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Even a few of our detractors have now come around
As we marched on Saturday, the Rogue Bloggers discussed this and that. As he sobered up, even Lucian Miers joined in the conversation, and asked whether he should short Avacta (AVCT). The answer is yes, and here is why.
The new ‘windfall’ tax on UK oil and gas producers has been all over the news this week, and whilst many of the public seem to be celebrating the fact that these ‘evil’ companies and their investors are going to take a hit, I’m not so sure the new rules are quite so great.
Today, Bidstack (BIDS) has surprising news of a new investor. Well: shit attracts flies. Why would anyone buy shares when the company’s FY results, out just a few weeks ago, explicitly warned of a looming cash crisis? Step forward, Timmy Horlick; let me explain.
Volatile times as also shown earlier this week in the United States, with the shares of two huge retailers, Walmart and Target, having their worst days since the stock market volatility of 1987. Interesting times out there. And it is a busy day in the UK market too, with three of my holdings giving an update…
It isn’t really surprising that any companies operating in the region where the current conflict between Russia and Ukraine is going on have taken a big hit to their share price since it all kicked off, but that can also present opportunities as long as you are prepared to take on the risks associated with that.
In my previous article, “Alpha Growth – accounts deadline confusion”, I highlighted that Gobind Sahney, Executive Chairman of Alpha (ALGW), seemed a little confused over the deadline date to report its year-end results. Well today, via RNS, Alpha announced that:
As folks guzzled on the covid testing hype, one man grew very rich. Graham Mullis was CEO of Novacyt (NCYT), a nothing biotech perennial dog, which just happened to have a test. Mullis was to be awarded a cash bonus, the size of which was dependent on the share price as of October 17 2020.
The share price of 888 Holdings (888) has remained pretty weak during the completion of its acquisition of William Hill, and as a result of revenue in the final quarter of 2021 showing a substantial fall.
Back in February last year I asked the question about whether Moonpig Group (MOON) was “a mad or amazing new share?”. Fortunately I concluded the former, as the c. 440p share price it had back then is now an amazing 240p, and I did not buy any shares (and I hope you did not either). So what to think about the update today from the “leading online greeting card and gifting platform, comprising the Moonpig brand in the UK and the Greetz brand in the Netherlands”….?
A day after its lie-infested results announcement, Wildcat Petroleum (WCAT) has yet to put out a correction. Instead, we are treated to its quarterly newsletter, which might as well be an April Fool, or written from Alice’s Wonderland but instead is authored by “Mr T.C., the virtual representative of Wildcat Petroleum in these times of social distancing & restricted travel”. Jeepers.
Can we all agree that the Covid bubble/lets all WFH bubble has burst and also that the tech bubble is bursting. I will write up the top way to cash in on this on the N50 website this weekend. Meanwhile here is some more free money for the bears.
Small stake-building by a French Covid tester in Novacyt (NCYT) saw its shares surge yesterday and that prompted jumps across the sector. Over in Bulletin Board Moron land the talk was of merger mania sweeping the sector. I hate to disillusion you guys …
Remote site services group RA International (RAI) has announced full-year revenue “in line with management expectations” and that “the underlying business has remained profitable through this disruption and our solid balance sheet supports our forward looking requirements”. So what of a current share price response to 29p, more than 23% lower?…
I shall be recording a special podcast outside of the paywall later for shareholders in Omega Diagnostics (ODX) for they have been well and truly mugged, but not by me, and must be spitting nails this morning as it finally fesses that everything I have exposed on this website was true.
Firstly I discuss how Omega Diagnostics (ODX) mislead folks on 19 January about the lack of a placing. The slippery words of PR shithead Paul “Queenie” McManus of Walbrook saw folks pay 15p per share. Today Omega confirmed my latest scoop, yes it has raised £5 million and will do an open offer for another £2million at just 5p. But Queenie says this is dependent on another corporate action. In the podcast I reveal exactly what that action is since the PR shithead won’t. There is a brief discussion about poor Prince Charles and the total bursting of the Covid stocks bubble. Then onto the shocking corporate governance and executive greed at Nanosynth (NNN). It is dressed up as aligning executive interests with those of mug punters owning this grotesquely overvalued stock. It is nothing of the sort. The shares should fall by 90%. Former chairman Antony Legge would NEVER have allowed this. How standards have slipped.
I have warned you time and time again that Novacyt (NCYT) was a ramp with the sole purpose of allowing now departed CEO Graham Mullis to trouser an enormous cash bonus based on the share price on just one day. In the end Mullis trousered £8.5 million but, last week, Private Eye served up a great article showing how the company has a cultrure of lying and fabrication and, had investors known the truth about tests that did not work or which were contaminated, Mullis would be far less well off than he is today. This is a scandal and the ramifications could be very serious. Potentially a claim by the DHSC could wipe out most of this company’s balance sheet (cash of £100million) with ongoing cash burn now that sales of its covid tests are evaporating, taking out the rest. This remains a bargepole stock/short. The article is below.
I guess you are (finally) excited today if you are a Unilever (ULVR) shareholder. I almost bored myself talking about the company (again!) last week but, given the news that Nelson Peltz’s activist fund has bought a stake, Unilever has gone from being the (potential) hunter to being the (potential) hunted.
I always find it hard to buy shares where I see fundamental good value and where I am intending to hold them as an actual investment rather than just a short term trade based on momentum.
Given the pointless Plan B lockdown it is no great shock that JD Wetherspoon (JDW) will make a first half loss. But in spelling out just how bad things are, L4L sales down by 11.7% and total sales by 13.3% in the first 25 weeks of the year, heroic company founder Tim Martin has lashed out at the illogical policies of a hypocritical Government and at the hypocrisy and stupidity of fund manager Blackrock. The great man does not hold back and opines:
I do not go into much detail but this has not been a pleasant last 24 hours so hence the lack of output from me. Fingers crossed I am on the mend. I discuss Covid plays and false Covid recovery plays and end of covid victims including Omega Diagnostics (ODX), a mega short as the cash crisis bites, Abingdon Diagnostics (ABDX), MyHealthChecked (MHC) and – especially for listener TB – Cineworld (CINE). Then I look at more murky Trevor Brown goings on at Braveheart (BRH) and the odd world of Free Association Books and the Brown family. Finally the madness at Tintra (TNT) now – for a company with no operations – and, perhaps, £2million cash – valued at c£40 million. Insane!
About a month ago (here) I wrote about Currys (CURY), observing that ‘if I see the stock below a quid then I will probably buy some’. Back then the stock was between 110-115p and today it is more like 107p. So what did today’s ‘trading update for 10 weeks ended 8 January 2022’ say?
Pot play MGC Pharmaceuticals (MXC) joined the Standard List on 9 February 2021 and has already issued more RNS releases than most companies do in a lifetime. But that is not the only red flag relating to this dual listed ASX entity now being touted by certain chatroom trolls as the next big thing. MGC is drowning in red flags and its valuation is absurd.
Oh dear. How sad. Never Mind. The Covid testing bubble is bursting and an admission this morning from Avacta (AVCT) is even more of a disaster than a 27% share price slump suggests. This collapse is only just beginning and will spread across the sector, so completely vindicating we cynics of stocks such as Abingdon (ABDX), Omega Diagnostics (ODX) and others. As a bear, preparing to crack out a celebratory ouzo, Let me explain.
I start with a few comments on my life as a tree hugging, green feminist and the issues that presents. Then I comment on Wildcat (WCAT) and its smearing of me in a bonkers statement. I then comment on Versarien (VRS), the Ian Westbrook case and what will cause a share price collapse this year. Then it is on to Cineworld (CINE), the Restaurant Group (RTN) and easyjet (EZJ), three end of covid plays and why they are not all the same. Finally I look at Nostra Terra Oil & Gas (NTOG) and the latest statement served up by its devoutly Christian boss and why I am not buying into it.
Hello, Share Swampers. As it’s been pouring down almost non-stop in my seaside town during the festivities, I thought I might look at Superdry (SDRY). I think it might see its shares rise after a torrid time during the worst days of Covid. Superdry is in the clothing game. But though it sells waterproof gear and footwear, it has a much wider range than that.
It has been a funny last 13 months, but fortunately the financial markets have been the last of my challenges. Obviously I am still not the next Peter Lynch, but I keep on learning (something) even if it was a quarter of a century ago now that I first rocked up in the City. And whilst I could ramble on at length about a few winners this year, one of the more dull stocks has been Carnival (CCL) which I am currently up on 0.25% year-to-date.
A couple of weeks ago I exposed how Heathrow Airport broke the covid laws and lied to customers about what it was doing. Natch the airport has not bothered to respond. For the Government and Big Corporations in Airstrip One it is just Carry on Lying. That is the culture in which we all live. Today’s big corporate liar is Eurostar which has also declined to comment.
In today ‘s Bearcast I look at Sarah Willingham’s swimsuit pose and why it makes Nightcap (NGHT) uninvestable even before the next COVID restrictions which will kill her business. Then it is onto Cineworld (CINE) where its Canadian shock today only adds to its miseries. It remains a stonking short with its own G issues. Finally Ben’s Creek (BEN) and an unexpected twist at what remains a short.
I was up well before the crack of dawn to take my pre-flight test and I passed, I discuss that, move onto MyHealthchecked (MHC), Wildcat Petroleum (WCAT), Tungsten (TUNG), ADM Energy (ADME) and finally Purplebricks (PURP), another fallen former fave of top blogger Paul Scott. It’s latest news really would turn aman to drink. But there is worse still to come.
The last time I wrote about Omega Diagnostics (ODX) was back in June when I got slated for suggesting that the company had missed the boat when it came to Covid testing, and that its Department of Health and Social Care contract wasn’t worth the headline figure you so often saw people banging on about!
The olive harvest is almost done, bearcast listener and harvester B and I finished today as the heavens opened. So I am a bit wet but it is done. More details on my own site tomorrow when I shall have a full day at my desk. Today I talk about the Government’s mad new covid laws then about how shareholders in Red Rock Resources (RRR), Union Jack Oil (UJO) and, increasingly, Tern (TERN) and Versarien (VRS) should be careful what they wish for.
I have not fired him or, so far this week, Darren. But perhaps a P45 for the Canadian socialist crackpot is called for once again. After all it is almost Christmas and what else could I give him?
Abingdon Health (ABDX) will, no doubt, claim that its up to £6 million placing, open offer and Primary Bid offer at 25p is down solely to the DHSC not paying delayed bills. But then again this was a company that was technically insolvent before it raised £20 million at is IPO a year ago so, in my view, it has always been a basket case and I have explicitly warned you many times that a bailout was looming. For the record, this will not be the last one. So, who is next? Abingdon again or the other grossly overhyped covid dog Omega (OMX). But first a covid prediction…
The last day of a month always has a bit of market excitement, typically involving investors who fiddle around with their portfolio to ensure they are not too embarrassed when their end of the month portfolio is published. But there is more to think about this end of the month, with the headlines that the ‘Moderna chief predicts existing vaccines will struggle with Omicron’ having naturally induced a bit of (negative) excitements for the markets today. Hello the FTSE 100 lurking again at the c. 7,000 index point level. And then we also had the full year latest update from easyJet (EZJ)…
Late November and early December is always a busy time for the brokerage industry to forge, write and publish its investment thoughts for next year. Of course many of such thoughts end up as deeply embarrassing, even before you reach Easter, but – like most of the sales industry – what you said a few months ago was the ancient past, and what matters is your thinking today.
Me and my big mouth! Last week it was all positive: Gold had been moving higher, seemed to be out of the downtrend of lower highs and Gold shares were riding high. Then wallop! All of a sudden Gold is back below $1800 at $1792, having been $1845 the previous week. But is this sell-off really serious?
How many folks have tested for this variant in the UK or died from it in the country where it is most prevalant – not Botswana? Or even been hospitalised by it in the epicentre? The answer is the same number of times that I have shagged Cheryl Cole this week. But the market is tumbling. I discuss the real data behind this variant, the wild scaremongering and whether this is a buying opportunity in the world of shares? I referred to a bird from Edinburgh University who is the worst of the experts on forecasting HERE and to data from three continguous US states HERE, from Wales and England HERE and from central European countries centred on Hungary HERE.
It is a busy Monday. I will leave some other experts to comment on names such as Cineworld (CINE) – which seems excited by recent UK box office moves but did not talk even remotely sufficiently about potential profit or issues with more debt – or CMC Markets (CMCX), which talked about potentially splitting the business (but which correctly for a spreadbetting firm has a share price fall still notably down year-to-date). Instead I will talk about Serco Group (SRP), who ‘specialise in the delivery of essential public services, with over 50,000 people working in defence, transport, justice, immigration, healthcare and other citizen services across our four regions’, and which was apparently formed back in 1929.
Hello, Share Creepers. This old punter rather likes all the high street banks at the moment. But Lloyds (LLOY) may be the best of the bunch if you’re looking for a rising share price. The stock reached a year high a week ago. But that was still only about 50p compared to £3 or so back in the day.
Hello, Share Peckers. Here’s something that can baffle share shifters like us. Why, when a certain share rises on the day, can there be more sellers than buyers? And vice versa. I’ve recently been using BP (BP.) as a case study. As the price of Brent Crude rose over the last few weeks there are often more sells than buys. And yet the share price, tied to the soaring price of oil and gas, has usually risen.
If there were not already enough Red Flags flying over sub-Standard-Listed Cloudbreak Discovery (CDL) to supply a parade in Red Square on May Day, this morning’s announcement of a delay in publishing full-year results to June 2021 must surely be the final straw for shareholders.
Johnson Matthey (JMAT) has seen its share price take a bit of a hit in recent months and is now trading at a similar level to where it started the year, despite the world economy looking in better shape now than it did then.
Provider of temporary structures for events, Arena Events Group (ARE) is “pleased to announce” a recommended offer of 21p per share, with its Summary including emphasising “a premium of approximately: 48.4 per cent. to the closing price of 14.2 pence… on 19 October… 50.0 per cent to the 14.0 pence per share subscription and placing price completed in April 2021”. Good news for shareholders then?
Gold closed the week at $1757, down a tad from last week’s $1761 but pretty much unchanged. Nothing to write home about, perhaps, but very quietly Gold stocks seem to be showing a little more poise than of late. My chart of Gold against GDX (Gold majors’ETF), GDXJ (Gold not-so-juniors ETF) and GOEX (Gold explorers) shows what I am talking about.
It should not be me contacting the Oxymorons at AIM Regulation about this it should be Nomad and broker Cenkos Securities and Primary Bid which raised money at 0.45p per share on August 19, putting their clients into this serial dog. Indeed, Lagos Securities should be considering whether, in light of today’s share suspension, it can continue to act as Nomad for Mercantile Ports and Logistics (MPL). I believe that should be resigning at once. I have written to the Oxymorons as you can see below.
I keep being promised a call from the chimpanzees that claim to manage Primary Bid explaining why it was prepared to raise cash for Mercantile Ports & Logistics (MPL) at 0.45p on 19 August. Here we are, just six weeks later, and the shares have been suspended at 0.3p to sell. At this point will Primary Bid finally accept that its due diligence process for client take on needs a dramatic overhaul.
The Mrs was doing a seminar yesterday on data analysis. I doubt it was half as good as this classic from her husband given to the woke morons attending Bath Spa but she challenged their preconceptions on covid an a very entertaining way. Which profession has suffered most covid deaths per thousand? The students said nurses. The answer is, of course, security guards. Take back those pay rises for nurses whose average wage (more than £33,000) just a few years into the profession is already more than the UK national average wage. Anyhow back to our hero Tim Martin…
For 17 years I have been pointing out the lies and frauds committed by Eden Research (EDEN). I could paper my bedroom with the lawyers letters it and its partner in crime 3DM (now in administration, having blown £65 million of other folks cash, sent me). I could paper another few rooms with the online harassment I received from the 3Dimmers, whipped up by shamed promoters Old Mother Mike Walters and Johnny “the Rat” Townsend. Here we are and I am still on the case although how the regulators have allowed this farce to continue for so long really does cause me to despair. Retained losses now stand at £40 million!
The top non-Tom article this week is Union Jack Oil – I have lost faith by Peter Brailey at number 2 or number 7 if you include the Bearcast.
I start with how I am terrorising folks in this hotel as I sneeze in the lift and droplets fall from my ever redder nose. I know I don’t have covid, they don’t. Then I move onto Malcolm Stacey and inflation. Then onto Bidstack (BIDS), a train crash in the making. Then I discuss the lorry driver and cabbage picker crisis with a joke at Jim’s expense and also what is the obvious solution.
In their 2019 manifesto, the Tories said they would not hike Income Tax or National Insurance. Today we learn that an NI hike of 1-1.25% is planned to help shorten NHS waiting lists and to pay for care for the elderly. So the Tories lied. But it is worse than that. What is proposed is manifestly unjust, it is the transfer of wealth from those without to those with it.
I am trying to remember the last time I went to a WH Smith (SMWH) store (and I have never been to one online). My guess would be in 2019. Of course growing up in the 1980s life was somewhat different at many levels, but today WH Smith’s is described as having ‘two core businesses – Travel and High Street’. And it has been no guess for a few years before the rise of Covid-19, that the former was becoming more and more important.
Too many years being involved in the investment industry taught me a few things, including that aiming to “sell in May and go away” was comical. No doubt for the rich who have had to worry about the summer season between June and September, it may have made a bit of sense, but for lower middle class grafters like me the summer always offered more working opportunities than threats.
Gold ended the week at $1817, up from $1781 last week. The big news was the chairman of the Federal Reserve, Jerome Powell’s speech to the virtual Jackson Hole shindig and whilst there had been some talk of a spot of hawkishness and an imminent taper on the masses of magic money being spewed out by the Fed, what we actually got was that the Fed’s view was that it could be appropriate to trim in this year. Which, of course, means it also could not be! The result was that Gold headed north and gold stocks followed suit.
I start this podcast with a look at Watchstone (WTG), Quindell (QPP) as was. Then a macro view on covid and how, in time, our attitudes have to change. How to play that from an investment point of view. It is tough. I explain why I hold MyHealthChecked (MHC) ahead of a trading update within weeks which will, I am sure, be cracking and why it should prosper medium term. But I admit that could change.
Chill Brands (CHLL), the fraud formerly known as Zoetic (ZOE), blames covid for delaying its results which, in May, it said would be out in July until August. We all know the reason is its battle to persuade the auditors that it has enough cash to survive for 12 months. Which it does not. Anyhow, we are now almost at the end of August and good news travels fast but bad news is always delayed so where are the results which are bound to be truly absymal? When do you think Chill will sneak out the bad news?
Having already admitted that it was going to run out of cash, the only questions are when will shamed Remote Monitored Solutions (RMS) do a placing and how massive a discount will the bucket shop spivs demand to get it away? To that end one can expect a stream of ramptastic RNS announcements using the Adam Reynolds keyboard and which often contain lies. Here is the first one today and it seems to have got the morons creaming themselves with joy even though this is, in fact, Remote announcing the same thing for a second time. If you needed evidence of just how dim shareholders in this company are….
I fly back to Wales tomorrow so have wasted too much of my life filling in moronic covid related forms today. I cannot say that i am happy to be heading back. I start with Luke Johnson’s warning on WFH and I rather think that on some points I disagree with my friend. Then onto UK regulation and its failings ref today’s two articles on Vast Resources (VAST) and the bombshell on the Zoetic (ZOE) fraud.
I start with the covid tests, the Mrs and I having just taken one for 50 euros each here in Greece. sadly we both passed so will head back to Wales on Monday where our test, in Wales, will cost more than 100 Euro. I explain why we in the UK are being so utterly scammed for these pointless tests as I start a three part series on my own site on covid lunacy in this part of Greece HERE. Then I flag up a good bit of what is in tomorrow’s new shocking Zoetic (ZOE) dossier which will again place the company in the threat of severe US regulatory peril even after it covered up all the breaches I exposed last time! Finally, I discuss Iconic (ICON) and why i want it to go bust - it is the only way that a member of the Tory chumocracy – toxic David Sefton – will get his just desserts.
As I write, shares in Braveheart Investment Management (BRH) are 11% off at 27.25p valuing this crock where Trevor Brown is the CEO at £11 million. But now that folks appear to have wised up to the pump and dump activities of Brown, what is fair value? I suggest 5p and here is why.
Do you remember the poltroon Julian Pike of Farrer & Co who trolled me on behalf of Julie Meyer and harassed whistle-blower John Galt? He was also slammed in Malta for attempting, allegedly, to bully a magistrate with long emails on behalf of Meyer. It seems Ms Lingerie on Expenses MBE failed to pay her bills of £200,000 forcing Farrer & Co, lawyers to the Queen, to take Meyer to Court. The bombshell ruling is below.
The fraud Zoetic (ZOE) said, on 17 May 2021, that its results for the year to 31 March 2021 would be out in July (2021). But instead of delivering its numbers, it served up trading statements on July 1 and July 29 and last night said that covid had caused delays and the results would be out in August. That is both a lie and an admission of a rule breach.
I doubt any ShareProphets readers are involved with Aquis-listed Freyherr International Group (FRYR), but news today shows us what a complete shambles it – and the Aquis exchange – really is. Freyherr is a cannabis play with operations in Slovenia. But it can’t get its accounts out due to Covid (natch) and is being booted off Aquis today. But fear not, for Baldrick has a cunning plan…..
Hello, Share Bakers. When the Footsie falls, there are always shares that still shine, often in the small cap bracket. One such outfit is Creightons (CRL) maker and seller of budget cosmetics and hand washes. It’s not long since I reviewed the jolly numbers behind the healthy share price, but let’s now look at something even more important for would-be investors. And that’s future trends.
Gold and silver miners have generally performed quite poorly as of late, and certainly when you consider the prices that the metals themselves have been trading at, and Fresnillo (FRES) has certainly been no exception. That is your opportunity and here is why.
The fraud Zoetic (ZOE) said it would serve up its final results in July. Instead, on July 1, we had a trading update and today we have another trading update. If results really are out before the weekend, why rush out a second trading update this morning? This is smoke and mirrors time as the trading news is absolutely dire and the absence of those results should alarm even the most moronic of morons.
Hello, Share Users. This old punter avoided recruitment firms at the height of the pandemic. But it now seems to be a growth area with a shortage of employees in several sectors. Like hospitality and lorry driving for instance. One of the more interesting recruitment outfits is Staffline (STAF). The share price took a massive hit at the start of the pandemic and it had a bit of an issue with accounting fraud and a consequent balance sheet reconstruction. But it’s just provided a six month trading statement and things look good going forward.
Sometimes I am good at investments…and sometimes I am not so good. Today is an example – fortunately not overly regular – of the latter as the shares I bought in Reckitt (RKT) at 58 quid something in late February this year, are now at 56 quid something. So not exactly awful but far from smart given I have written positively about the stock including on Sunday a couple of times and had plenty of opportunities to make a nice turn and move on. So why the share dump today?
Like many oil and gas companies at the lower end of the market, San Leon Energy (SLE) has had its fair share of ups and downs over the years, but in recent times has been heading in the right direction as it builds its business producing oil in Nigeria.
I despair at the predicament our blessed government has left us in. Having prevailed over Covid with the mammoth achievement of our vaccination programme, we find ourselves caught in a doom-loop of a “pingdemic”, rising cases, children again having been denied their education, public services not happening and empty supermarket shelves. Yet at the same time Covid-hospitalisations and Covid deaths are way, way down and we had “freedom” day which wasn’t so free.
Whilst you might think that I’m mad to even be looking at the travel sector at the current time, I believe that often the fear of what might happen outweighs the actual reality, and often things don’t turn out as badly as people thought they might – the commodities sector during the first half of 2020 being a good example!
Gold closed this week at $1812 – up a notch from last week’s $1808. That’s a fourth weekly gain in a row, which is good, but given that the price peaked at over $1830 it’s a bit of a disappointment. The surge was in reaction to yet another set of US inflation data well above expectations, but the response was short-lived.
Hello, Share Fanciers. There aren’t many consolations for the pandemic on the financial front. Ok some shares have done better than others. But the Footsie is down least 12% on pre-covid days and it should have risen by 20% given the bull run which was underway just before that. However there’s better news for owners of many penny shares.
Hello, Share Shiners. While relieved to know Tom Winnifrith won’t sack me, I must respond to his criticisms of my outlook for share shifters in climate change and any future lockdowns. Firstly, He doesn’t agree that carbon emissions lead to global warming saying it would happen anyway. But what he or I think doesn’t matter to shareholders. It’s what the majority of investors believe – and it concurs with most scientists that the planet is warming up. TW Note as opposed to in 1974 when nearly all scientists warned of a coming ice age – but maybe they will be right at some stage.
I would never fire Malcolm or indeed any writer here for what they write (within reason). This website believes in free speech so folks can say what they think even if it involves a brutal attack on a company in which I own shares. That is why, I think, our writers enjoy working here rather than on other sites where they would, I am sure, earn more. However… for a brief millisecond today, Malcolm pushed me hard…
AIM-listed gold and silver producer in Turkey, Ariana Resources (AAU), offered up its excuses for the late publication of its FY20 accounts (now expected in July) due to Covid restrictions. We’ve all got excuses……but the announcement suggests that the long-awaited special dividend is likely to arrive in August. I can’t wait!
We still do not know the status of the first face nappy order announced by Remote (RMS) on March 4 for 100,000 masks and then 1 million every month thereafter. We were told on 4 May that within a couple of months the distributor Francis Mcintrye would be ordering as planned. I sense that with face nappy wearing set to become voluntary in the UK soon, that this will come to nowt. But fear not, there is news from India.
I return to the subject of Sosandar (SOS) – goaded by PL – then to Braveheart Investment (BRH). I discuss companies late filing accounts using the covid excuse – is it not time this ruse was stopped. Then I end with some words on the Manolete (MANO) dog.
Does anyone believe a word in an RNS from a company where Trevor Brown is in charge? If you do then I have a bridge in London I am prepared to sell you and an email with an offer you cannot refuse from a General in Nigeria.
Hello Share Turners. The seesaw impositions of Covid restrictions and the easing of them has predictable effects on the economy. So we should be able to see immediately which Footsie share prices will rise this week and which won’t? But no. We need to research educated guesses about much later developments in the Covid saga.
I’ve recently found myself wondering how many of these ‘Covid stocks’ have missed the boat, as many of them still aren’t producing any significant amounts of revenue, yet often their markets caps are comparatively very high.
Hello, Share Munchers. Most indicators point to a surge in share prices during the summer. So much for the city adage ‘Go away in May and don’t come back till Leger Day (early September)’. It’s always wise to keep at least 10% of our assets in cash rather than shares. But I’ve just exchanged some of my dough for stock in expectation that a share boom happens.
Hello, Share Pasters. It’s likely most companies will make a jaunty recovery once they resume normal service. But not all firms will rally. And and some will vanish altogether. Let’s have a look at sectors it may be wise to avoid in future or perhaps cash in any shares you already have.
MyHealthChecked (MHC) has announced it has “signed a manufacturing agreement and placed a further purchase order of £1.425m with EKF Diagnostic Holdings plc (EKF) for PrimeStore® MTM sample collection devices”. This looks a potentially significant indicator.
We have local elections coming up and as a loyal citizen I value my vote. The problem is that given the state of national politics I just have no idea what to do: I’m against pretty much all of them!
Hello, Share Searchers. Mystery surrounds shares at the moment. Why aren’t they rocketing ahead? Many financiers expect a huge breaking of the damn on spending as the virus disappears. So why isn’t the Footsie on fire? After all, the Dow’s been breaking all-time records for months now. And yet the UK is still more than 10% down on pre-covid levels.
I was concerned to read yesterday that Turkey has been suffering Covid-19 to the point that a full lockdown has been called. So does that affect AIM-listed Gold producer Ariana Resources (AAU) in any way? After all, a production shutdown would be a serious blow.
We are still waiting for news on that long-promised special dividend from AIM-listed Ariana Resources (AAU) resulting from the now completed corporate action under which the company sold off a large share of its Turkish assets to a three-way joint venture (including itself) to leave Ariana with a 23.5% share in the Red Rabbit project, with its gold-producing Kiziltepe plant, and the potentially much larger Salinbas project in Eastern Turkey. So has it all gone wrong? Er…..no.
Hello, Share Poolers. This old punter has Whitbread shares. It owns the Premier Inn, so must have suffered mightily during the lockdowns. As they’re gradually clawing back some of their old values, I won’t sell them. But once the present rising trend gives way to any weakness, I’ll probably let go. Nor will I buy any shares in the hospitality game probably for some time.
Tui (TUI) is a funny old business. Whilst it highlights a ‘global team of travel experts are on hand to help whenever you need us, while the TUI app lets you control your holiday from the palm of your hand’, suffice to say the reality of the backdrop over the last fifteen months has been very tough…even if eighteen months ago it was seeing the opportunity from Thomas Cook going bust. Of course Tui shares have romped over the last year, doubling from a two hundred pence share price last summer to over four quid a couple of months. However, their shares are down by more than 5% today. So what is going on?
It is my late father’s birthday, something I consider HERE. He used to love Bearcasts, especially when I was rude about folks he disliked and I am sure Green Baroness Jenny Jones would have been in that category and I know Boris Johnson was. So I discuss Dad as I head to Shipston tomorrow to bring his books and possessions up to Wales on Wednesday. Then I look at today’s insane covid news and what it means for all of us.
Hello, Share Chasers. While many firms hit by the virus can expect to see a coiled spring effect on their share prices, I had wondered about A G Barr (BAG). My first thoughts when approaching this modest article was that consumer habits are gradually turning to more healthy diets and AG Barr is known for its soft drinks which are sometimes not the healthiest choice. However this is a misconception.
This is good news for we loyal shareholders but not the great news. That, I now expect, is to be announced early next week.
Last week I noted that Gold was going nowhere fast. This week it moved fast, and quite a bit, but ended up more-or-less back where it started. This week’s action might offer some hope to gold-bulls like me, but I fancy there remains a way to go before one can be certain the selling of the past 8 months is finally over.
First I see that Carnival (CCL) shares are up a couple of percent this morning to a £16 share price. Despite an initial badly timed investment of the shares below £30 over a year ago when only China was impacted by the Covid-19 challenges, a further sales update has brought me closer to breaking even. It struck me during the dog days of last year that there was some potential to see a substantial share price improvement. After all if you get vaccinated – as a growing proportion of older and/or richer travellers in the world are – then your scope to get back onto a cruise ship in 2021-2 has gone substantially up…
Debt matters, try not to pretend otherwise
Once again, the JD Wetherspoon (JDW) founder is a brave voice of sanity lashing the madness behind the Government’s lockdown policy. He offers hard data to back his case, there can be no response. The great man opines:
AIM-listed former Neil Woodford favourite has released its FY20 results. The company makes great hay of the fact that it beat twice raised expectations, which is all very well, but it still racked up a pre-tax loss of £2.4 million. The bigger question for me is what happens when the high street finally reopens – assuming any bricks-and-mortar outfits are left.
First a few words on Dignity (DTY) where I highlighted my deep caution with the ‘the UK’s only listed provider of funeral related services’ back in 2017 and 2018. The company is still facing a regulatory enquiry by the FCA with more thoughts expected in the third quarter of this year. As I noted back in November here, there are many other industry changes also around, particularly the rise of cheaper alternatives. Today’s full-year numbers may have seen a rise in sales (sadly of course assisted by the Covid-19 challenges) but underlying profitability is still sharply down as the heightened competitive realities continue to impact. The shares might be up 5% to over 630p today but it remains a strong avoid for me.
Wm Morrison (MRW) has announced its results for its year ended 31st January 2021 and that it is confident it can continue momentum into the new year, expecting both profit growth and a significant reduction in net debt.
There is news from the garden. Then a few notes on covid testing stocks. Then comment on Umuthi Healthcare (UHS) and finally a reminder of AIM Rules for Westminster Group (WSG) chaired by ex Tory MP Tony Baldry of 3DM infamy. There is also an explicit warning on Eden Pharma, a potential pot IPO.
Oh dear, there has been no RNS about this but it appears that Westminster Group (WSG), the serial AIM laggard run by ex Tory MP, sleazy Tony Baldry of the fraud 3DM infamy, has been very naughty and has been slapped down by the US FDA for making untruthful covid claims on its website. Tony: you are a scumbag. This is a shocker.
Back in August the Gold price peaked at $2063 and it has been more-or-less downhill ever since. On Friday the Gold price closed at $1700 – a 17.6% drop in around seven months. So is the Gold bull story all over? My answer is definitely no. But as a Gold Bull, I would say that, wouldn’t I!
The most read non-Tom article this week is Asiamet Resources looks in a stronger position post-placing – buy by Gary Newman at number six, or number 14 including Bearcasts and Tom’s new shareshow. Which one is the best of the week? Tell me in the comments.
I start with a reference to the covid testing stocks and the £8 billion Government tender I revealed earlier HERE. Then it is onto how companies are circumventing rules about ramping their shares with lies by getting shareholders to do the pumps via folks like Justin the Clown and Zak Mir. The FCA, AIM Regulation and corporate advisors need to stop washing their hands onto a range of abuses by shareholders and deal with it.
Yes, even MyHealthChecked (MHC) where I am a shareholder should have its shares suspended. The reason is a webpage which went live yesterday and which is now being widely discussed on social media which seems to show that the Government is soon to announce contracts worth £8 billion for covid test suppliers. This is going to cause share price mayhem on Monday.
We the start of UK banking sector results with the comments from Barclays (BARC) today. Yes, I have been an owner for a while and my musings here in October look inspired as we have seen a pleasant 40% share price rise over the last four months. Timing matters.
Reader SB asks if there are any forecasts for MyHealthChecked (MHC). There are not. Not even from the UK’s leading healthcare analyst Mr Brokerman Dan Levi. However, the company does give indications of what sort of sales it might achieve in a corporate presentation video below. There is more and I am not sure what this means and think MyHealthChecked should clarify.
As readers will know I was a big fan of AIM-listed biotech Scancell (SCLP) but lost my patience with what appeared to be an attempt to jump on the Covid bandwagon. Well blow me down, for today the shares have doubled to 28.25p at peak this morning. What’s going on (apart from me looking like a prize chump)?
I have not been a fan of GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) shares for a long time now but if you pick up its chart today, you will see the stock kicking around at a new five year low. So what to think about a name that used to be a FTSE 100 favourite…and is even actively trying to finalise a Covid-19 vaccine product?
Though he does not declare so in the tweet below, he has elsewhere: penny share huckster and known associate of Zak Mir, Mr Alex McKinley is a shareholder in joke company Remote Monitored Systems (RMS). You know, the maker of masks to stop covid spread that are so good its site turned into a covid hot spot. Yes, that fine enterprise.
This will provoke some debate. Richard “nobody likes me and I don’t care” Jennings of Align Research thinks that Covid is a force for good. Actually, he makes one or two points although his conclusion is daft. Over to Jennings who writes:
Remote Monitored Systems (RMS) ’s Pharm2farm subsidiary has produced plenty of masks in trial runs so its staff should never have been short of protective masks to wear. So, on that basis, it’s not a great sales pitch is it: “our masks are so good our own staff caught and spread Covid.” No wonder this company has not got any customers.
Last year, we discovered on Friday that MyHealthChecked (MHC) lost £2.5 million on sales of £50,000. Yes that is dreadful but this company is now about the future of its Covid and other DNA tests and thus it has raised £3.4 million at 1.75p. It was not completely out of cash so, after costs, it probably has c£3.5 million in the bank.
AIM-listed Catenae Innovation (CTEA) – fresh from its fundraise announced Wednesday which added £1 million to its coffers at 2p per share – has announced a new pilot agreement for its Covid-bandwagon testing platform with an unnamed Fortune 500 American professional services and construction company. But if the BBMs think this is exciting, we are again warned that the deal is not expected to generate substantial revenues. Or, indeed, any revenues at all.
AIM-listed POS Catenae Innovation (CTEA) has announced a placing at 2p to raise £1 million and a further 2.4 million golden tickets are being issues to cover directors’ fees and certain current liabilities. It is Ouzo-on-cornflakes time. But there is another issue…..
After being a fool who bought some Rolls-Royce (RR) stock a year and change ago and then again when it raised money at a significant discount in the early Autumn to make sure it would survive, I will write a longer piece about its full-year numbers in March when the reality about making and looking after plane engines will be a little more straightforward. Instead, today it is time to revisit my old pal PZ Cussons (PZC) which I last wrote up here in September when the shares were about 210p.
Any regular reader of this website may have noticed that I have become fairly bullish on the travel sector recently, although mixed with a degree of caution as well as there are still plenty of risks for these businesses.
I can understand why people aren’t rushing to invest in the travel sector currently as the situation looks very bleak with Covid worsening and further travel restrictions and lockdowns being added on a daily basis around the world.
Hello, Share Shapers. So the UK economy shrunk by 2.6% in November. As England was put into lockdown for the second time and Wales and Scotland were also restricted, I believe most of us expected a bigger drop than that. The effect on most shares should be an upward thrust if that’s the best the Covid response can do to our GDP.
I last talked about Asos (ASC) back in October here with the conclusion that £40 a share or below in the fashion and cosmetic retailer was of interest but £50+ a share was too much. The shares moved back above the £50 level in the early days of this year but – as I write – the stock has not romped after the publication of today’s four month numbers…and the reality is actually what it suggested for the second half of the year.
When I last commented on Gold I noted that it seemed to have smashed through overhead resistance at $1900-1925 but cautioned that it may turn tail again in the short term. My view was – and remains – that it will head sharply higher over the next year to eighteen months but we must await the return of the Gold Bull. Well, it seems that it has indeed turned tail – we will be waiting a little longer for the bull to reappear.
One of these days, folks are going to wake up and realise that it was all a dream, that prices they were paying for shares in some small caps in these early days of January 2021 were plain bonkers. You may think you know better but some of us old fools have seen it all before.
The response to the covid story of 2020 has been, short-term, government largesse and looks set to be longer-term debt and economic problems. In short, the stage looks set for gold to outperform – particularly with it down from more than $2,000 per ounce reached in the summer to currently around $1,860. So that means you need leveraged exposure to that.
Thanks to Covid, Trainline (TRN) is pretty screwed and will stay so for a good while. Indeed with leading law firms and others today announcing that 50% of staff days post any lockdown would be at home, the amount of business travel post lockdown is going to crater. The face to face business meeting is like the horse drawn taxi or funny BBC comedies using words like frog, things of the past. Even in pre Covid times, Trainline generated sod all cash. But how did it make that cash?
Tom Winnifrith ate his hat over Red Rock Resources (RRR), so it is only fair I ‘fess up – my list of five slam dunk sells for 2020 was, ahem, less than successful – mainly down to the performance of AIM-listed Catenae Innovation CTEA) which put on a whopping 140%, and AIM-listed URU Metals (URU) rubbed my nose in it further with a rise of 54%. So was I wrong?
This year has all been about Covid- related stocks and anything with even a vague association with that, but over the next year or two the biggest profits will be made from companies that have been hit by the virus but have had the strength to survive and will reap the benefits as things begin to return to some semblance of normality.
Braveheart (BIM), the investment vehicle run by Remote Monitored Systems (RMS) boss Trevor Brown who is also a major investor in Braveheart, sold ALL of its Remote shares on 16,17 and 18 November at 2.9p-5p, netting it c£15 million. Not only did Brown sign off on ramptastic RNS statements by Remote on 11 and 16 November pushing the line that the company would, by the end of November, have a machine in Nottingham producing Covid stopping masks but he was also active on twitter pumping the stock. Of course the machine did not arrive in November, something Remote fessed to on 26 November. With more delays since, trial failures and a bailout funding the shares have collapsed to 1.22p. Now back to the pump.
The spivs, Trevor Brown, c/o Braveheart and Paul Ryan, who sold their entire holding in Remote Monitored Systems (RMS) at between 2.9p and 5p for £18 million just eight days before a major warning, must be sacked says Gareth Cave the founder of Pharm2farm and its key employee and a man who owns 18% of Remote. Cave also wants the bailout £5 million placing at 1.25p massively restructured or pulled. I back Cave and here is why.
Here in Wales, thanks to First Minister, Mad Mark Drakeford, all 50 JD Wetherspoon (JDW) pubs are shuttered and will stay so for the foreseeable future. As I noted in a photo article just published, life just over the border in “free” England is not much better for the boozers. Tim Martin is, yet again, my hero of the day, using Wetherspoon’s AGM as a platform to expose the Government and a supine 4th estate which laps up lockdown lies without question. The great man opines:
The time to invest in a sector is when everyone loathes it. Think oil earlier this year. The time to avoid it like the plague is when it gets so hot that crony capitalists float investment companies hoping that mug punters will overpay for shares in their vehicles which will then overpay for shares in actual companies. Meanwhile its snouts in the trough all round for the board and City advisers.
At first blush, we have a lot to worry about when it comes to our shares. Covid cases rising in many areas, a Brexit deal not arrived at, rising unemployment and bank and oil shares still wallowing in the depths. But this old punter has seen it all before. And he knows that the sun will come shining through. Yes, you probably think the arch bull is being overbullish again. But the fact is that I have never sold fewer shares and that state of affairs will continue.
Here in Wales, all 50 of Tim Martin’s JD Wetherspoon (JDW) pubs are now closed as a reaction to crackpot Mark Drakeford’s latest mad plans. Yet Covid cases are roofing it as never before. Lockdowns do not work and today Tim Martin has issued a statement making it clear why and how badly we are going wrong in the UK. The great man says:
I accept that you might justifiably question a minor institution in the Fens which has historically only excelled in the production of homosexual Russian spies. But Cambridge University is not all bad and today it has served up data which should send shivers down the spine of those holding shares in Novacyt (NCYT) or planning to back the luducrous AIM Casino IPO, announced today, of Abingdon Health.
Self-proclaimed ‘global lifestyle brand’ Ted Baker (TED) has announced interim results, emphasising “our balance sheet is materially stronger than we had envisaged this early in the plan… we are confident that we have the right strategy and team in place and that we are setting the business up for future success”. The shares have currently responded to around 120p, er more than 10% lower!…
Two weeks ago Remote Monitored Systems (RMS) shares traded at 2.65p giving the company a market cap of £40 million. I warned you then in this column and have since been double vindicated. The shares are 2.25p now but that is still far too high…
I waffled on a few weeks back about how the UK power grid was in long term trouble, with further problems as Boris pushed for more wind power and electric vehicle use. I questioned what would happen when the wind did not blow. Looks like we are now pushing that concern far harder, far sooner than I expected. With the UK demand sat at 40.3 GW as I type, the supply from wind is only 290MW. That is practically nothing, at less than 1% of demand.
But first, Covid, or rather lockdown, has screwed the poor
There was a telling exchange in a Downing Street press Conference this week between Jonathan Van Tam and the deputy PM Boris Johnson. The real PM, Princess Nut Nuts, was elsewhere plotting the Long march to a full green revolution. Van Tam suggested that Covid restrictions such as face nappy wearing and social distancing might need to stay in place, essentially, forever. The deputy PM said that he was not so sure about that and it might be good to get back to normal at some point. Cue frosty glances.
Concepta has announced a change of name to MyHealthChecked (MHC) and, more interestingly, jumped on board the Covid testing bandwagon. I am, as you know, a sceptic on many things relating to a disease where 99.95% of those under 70 recover and where the average age of death is, at 82, one year more than UK life expectancy. However…
Much ramped DeepVerge (DVRG) has very kindly put the presentation it gave on December 1 to lucky clients of its corporate broker, the esteemed house of Turner Pope, on its website. Have you read it? I have rarely seen a more compelling sell case in my life. No wonder the shares are tanking. Off another 10% today to 23.5p; I am slashing my target price from 10p to 5p.
I see that, on twitter, the usual assortment of lunatics are frothing about DeepVerge (DVRG) another utterly overvalued piece of junk from the AIM Cesspit. Naturally there is a Covid angle and appropriately enough it is a lavatorial one. It is not just Bulletin Board morons pushing this rubbish but esteemed broker Turner Pope has also stuck its nose into the sewerage system (literally) with a gushing note out today.
On December 2 England comes out of lockdown to be replaced by er….lockdown in all but name. JD Wetherspoon (JDW) boss Tim Martin is again our hero of the day as he has lashed out at this lunacy. The great man opines:
Shares in Remote Monitoring Systems (RMS) have crashed by 19% today to 2.05p. Just nine days ago mug punters were paying 5p as, unbeknown to them, the two main directors flogged all of the shares in which they had an interest. This is a massive scandal and surely even the Oxymorons at AIM Regulation will figure out that a Stewards is needed ASAP.
Today, from AstraZeneca (AZN) and the City of lost causes, we have news on a third vaccine against Covid-19. There will soon be a fourth and a fifth and at some stage lots of folks will ignore concerns about potential long term side effects to get vaccinated against a disease which kills 0.05% of those under 70 who catch it. And a bedwetting world can breathe a sigh of relief and, even idiots like Matt Hancock, will realise that we will not need mass testing and we can get on with our lives.
The Times newspaper today flags up a series of tweets which, almost certainly, break AIM Rules and relate to Remote Monitoring Systems (RMS), a company rapidly becoming the poster boy for the AIM Cesspit. They are not the hanging offence but there is a hanging offence out there…
Then they cry unto the Lord in their trouble, and he saveth them out of their distresses. He sent his word, and healed them, and delivered them from their destructions. Oh that men would praise the Lord for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men! Psalm 107 verses 19-21, King James Version, natch.
Yes it is different this time
At 2.98p mid Remote Monitoring Systems (RMS) is capitalised at c£45 million and has net cash of c£500,000. If the name does not ring a bell at once, this used to be Strat Aero a drone business where the directors repeatedly lied and deceived punters as they ran it into the ground. Now there is a new team in charge and a new bandwagon to jump onto.
Hello, Share Sharpers. When the market’s closed it’s always worth reflecting on the macro picture. What’s likely to befall all of us who own shares in the coming months? Nobody can tell. Who foresaw the present plague, for example? But we can make educated guesses. And ‘educated’ is the world here, not ‘optimistic’. As you know, we can’t lose dough by guessing right. For what it’s worth, here are a few of my thoughts.
And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him. Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. The Book of James chapter 5, verses 15-16. King James Version, natch.
The announcement by Pfizer (NYSE – PFE) that its Covid vaccine was 90% effective saw markets rally and gold drop sharply – initially by around $100. Yesterday saw vaccine no.2, from Moderna (Nasdaq – MRNA) announced, and the Dow Jones closed at an all-time record. But the effect on gold was much more limited…
The Mrs is about to go into the operating theatre so fingers crossed. In these strange times I am at home with Joshua watching Paw Patrol and it is a bit hard to think about shares but I comment on the Moderna Covid vaccine news, on Kefi (KEFI) and on Versarien (VRS).
The nightmare is not over whatever the markets suggest
As you may have gathered I have been a major sceptic of Government policies on Covid and not just in the UK. For a disease where the survival rate among under 70s is 99.95% and where the average age of death is greater than life expectancy itself, it seems to me that the policy response has been excessive and has caused and is causing utterly unjustified collateral damage. But none the less we should all welcome news that Pfizer has a vaccine which works 90% of the time.
Hello Share Funsters, We were all cheered when vaccine news from Fizer sent shares shooting forward a few days ago. But the value of my own portfolio was disappointingly unchanged. That’s because I have a few Covid plays. And because the jab news depressed the prospects of companies which have benefitted from the epidemic, the rise in the value of my Shell (RDSA) BP. (BP.) Compass (CPG) and Whitbread (WTB) was cancelled out by my covid plays.
It is all too predictable. The efforts of Julie “Lingerie on expenses” Meyer MBE to avoid paying her bills are truly superhuman as 31 out of pocket firms of lawyers and many others will testify. And thus we come to the case of heroic PR man Henry Gewanter vs Ms. Lingerie on Expenses. Our hero Henry wants to get paid for work done almost three years ago.
Is it just me or is the rest of the world moving incredibly quickly while I put up with the second lockdown. Or as I refer to it “mockdown” – with my children still going to school and interacting with half the local villages and towns. Not only does The Donald win / lose / win??? again (if one accepts some the US news feeds), we now have a vaccine for Covid. Apparently. I’m sure the infrastructure to distribute and store a product that requires -80 degrees is well within the capabilities of our fearsome leaders to sort – after all distributing and storing PPE (like masks) is far more difficult and they did that without any problem I recall. So where does that leave me in my thinking for Synairgen (SNG)?
Some of us were always of the view that our leaders were somewhat overreacting to a disease where the average casualty lived longer than UK life expectancy and where the survival rate is 99.97%. But yesterday, Pfizer announced it has a vaccine which will protect 90% of those injected which would mean that your chances of perishing from Covid will pretty soon be less than that of being mown down by a bus carrying a West Ham team that has just won the FA Cup. So where does that leave Covid testing play Novacyt (NCYT)?
Following yesterday’s very welcome news from Pfizer that its vaccine for Covid-19 has offered up over 90% protection in Phase III trials, the market went into a tizzy. Stocks such as Cineworld (CINE) which had previously been labelled as doomed soared and Gold fell off a cliff ( well it lost 5%). So is this the end of the Gold Bull-market?
I start with the wonder vaccine. Is it a cure all for companies such as Cineworld (CINE) or Carnival (CCL)? Then I consider Julie Meyer in light of the research I was doing yesterday for the Gewanter case and what it says about the UK’s rotten honours system. Then I look at Inspirit (INSP), Countrywide (CWD), Amigo (AMGO) and Escape Hunt (ESC) where I stand with Steve, not Justin the Clown.
It is not often I have nice things to say about the loathsome lard-bucket Mike Ashley but, just for today, he is my hero as his Frazer’s Group has put out a statement on the Covid shutdown. As you might expect, Mike does not mince his words:
So it is a short bearcast today and then back to bed. I cover Purplebricks (PURP), Tiger Resources (TIR) and the fascist lawyers’ letters it sends to shareholders and Pathfinder Minerals (PFP).
What an awful week. All the stock market indexes have fallen, partly in response to the resurgence of Covid-19 and the consequential lockdowns we are now seeing. Much of Europe has already headed back under lock and key and it looks as though we are next.
Hello, Share Chasers. The great thing about my perpetually bullish stance on shares in British builders is that nothing seems to shake house prices. Not even the Covid scare has done anything to halt their unrelenting rise and rise. The main reason is that supply can’t keep up with demand, but there are other catalysts too, like low-interest rates.
I start with a few words on my preparations for tomorrow’s funeral which will mean my absence from this site for a day. Then onto the election in America where our boy is on a bit of a roll - a full analysis of recent developments is in a special podcast HERE. Then it is on to Verditek (VDTK), Versarien (VRS), Covid shorts and longs including, sorry Three Brains, Carnival (CCL). Finally a look at grossly overvalued Mirriad (MIRI).
I start with a few notes on preparations for Thursday’s funeral following my piece on mad Covid rules and Dad’s ceremony HERE. Then I look at Verditek (VDTK) and Versarien (VRS) where the wheels realy are coming off. Then it is onto a defence of my friend Tim Blackstone and my analysis of Metals Exploration (MTL). Finally I look, in real detail (hence the length of this podcast), at Guild Esports (GILD) which was much hyped by the deadwood press at its IPO a few weeks ago partly because David Beckham was investing in it. I expose why that is so utterly misleading, Becks will make a killing from this IPO but I suggest mug punters will not. This whole thing stinks.
I speak as a type 2 diabetes sufferer – today’s Covid ramp from Vela (VELA) is total bollocks. I also cover stinky share dumping by the Trainline (TRN) bird, Petra Diamonds (PDL), where I am vindicated again but not holding my breath for BBMs to apologise, Wishbone Gold (WSBN), Panthera Resources (PAT) and POS Mosman Oil & Gas (MSMN) – now in the Minus 99% club. Time for boardroom bonuses all round I reckon, as it places again.
The correction in Gold and gold stocks continues and I am waiting patiently, relaxed as I am with my feet up as I sit on the veranda of my Montana log-cabin. It seems that the US election is taking centre-stage: I am not sure why, as both sides are promising the long-awaited fiscal stimulus, although Biden appears to offer more. But the outcome (or lack of one) will not make Covid-19 go away. The economic damage will therefore continue.
In today’s podcast I look at Alien Metals (UFO), at Novacyt (NCYT) and at Audioboom (BOOM), at spoof boardroom buying and at why broker buy notes are a sell signal. I also chuck a few Covid stats your way as we head for another national lockdown.
JD Wetherspoon’s (JDW) results today were, predictably, impacted by the insane lockdown. No doubt middle class and affluent #FBPE morons on twitter who have been calling for a boycott of JD Wetherspoon in retaliation for Mr Martin’s pro Brexit stance will today be cheering. After all, if any of his staff do lose their jobs they will only be poor people whose lives don’t really matter. Naturally, Mr Martin has lashed out at the Government’s insane policies and his dissection is clinical and ruthless. The great man opines:
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.
Without question the 2020 investment world will be noted for a big market crash and regain in Q1/Q2, and Covid19 related stock gains. I’m sure a few millionaires have been created, and few will lose much of the gain in months to come- such is the investment world. I have commented on Synairgen (SNG) previously as the single case in the Covid19 investment space I was comfortable with. I was waiting for yesterday’s placing news.
Well what is not to like? Having tried to find a buyer for this loss-making POS since February 19, the process has now been terminated and the adviser fired. But Audioboom (BOOM) would not wish you to think badly of it as a result.
Oh dear. The following article from the Houston Chronicle is self explanatory. Say what you like about Patrick Abbott but at least he works to generate real sales, unlike anyone still employed at Versarien’s (VRS) graphene arm. I have swapped emails with Patrick who denies all charges vehemently.
Hello, Share Pickers. Should you hate making big decisions, share pricking is not for you. A fairly frequent armchair trader has to make them all the time. It’s not just a question of whether we should dump a share, hold or buy more. There’s the more pertinent issue of timing, either long-term or at what part of the day to hit the buy or sell button. I suspect most of us are dithery decision-makers.
It is not quite in the league of that from Scancell (SCLP) but sub scale investment tidder Pires Investments (PIRI) is also clambering aboard the Covid bandwagon.
I pray that Donald Trump and the fragrant Melania recover from Covid and, unlike godless liberals who tweet about praying for things, I do actually pray and to someone I believe in. However, Lucian has a bet on Mike Pence to be the next President and I discuss this. I then move on to look at UK Oil & Gas (UKOG) where I did tell y’all, Attis Oil & Gas (AOGL) and share rampers from the AIM swamps, Purplebricks (PURP), and also the latest mystery at Supply@ME Capital (SYME), the worthless POS from the province of Norfolk. Later I am recording a video that I am sure many of you will enjoy.
I have documented over many years what a rotten investment Scancell (SCLP) has been but its spoofing on its quest for a Covid vaccine is one of the biggest red flags fluttering. Today it plunged new depths of spoofery as it announced a collaboration with Cobra Biologics “for Cobra to manufacture Scancell’s COVID-19 vaccine.” Great, except that…
I am in Shipston with my father and start by discussing how I deal with phone calls here. I look at another crazy Covid story and then at Versarien (VRS), Amigo (AMGO), Vela (VELA), Falanx (FLX), Cineworld (CINE) and at a clever arb for fools like Zak Mir who believe in Supply@ME Capital (SYME), that leading enterprise from the province of Norfolk.
In August I noted that my list of five slam-dunk sells for 2020 was up, rather than down, by an amazing 41% – even though one is now a zero. Earlier this month the gains had been pared back to 25.5% but now, just two weeks later it seems that gravity is finally reasserting itself.
An update today that Integumen (SKIN) “has sought and obtained approval from the Panel on Takeovers and Mergers to extend the deadline for publication of the Offer Document. Integumen currently expects that the Offer Document will be published by Friday 9 October”. But shares in the company currently more than 21% lower at 31.5p – and in prospective acquiree Modern Water (MWG) more than 18% lower at 3.125p?…
Remember how the PR spinners for Cineworld (CINE) conspired with the corrupt deadwood press to suggest that stakebuilding by a Chinese investor meant this company was a bid target? Anyone who bought into that tosh will today be regretting it as interims show that this company is a zero.
I have today been quite busy on family matters, see HERE, which I find fascinating. I appreciate others may not! In the podcast I look at the general market meldown in the face of the Government going economy wrecking bonkers over Covid. I look at Supply@ME Capital (SYME) and Avant Garde, Verditek (VDTK) and its idiot investors, Big Dish (DISH), Trainline (TRN), Bidstack (BIDS) FinnCap (FCAP) and a cracking trading statement but questionable morals and Iconic (ICON) and the perils of the sub Standard List.
It was on July 10 that we published an explosive dossier on Manolete (MANO ) warning that its shares would fall by 66%. It responded with a wankerish statement insulting ShareProphets and which was full of waffle. Its shares are tanking today and are now down 40%+ since our report. is there anything it wishes to say? Elsewhere, I look at Symphony Environmental (SYM) and Covid madness, at Brighton Pier (PIER) and the maths of the hospitality industry, and finally take on Gary Newman on Red Rock Resources (RRR) suggesting he is blinded by #BellDerangementSyndrome and so cannot look at facts. What would Red Rock trade at if it had a different boss I wonder?
Once again the heroic boss of JD Wetherspoon has dared to speak out against the GroupThink gripping academia, the media, and the political classes on the subject of Covid. As an example of this madness, rather silly Daily Telegraph reporter Helena Horton was today lecturing the actor Laurence Fox on twitter about his idea of meeting six folks for a drink tonight.
As the saying goes, these are unprecedented times. But I’m not talking so much about Covid-19 as the manic state of the markets, with special reference to the AIM Casino. And that brings me to my list of five slam-dunk sells for 2020.
Writer Bill Holter believes that the Covid response acted to postpone total meltdown. But it only delays the day of doom.
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.
Hello, Share Chums. As the number of new corona cases grows in Blighty the death rate is falling. This dichotomy is causing the Footsie to stagnate. A moribund index makes it harder, of course, for armchair tycoons like us to make money. But there are ways to keep the dough flowing in. Most investors here will be familiar with most but perhaps repeating the best strategies might be useful. So here are a few of them.
Hello, Share Fans. Those misguided souls who read my modest column will know I rather admire Creightons (CRL) the sanitiser king. But as mentioned recently, the shares took an unfair dive when the company took advantage of a Covid concession to post its full-year results late. Some of us had worries the delay meant somebody might be trying to hide the fact that the numbers, once expected to be high on covid benefits, would actually disappoint.
Hello. Share Swingers. As it’s another boring bank holiday with closed markets, allow me to review a few of the shares in my bag. These have been commended to you over the last couple of months or so. During that time the Footsie and most other shares have hardly moved at all. Ok, the Covid plays have been up and down like a pogo stick, but the average performance is only standing still.
I wrote about Synairgen (SNG) back in July, and in doing so earned the dubious ticker from Tom Winnifrith as a “ramper” and the honour of a Special Bearcast as a response. The ticker amused me greater and I freely admit I agreed with 95% of Tom’s commentary on how to value a drugs company. However I see a “special situation” with this company’s SNG001 potential Covid treatment that may break the normal valuation rule set.
Hello Share Peckers. As a private share trader, there are two ways to play the Covid outbreak. One is to assume all ships rise on the tide. And that as the virus will go eventually, we just need to sit back. The other is to take advantage of the scary volatility of some stocks at the moment. In other words to buy on the dips and sell on the jumps. So what will you do?
Tim Martin is once again this website’s hero of the day. The JD Wetherspoon (JDW) boss reports that trade is improving despite continuing assaults by those who thing we should boycott his chain because of Tim’s support for Brexit, including MPs and the loathsome newspaper founded on slave trading profits, The Guardian, who all stoop to lying. His statement today is cracking stuff. The great man opines:
I shall explain which I am selling and which I am buying and exactly why in the bearcast. Enjoy. I also look at the latest Covid data which spells death for Catenae (CTEA) and doom for others and with a hat tip to the great Peter Tatchell to COVID profiteering by Burberry (BRBY). I look at Plutus Powergen (PPG) in detail, and also at share trades that have happened but others that are not happening which explain why Supply@ME Capital is shaping up to be such a scandal and one where the FCA has disgraced itself by its actions and is still disgracing itself by its inactions. I also explain why comrade PL is taking nonsense on ESG spend adding value.
AIM-listed online womenswear outfit Sosandar (SOS) has announced its full year numbers to March. Whilst revenues were up to £9 million from £4.4 million, losses were also up at £7.8 million against £3.5 million last time. With a market capitalisation, following this morning’s share price gain to 18.75p, sitting at £31 million, that seems a pretty juicy rating. But things have changed as Covid-19 smashed retail in the high street and online did rather better. How are things looking now?
An early morning tweet comes to me from an investor in Directa Plus (DCTA) suggesting that, although the share is speculative it is “under the radar screens of AIM tipsters” and insanely cheap. At 83p the Italian-run company is valued at £51 million so I suspect it has already received a good bit more than zero coverage.
Heroic Tim Martin of JD Wetherspoon (JDW) has again waded into battle against the media and political classes in their GroupThink bubbles, this time on Covid. He offers up some hard data on his bars and infection which appears to challenge the narrative we are told, which is justifying policies that throttle his industry. Well done Tim. The great man writes:
I am sure we all think that the bank we bank with is useless. But changing banks is such a pain in the arse. I’ve experienced it firsthand. Direct debits go awry, auto payments on your card bounce, you have to remember a new PIN, and so we don’t bother. But boy, Barclays (BARC) in the Isle of Man is in a class of its own for being useless.
