every level.

One of my first ever tips for ShareProphets was AIM-listed Scancell (SCLP), way back in the 2015 New Year tipfest. It has not covered me in glory, having tipped it when it was hanging around the 23-33p mark as the shares closed last night at around 5p. I had hoped that it would turn itself around and its biotech business would find a willing buyer in the end. But today the shares are up buy a thumping 46% (last seen) on news of Development of vaccine against Covid-19.  Should I be celebrating? I’m not so sure….

My guest in this week's show which is sponsored by Open Orphan PLC (ORPH) is my old pal, the Dark Destroyer Matt Earl. We discuss how a bear can make money in this market, Tesla (TSLA), NMC Health (NMC), Finablr (FIN), Burford (BUR), IQE (IQE) and in real detail Mark Slater, Sam Antar and Future (FUTR) in the wake of Matt's bombshell dossier of last week. If you like this podcast and can't wait seven days for more of the same and are tired of being a cheapskate you should listen to my Bearcast every day.

If you ask the bear community for its top 4 shorts on AIM certain companies seem to feature in almost every list….

I see that some plonker at the Evening Standard has just dismissed Carson Block of Muddy Waters as a "ridiculous, conspiracy theorist". Au contraire Carson is a serious bear raider who is almost always right with his bear calls. Today he has announced that he is short of NMC Health (NMC). Carson writes:

There are no guests in this week's show which is sponsored by Open Orphan PLC (ORPH). It is just me and I start with the idea of it's too good to be true at Intu (INTU) and that leads me on to look in some detail at the compelling bear case against all the housebuilders and what that means for other sectors and for you and me. Then I look at the 3 most overpromoted stocks on AIM, Bidstack (BIDS), Versarien (VRS) and AFC Energy (AFC), the common themes and why shares in all three will eventually collapse. But there is a warning for the bears too. Then it is onto the up to £15 million Appbox Media, One True View scandal I exposed this week HERE. If you like this and can't wait seven days for more of the same and are tired of being a cheapskate you should listen to my Bearcast every day.

Bet against the great Northern Bear Waseem Shakoor at your peril. He is invariably right and his ability to spot frauds and overpromotes is uncanny. So I asked the great man what he considered the five most overvalued stocks on the AIM casino. With an answer that will make him even more reviled on the Bulletin Boards, Waseem said:

It was only a week ago that on orders from the evil PR spinners at Mothercare (MTC) the Sunday Times was running a puff piece about how the company was bringing in “restructuring experts” to look at its 79 UK stores (having shuttered another 55 in a CVA not that long ago) which racked up losses of £36 million last year. How time flies for the discredited deadwood press. Today Mothercare has called in the administrators for its UK stores.

Shareholders in Versarien (VRS) need something to cheer about as the wheels start to come off this ludicrous promote. Step forward moronic shareholder but talented cartoonist Roger the Grouch with this Rugby World Cup themed offering. I think I'm the fat bear, Lucian the squashed one. Natch ramper in chief Neill Ricketts is the hero..

 Bear raider Marc Cohodes is being sued for defamation for tweets he issued during a bear raid according to papers we publish below. Cohodes will no doubt have a good explanation but his accuser Guy Gentile who was a major shareholder in Lannett, the company that Cohodes was raising seems to have a strong case. Those, like Roger Lawson, who demand ever tighter and more draconian restrictions on those of a bearish opinion, should take note.

We live in a mad, mad world and I cite four examples of this: the banning of the original US flag by Nike 48 hours ahead of July 4, illiterate Zak Mir going into PR, the PI love-in on Bulletin Boards with utterly worthless Premier African Minerals (PREM) and the IPO of Funding Circle (FCH). I look at Dialight (DIA), and Fastjet (FJET) and then list my top ten shorts worth more than £250 million (with two slightly smaller cheats included) and explain the bear case for each.

This week saw a bit of a landmark as Neil Woodford’s Equity Income Fund (EIF) crashed below £4 billion in value. It was £4.7 billion at the of February, and £4.4 billion at the end of March – but it peaked at over £10 billion. It is an astonishing collapse of confidence in Woodford. But the end-April numbers revealed a few surprises.

On Saturday I shall be on the main stage at UK Investor in a bears panel with the Dark Destroyer Matthew Earl and new bear on the block Duncan Stewart. We can promise fireworks. Here is a taster, an idea from Matt...

The whore blogger Malcolm Graham Wood urged shareholders in Frontera Resources (FRR) to hang on after the shares – 0.28p at suspension, down more than 99% on the IPO – were booted off AIM.  The morons insisted they would be buying more as soon as they could and that shorters would be unable to close. Here, c/o the great Northern bear Waseem Shakoor is proof of the reality.

Oh dear. Oh dear. For those beguiled by the shoddy analysis of thirsty Paul Scott into buying shares in IQE (IQE), things are set to go from bad to worse. Much worse.  Last night Apple issued a first quarter sales warning.

After 365 days of cracking financial journalism, here are the top 20 stories that ShareProphets readers were obsessed by. 

There seems to be a palpable sigh of relief in the markets right now after the panicky trading days before Christmas, with Boxing Day’s stonking rise in the US followed up by another rip-roaring turnaround last Thursday. Trump is advising us all to go back to the tried and trusted “buy the dips” and even some prominent bears have been calling some big tech names oversold…

I start with a look at Frontera Resources (FRR) and what should and what may happen on Monday in light of this weekend's revelations. You would not want to be long of this one. Then I look at the most shorted shares on AIM and explain why for many of them, notably IQE (IQE), Telit (TCM), ASOS (ASC), Boohoo (BOO) and Victoria (VCP) the bear c ase has just got that much stronger, by an order of n, in the past few weeks. Finally a warning for shareholders in First Derivatives (FDP) - I have a small present for you tomorrow. :)

I am shortly off to stay with my mother in law in the Grim North for a couple of days. Joy to the world! I am made angry by Wishbone Gold (WSBN) and Turner Pope and comment on that. I look also at Totally (TLY), Range Resources (RRL), AO World (AO.), Pantheon Resources (PANR), Plant Health Care (PHC), BCA Marketplace (BCA) and ASOS (ASC).

Shy Bear is a reticent fellow but a short seller currently without exposure to this sector. Having listened to my, most excellent, bearcast yesterday he offers up a few thoughts. I know shy bear well and he is no fool. Ignore these stark warnings at your peril should you be foolish enough to contemplate a spot of bottom fishing. Over to Shy Bear who opines:

The BBC has run a story suggesting that fully listed Interserve (IRV) is going to raise cash from its shareholders and quoted a former shareholder suggesting that it won’t survive. The media picked up on it and the shares crashed again. Of course, I’ve been a bear of Interserve for an age, as regular readers will know (and been proved 100% right so far)...

Ten miniutes before the close IQE (IQE) issued a shocking profits alert. The shares crashed 29% to 67p. Where will they go tomorrow? Excuse the triumphalism but I have been the biggest IQE bear going and, again, I say to my critics I was fucking well right and you are morons.  All is explained in this bonus podcast. PS If any moaning Taffies bleat on about the content well go feck yourselves and get over it. 

Just over a year ago ShareProphets went from an advertising model (i.e. letting evil Google bleed us dry) to a subscription based one. That means we can write what we want and thanks to well over a thousand of you, our revenues have gone up and we did, actually, make a tiny, debut, profit last month. Hooray! But perhaps you are reading this article sitting outside all walls and have not signed up for full access at just £5.99 a month HERE. Just think what you are missing…

We’ve made November and the world didn’t end on the stock markets after all. Phew. Having noted that three of my four picks had been pretty resilient during the market squall of October, we have now seen a bit of a recovery across the markets (not that I think it will last). So how’s the performance?

Versarien (VRS), “the advanced materials engineering group, is pleased to announce that it has signed a collaboration agreement with Advanced Insulation Limited”. Any financials with this one? And any update on how other collaborations are coming along, Neill?...

Bear analysts Boatman Capital made the schoolboy error of leaking part of its report to the Sunday Times. The deadwood press is part of the problem not the solution. Thus the Sunset Times scuttled off to Babcock (BAB) allowing the company to spin its side and the paper to run a piece slating the bear commentary.  Such is the sordid state of financial journalism in Britain today. Anyhow for what it is worth the full report is now out and Babcock shares are starting to slide despite the company’s spinning c/o the deadwood press…

Well that was a depressing week. Markets were crashing all around the world and the FTSE100 dipped below 7,000 for the first time since March, having lost around 500 points this month. Suddenly interest rates are going up, the Euro seems a tad wobbly in the face of Italian budget challenges and we’re all going to hell in a handcart.

Cynical Bear warned you that the 62p per share, £63 million, IPO of Mirriad Advertising (MIRI) would cause tears before bedtime. Obviously not for IP Group (IPO) which was able to justify its daft pre IPO investments in relation to that crackers listing price. Nor for Nomad and broker Numis or PR parasites Hudson Sandler which will have earned fat fees for the listing. Coke and hookers all round for the crony capitalists.  But for anyone dumb enough to buy the stock since the IPO this has been a horror show. The shares are now just 30p mid, they have more than halved in ten months on the AIM Casino. So what’s today’s news? It is bad, natch.

I see that another three AIM companies ended their membership of the Casino this morning, namely Dalradian Resources (DALR), Zamano (ZMNO) and Weatherly International (WTI). On the one hand I keep hearing how AIM is outperforming the main market (something of a turnaround, at long last – and for the cynical perhaps a sign that the bull run is coming to an end!) but I keep seeing departures. AIM may have outperformed the main market, but I wonder for how long given the mad exuberance of shareholders in the likes of Frontera (FRR), UK Oil and Gas (UKOG) and Tern (TERN). And, as I discovered this morning, the number of companies listed on AIM still seems to be falling away markedly.

It is a while since I updated on my small portfolio of high-yielders from the FTSE100. The idea of the portfolio – perhaps somewhat contrary to expectations – is that I am bearish, but am struggling to find somewhere to park my cash. Bond yields are low and prices high, but interest rates are rising so my simple mind sees capital losses there. You still can’t get any meaningful interest at the bank and property prices look set to (at best) stall. And to cap it all, I am nervous that the market might sell off. So I am investing here as a bear.

Hello Share Swampers. Ok, so you're wise enough to subscribe for less than £1.50 a week to this wonderful website for quick news that the share you bought is unreliable - as so often happens. But are you wise enough to hold the correct proportion of your assets in cash to suit the current share climate? If you're not certain, allow me to remind you of some classic tips.

The previous record number of tips captured and performance-tracked by Stockomendation was smashed in July, with over 1,600 new stock tips and broker ratings added to our platform across 23 brokers and 40 professional tipsters. Tip activity in July was the at its highest since April –  coinciding with quarterly trading updates for many firms –  representing an increase of 81% on the number of tips tracked during the same period last year. This surge in tips was mainly driven by brokers, with tipster activity remaining in line with previous months.

Just in case anyone thought I was getting less cynical with age following my earlier piece, I thought I would also update my thoughts on Big Sofa Technologies (BST) following all the recent news. In short, I remain as bearish as ever and think a cash crunch will be soon upon us.

Hello Share Flingers. Against the flow, and my learned friend David Scott, I think shares will continue to rise. I’ve recently said that we should always be prepared for a crash because common sense says there will be one eventually. But sense is rarer than budgie teeth in Shareland where one philosophy over-reaches all others.

Share options are usually issued to company directors and others to incentivise them to do a good job – the idea being that if they do a good job the shares go up and everyone is happy. This morning AIM-listed Tern plc (TERN) announced that an employee of an investee company had exercised 100,000 options at 8.5p. But as far as I can make out, those options don’t lapse until 2027 – so why exercise them now?

I suspect that Ocado (OCDO) is even more overvalued after today's share price surge on the Kroger deal - it goes to show the dangers of shorting anything other than an outright fraud in the current climate. I look at the FOBT news - Nanny State gets more and more bossy every day. I look also at Mothercare (MTC), Foxtons (FOXT) and WH Ireland (WHI)

I have to hand it to Al Sisto, CEO of AIM-listed Tern plc (TERN). Down at 2p not so long ago, the shares are riding high at 26p and now he’s got the placing I have been predicting away at 18.5p for £1.75 million. It kind of begs the question of what on earth the company was doing with a death spiral in place before the latest lift-off commenced. But a placing 18.5p with the shares having closed last week at 26.6p is quite a discount – 30%. And who is this single institutional shareholder?

The story of the week is EXCLUSIVE: When Conviviality said it had scrapped its dividend - the proof it lied. Did anyone else other than ShareProphets have this story? Of course not...that we break so much news here when newspapers have editorial budgets that are 10 or 20 times ours is pretty impressive is it not. A very good reason to stump up £5.99 a month to gain complete access to all our material.

Hello Share Smoothers. There's only a couple of weeks to go to probably the greatest share show on earth at Westminster. And if you haven't got your ticket yet, I humbly urge you get down to it, as there are only a few left. It's as if those folk who thought they'd save £1.50p a week by not subscribing to this tremendous website, think they can make up for their lack of vital info by charging down to London for one day's superb instruction at the UK Investor Show.

In this bearcast I cover Sosandar (SOS) as Cynical Bear pretends to be Ben Turney on steroids and then turn my fire to all the bad news that UK Oil & Gas (UKOG) is sitting on and may release well after hours tomorrow. Then I look at Gloo Networks (GLOO) which is linked to BCA Marketplace (BCA). Gloo is at every level a total fecking scandal of greed and well everything. I should warn you that there is a bad language alert as Gloo is everything that is wrong about the AIM Casino. If you like bearcasts then remember that at UK Investor on April 21 one of many highlights will be a live bearcast with myself and Paul Scott. Make sure you book a free ticket HERE using the promotional code WINNIFRITH

It's been an ongoing trope on this site to note when mainstream media ties itself into knots trying to avoid mentioning the word ShareProphets. Instead, they tend to refer to our dozen writers as a 'blogger' or, in more convoluted cases, as 'an Italian newspaper.' But finally! We have a brave newspaper, the Western Telegraph, in Haverfordwest has referred to our name in full. No wonder that they were named the best weekly newspaper in Wales.

I have been a long term bear of Mothercare (MTC) on the simple basis that I do not see it as having a USP any more. It is a pointless dinosaur like Toys R' Us. The latter is already toast as of last week, the most recent trading statement from Mothercare indicates that it will go the same way.

My friend and former colleague the aristocrat Dru Edmonstone was - as widely reported - sentenced to 21 months last week for a £60,000 benefits fraud, something the pathetic wretch did to fund his spread betting addiction. I discuss this and ask does a case like that of Dru justify the current clampdown on spreadbetters. I think such a clampdown would not have stopped Dru for addicts will always find a way. I discuss the odd goings on at Saffron Energy (SRON) which hardly inspire confideence. But my main focus is on the revelation HERE by Cynical Bear that Neil Woodford's flagship £7.1 billlion fund has taken on an overdraft, as an emergency measure to fund either redemptions or a growing collection of falling knives or both. If Woodford believes what he says about markets being overvalued - and I do - this is a sign that Britain's most conceited fund manager has completely lost the plot and may be not that far from the final collapse. 

I noted yesterday that Blue Prism (PRSM) was one of the most shorted shares on AIM. And having had a butchers at the numbers I can see why.

If you listened to my bearcast of yesterday you will be in no doubt that I am aa big bear of Dignity (DTY) based on some simple maths. I take my hat off to a ShareProphets reader (Buy100ozSilver) for his maths in our comments section. His ( or her) post merits a wider audience.

The most excellent Cynical Bear series on the massive issues that Neil "Nomates" Woodford faces and questions he must answer drew to a close yesterday HERE. Now I go further pushing those questions just a bit more, asdking new ones and outlining three scenarions that could see the Nomates empire and all his funds crumble very quickly indeed. 

Clearly no-one told Belfort Securities that its star client in the fraud sector, MySquar (MYSQ) was going to have a disastrous lack of profits warning today which exposed how it had massively misled investors for months. Because yesterday it urged its clients to fill their boots at 4.02p with a 21p target. At least this shows that at Belfort the Chinese walls between research and broking have no chinks in them. The shares are now 2.98p and are worth 0p. Over to Belfort.... 

I’m not particularly good at being smug but it would be remiss of me not to give an update following Big Sofa’s (BST) interims on Friday as I was pretty spot on. For completeness, Tom has already covered his thoughts in a Bearcast and a separate article HERE and HERE respectively, but here’s my take on it.

EVR Holdings (EVRH) is beloved of Bulletin Board Morons but is rightly lampooned by Cynical Bear earlier today HERE. I look at it and note that it has all the markings of an AIM stock promote and that its valuation, £75 million, is absurd and makes it ripe for shorting. Then I ask if £15 million is too much to earn for eight years of FTSE 100 failure? What about £43 million for eight years of success?

I have been having some good natured debate with Tom on the pros and cons of Big Sofa Technology (BST) recently and, as ever, he has allowed me to present my bearish version of events in advance of next week’s interims in contrast to his bullish thoughts the most recent of which is HERE.

I’m continuing my look at forthcoming interims with the horror show that is the Woodford-backed RM2 International (RM2), first pointed out as an excellent bear tip by Graham Neary (HERE). One has to ask what the hell was Woodford thinking here?

Hugh Hendry was one of the funniest and articulate of fund managers and for a while his Eclectica funds delivered - as bears - spectacular returns. But Mr Market went against him and he has now closed up shop with his main fund worth a meagre $30.6 million. His final parting shot is a letter in which he has given up on fighting fake news. Over to the great man

If you are listening to bearcast today you must have subscribed to Shareprophets so I thank you. I start with management who are cleary wronguns at Real Good Foods (RGD) which is a disgrace and at Papillion (PPHP) which is far worse - hat tip Cynical Bear HERE. I look at Interserve (IRV). Its shares are slumping on a profits alert but the real horrors are the lies in the August 9 results statement. Still valued at £124 million this could halve again look at debt! Then it is onto MySquar (MYSQ) a good bet for a zero, and finally a trio of oilies, Range Resources (RRL) - its au revoir not goodbye - Pantheon (PANR) dreary and overvalued by a reasonable amount and Sound Energy (SOU) where the valuation is a 100% rum and coke.

Hello, Share Tasters. A famous bear who writes on this splendid website recently opined that a company with a crazily over-egged valuation can continue to grow its crazy valuation. This sounds like a ridiculous observation. Why should a share which is already far too pricey become even pricier?

Hello, Share Bangers. There’s little doubt about it the good ship Shareland is entering very spooky waters. At any time now, the bull market will suddenly turn into a bear that will charge around the china shop. Mixed metaphors a speciality!

Lucian Miers' 3.1p short call on UK Oil & Gas (UKOG) seems to be, at present, right up there with most of the share tips of the market abuser Chris Oil in the pantheons of duff calls. The shares surged yesterday to 7.25p-7.3p. Ouch.

Lucian Miers advised shorting UK Oil & Gas (UKOG) and went short himself at c3.1p, boasting that twice before he had made a packet on the short tack with this perennial darling of the educationally sub-normal wing of the provisional private investor army. The shares are now 4.65p and the Bulletin Boards and the comments section on this website are full of posts by folks laughing at my old friend, the Bard of the Boleyn. So has East London's most feared short seller lost his marbles as well as a vast amount of dosh?

Primary Bid's latest offer is its first non AIM placement. It boasts this as an achievement. But the company is Toople (TOOP) a proud member of Cynical Bear's Sub Standard XI. It is a dog and while I urge you all to join Primary Bid now HERE, I also urge you not to take up this offer.

Well all right, this is more like it. The first non-Tom article is #1, Infrastrata – cash crunch & sack-the-board General Meeting ahoy… so it’s strategic review time!, by Steve Moore.

Hello Share Pinkers. As the markets are closed, I thought I might do a weekend piece to encourage you to carry on trading once the doors open again. We are constantly reminded on this legendary website that shares are overvalued and about to crumble. I don’t doubt it, though I’m fairly convinced the bull run has some months to go yet.

There is split opinion on Standard & TSX listed JackpotJoy (JPY) both from people I highly respect. On the one hand Odey (not Crispin) are buyers and own a significant stake, and on the other hand we have Marc Cohodes who presented the bear case at Grants Conference here. 

Cynical Bear says that I am just being far too kind to Advanced Oncotherapy (AVO) with my 15 questions earlier today. Oddly I have yet to get an answer and nor will I as the company contemplates insolvency and other matters. But back to Mr Bear who says I should have asked a 16th question concerning another possible case of lying.

The legendary bear Robert W Wilson once mused about his modus operandi: “I’m not interested in climbing into a tree and wrestling the jaguar out of the tree. I am interested in someone shooting the jaguar out of the tree and then I will go and cut the thing apart”

Yesterday I tried to explain the psychology of AIM fraud and fraudsters with reference to both African Potash (AFPO) and Cloudtag (CTAG). The great bear raider Waseem Shakoor also published a note explaining the seven steps of Cloudtag hype to facilitate is main business of share issuance. As you'd expect it is a cracking read. Over to the great Waseem

I wasn’t writing for Shareprophets a year ago but I called Nektan (NKTN) as my bear pick of the year on 14 January and it has played out as I envisaged with the share price dropping from its 31 December 2015 price of 130p to 32p today – a drop of 75%; but I think there’s still some way to go as I sense matters are coming to a head.

Folks have focussed on how shares have zoomed since Donald Trump won but what about the bond market which saw its worst week for five years? What does that mean and will it continue? Yes it will. That is the warning of libertarian hero and perma bear Peter Schiff in his latest podcast. 

Last Tuesday's US election results was my worst nightmare. Not that a demagogue has won the White House. Not that said demagogue has surrounded himself with an array of nutcases and god botherers. It's not even that electoral success depends on lies and false promises and facts mean nothing.

No doubt raging bull Malcolm Stacey will be crowing and snarling bear Tom Winnifrith will be growling as he changes the nappies: the FTSE100 has, again, popped up through the 7,000 mark. We can expect round 4,953 of the ding-dong between those two in the coming days. But what to make of it – are we on the cusp of a cracking selling opportunity or should we be filling our boots? And if we treat the latest gyrations as a chance to offload, what to do with the proceeds?

Hello Share Trimmers.  The markets are closed as I write, so let’s just take a look at the broadest picture possible when trying to predict if our shares will rise or fall. As you will have guessed this is a piece to encourage you in buying rather than selling in our golden game. 

AIM-listed jam-tomorrow investment company Tern plc (TERN) has announced yet another fundraising this morning – this time at just 8p per share, raising £0.525 million. That won’t have gone down too well with those who ponied up at 12p back in February when the company raked in £1.1 million, or those who contributed to the £0.72 million placing at 12p last August.

I had the weirdest of phone calls on Friday from a chap who insists that as a bear of Avanti Communications (AVN) I have got it wrong. I have spoken about his thesis to Lucian and having thought about it over lunch at the White Bear having run the gauntlet of Shipston's Bulgarian Big Issue seller, I am more sure than before that I am not wrong to remain bearish. I discuss the bull vs bear debate giving both sides of the argument and my conclusion.

I first wrote about Nektan (NKTN), my bear pick of the year, in mid-January HERE with the share price having already had a bad start to the year down to 107p from 130p at the close of 2015. Following yesterday’s pre-close trading update for the year to 30 June 2016, it closed down 23% on the day at a mere 47p. Time to reassess my position.

Recently listed Papillon Holdings (PPHP) is - as Cynical Bear pointed out here - clearly an overvalued rum and coke. But in its brief existence it has at least achieved something: helping the FD slash his tax bill. Oh what jolly good news for the crony capitalists, coke and hookers all round.

Cynical Bear has already covered the stinking pus filled boil that is the bid for SyQic (SYQ) by its own CEO Jamal Hassim. Today it just got even smellier with the suspension of the shares.

This s why so many of us on this website are so bearish at a macro level. David Scott of Andrews Gwynne articulates the bear economics case very clearly. Enjoy!

Shares in Telecom Plus (TEP) are down 40p to 843p thanks to a downgrade of stance from buy to hold by Berenberg in the note below. The target price comes down from 1400p to 1000p so with upside at the start of the day of 14% surely that makes the shares cheap? Whatever. It seems an anodine note to me. I remain a bear as per Kevin Ashton's most awesome analysis HERE but you make up your own mind

I repeat my request re itunes - please go give Bearcast a 5* rating now. Then I refer to Amanda's piece earlier which is a compelling lesson in why its right to be a bear. Finally I explain why I am a mean bastard when dealing with Dr Harold Shipman, oops I meant Roger Lawson of ShareSoc.

Receiving the baton from Cynical Bear we now continue the detailed series on the 100% rum and coke that is AIM Casino listed Craven House Capital (CRV). Now let's turn to Ceniako.

Cynical Bear showed what a total joke, AIM listed Craven House Capital (CRV) was. Now here is another total killer. If Nomad Spark was not aware of our full coverage yesterday from CB (HERE) it is now. And it should resign at once, this company is simply not investment grade material. It is uninvestable crap. And that brings me to Pressfit- a company that I have lambasted before HERE. 

Oh dear. Baby Bear called this one to 0p at Gold & Bears HERE since when shares in Fastjet (FJET) have soared but now the chickens are coming home to roost with Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou warning that the company has misled investors and is facing a cash crunch.

I end with a look at Bango (BGO) and why I would not be tempted. I start with a look at the markets and why I remain a bear avec mon ami le grenouille Thierry, despite the markets having a big up day. Most of the podcast is dedicated to taking apart the establishment managers and other lunatics who make up the 200 business-persons against Brexit. They are wrong and they do NOT speak for business. 

There are some folks out there, notably on the LSE Asylum, that think that an unlisted Daniel Stewart (DAN) which is almost out of cash is actually worth anything? Think again, morons.

It was a photo finish between the Globo (GBO) bear report and Tom's victory at the High Court for most-read story this week, but, ultimately, the Greeks win out. Possibly not so much for their shareholders.

Happy Independence day to our American listeners. My prayers are that tomorrow Greece votes for freedom and votes Oxi! But will it? And what does that mean for the Euro and shares. I note Goldman Sachs claims that a Nai vote will see global equities rise by 10%. Hmmm, I think it misses the bear in the China shop. A few thoughts brought to you from Athens in today's podcast.

Before I turn to Sefton and the wider issue of impairment (or not) on the AIM casino I am still bristling after being rubbed up the wrong way last night by an apologist for convicted felon Charlie Gibson and so until I get bored I wish to remind you of why Gibson is a felon (HERE). Then onto today's business. To give flip flop a break there are a few comments on Sefton's results and why I am still a bear. Then the issue of asset impairment and today's Kansas news vindicates a lot of what Dan Levi and I said about Jimmyliar Ellerton. But it raises the wider issue of inadequate impairment reviews on the AIM casino.

I don’t know much about Playtech or its “colourful” founder Teddy Sagi (briefly imprisoned as a lad for grave deceit, bribery and insider trading) but they have certainly done no favours to bulls and bears alike in bidding 400p per share in cash for Plus 500 (PLUS).

Lucian Miers is now widely recognised as the most astute bear in Britain giving his enormous attention to detail and meticulous research. He puts the forensics into short selling. At the UK Investor Show as well as dominating the main stage bears session, Lucian recorded a short video interview. He can be followed on twitter @Lucianmiers and writes a weekly short letter on the Nifty Fifty website

I have called this one correctly as a bear but fair dues to Rightster (RSTR) for still having the balls to turn up and present at UK Investor Show.

Hello Share Breakers. Well, the strain was too much for me. I said earlier that I had turned a lot of my shares into cash. It seemed I had moved overnight from being a bull to a bear.

Shares in online fashion retailer ASOS (ASC) currently trade higher today on the back of a results announcement for the six months ended 28th February 2015 – which included that “we are confident of our outlook for the remainder of the financial year”. Does this though look to justify a further move ahead to a current 3800p share price?

I tried to offer a balanced view so in the first part of this series I offered the bull case on shares HERE. Now for the bear case and it should be clear where my true feelings lie. I end with five stocks to sell.

As a long term bear from more than 100p down I note with grim satisfaction that following its latest admissions Gulfsands Petroleum (GPX) sees its shares at just 25p. I warned you. This is a tale of disgraceful boardroom antics as well as a cash crisis. I name the guilty men and have kind advice for both the new board and those investors who ignored me and listened to others and stayed on the shareholder list.

It's a first. A daily podcast not mentioning Quenron (QPP) at all. But for the record its shares dived by 7.2% to close at just 38.5p. Only 38.5p to go to fair value. Instead I discuss Ludorum, Mysale, Naibu, China Chaintek, Enables IT, Ultrasis, Touchstone Gold, Beacon Hill and why I remain an equities bear. However I reveal a very small AIM company in which we have just made a material (for us) investment.

One of the big market mysteries of the last couple of months has now been solved. Why has the price of Avanti Communications (AVN) being going steadily upwards despite results that appear to confirm the worst fears of the bears? Why has the astute hedge fund Ennismore been reducing its short position?  Why has Avanti uber bear Mathew Earl – The Dark Destroyer -  gone strangely silent as the share price has ticked relentlessly North?

You know that I am an equities bear. So too is Gerald Celente, the well-known precious metals investor. His view is that we are heading for stockmarket disaster as we pump up the biggest bubble in history. This view was clearly explained in an interview he gave to my colleagues at Palisade Capital this week.

Every year back in the 1980s and 1990s the esteemed brokerage house of Wood Mac would poll institutional investors in oil stocks on where they thought oil prices were heading. The result was always the same. The consensus was that the next 12 months would be the same as the past 12 months. Maybe how that is how the human mind works. And perhaps that is why ShareProphets readers this weekend said that they were bullish on house prices. Or perhaps it is just that they like Malcolm Stacey (a bull) more than TW (a bear).

Hello Share Sharpers: The Footsie is doing so well that even I'm getting nervous. I've been saying for about six months now that UK shares are largely undervalued. A lot of very distinguished analysts, including Uncle Tom and others on this stupendous website take the opposite view.

You know that I am bearish on equities. I explained why last week HERE. But my bearishness is nothing on that of celebrated market commentator Marc Faber who sees shares falling by up to 40% and soon. This week my colleagues from Palisade Capital interviewed Marc and he explained why he was so pessimistic.

Though he put it more politely, Uncle Tom Winnifrith has written again to say that my view that shares will keep on rising is a lot of bull. Well, a bear should be able to recognise a bull in the big wide City.

I previously updated on this website on Telecom Plus (TEP), which trades as ‘the Utility Warehouse’ and is the UK's only fully integrated provider of a range of utility services spanning both the communications and energy markets, in April with the shares then at 1780p – concluding that I’d require a lower prospective rating before considering an investment (see HERE). Post a trading statement earlier this week and with the shares currently at 1312p would I buy?.

On twitter, on various bulletin boards and on the comments section here on ShareProphets  and elsewhere we have come under sustained attack for 24 hours – let me set the record straight. And then I can get back to dealing with the snakes, rats and bats that infest my home for the summer in Greece.

I am an ASOS (ASC) bear and explained last week why I think the shares should be at £23 - HERE. Natch the City’s brokers all used phrases such as “buying opportunity” after the most recent profits warning. Heck they seek corporate mandates rather than handing out decent advice. But hat’s off to Morgan Stanley. It has broken ranks with a bearish note out today. Good on you fellas.

Gold’s sudden collapse this week is going to have caught out a lot of bulls. Unfortunately I am on the wrong side of this trade, but thanks to my MIDAS analysis last week, I escaped with a minimal loss. The latest small plunge in gold is a real confidence sapper. Just when it looked like the yellow metal was gaining some traction, the bears swung back into action and now there are questions over the durability of this year’s rally. Thankfully, though, it’s not all bad news.

Oh dear, oh dear, today’s trading statement from Gulf Keystone (GKP) is a bit of a dog’s doo doo. I fear that the bears will enjoy it and having suggested that the stock might be a trading buy on the basis that grossly overpaid CEO Todd Kozel might be about to get his P45, I now revert to my normal sell stance – so far utterly vindicated with the share price having dived today to 91p.