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Even a few of our detractors have now come around
As many of you reading this will know, I’m not exactly a fan of Mode Global Holdings (MODE) and even less so after its latest antics where it hasn’t exactly gone out of its way to inform investors about its latest fundraise!
How to cram as many buzzwords as possible into an RNS, and thus excite moronic investors: a lesson from the fraud, Supply@ME Capital (SYME).
Shares in the fraud, Supply@ME Capital (SYME), raced ahead on news of a financially immaterial transaction. Crazy, eh? And how do we know it was immaterial?
Solar panel producer (if not seller), Verditek (VDTK), has eight days to release its annual results. Given revenues will be the square route of fuck all, there is no excuse for delay. But we all know the reason, and that is why the shares are sliding again today, as they did yesterday.
AIM-listed John Zorbas vehicle URU Metals (URU) has announced yet another roll-over of the particularly advantageous 85p conversion terms on its $500,000 death spiral funding from Boothbay Absolute Return Strategies LP. With the shares currently at 350p in the middle, this is a licence to print money. The giveaway terms are now open to Boothbay until 31 May 2023.
In today's podcast, I discuss Asimilar (ASLR); Dev Clever (DEV); Simec Atlantic (SAE); Powerhouse Energy (PHE); Amigo (AMGO); and Vast Resources (VAST). It goes without saying, but I say so anyway: if you are among the 95%, PLEASE COUGH UP NOW, HERE.
In a string of RNS statements, Vast Resources (VAST) insisted it wouldn't allow death spiral provider, Atlas, to convert a final $800,000 of loan notes into forward-sold shares. The Bulletin Board morons made the error of believing this, and insisted there was a bear squeeze. Guess what?at?
First, there was Atlas' pledge not to dump any more shares - which it immediately did. Then came the idea that it had cleared its death spiral debt, with the buried-deep-in-the-release admission that it had taken out another. Spoof two! Today, Vast Resources (VAST) becomes a hat-trick hero in the AIM sewer hall of infamy.
Vast Resources (VAST) is blessed with having the dumbest investors going. They fell for the last spoof RNS which, in a just world, would see the issuers banned from the markets, and bid the (worthless) shares up to 2.4p. Today there is a new monster spoof and the shares are 56% up to 1.3p offering the bears another chance for a slam dunk free short. The company says it has refinanced its Atlas death spiral leading the "marks" to assume that there is no more death spiral overhang. But buried at the bottom of the release is ????
Today's shocking news is not evidence of illegal behaviour, I am told by a member of the death spiral community. I am not so sure. But investors were indeed deceived by Vast Resources (VAST), Atlas and Beaumont Cornish, which signed off on the May 3 release. The incident brings “the world’s most successful growth market” into disrepute, and I have written to Marcus Stuttard, the bogus Sheriff and head of the Oxymorons at AIM Regulation, urging him to investigate possible illegality and to censure all those involved.
Ha, gotcha. What a spoof. On May 3rd, Death Spiral provider, Atlas, and Vast Resources (VAST) made an RNS statement, announcing that Atlas would not convert any more loan notes. The stock was a ten-bagger in days, going from 0.02375p to a peak of 0.24p. Well, guess what? I do hope the morons buying were well-lubed up!
In just two weeks, the new death spiral provider, Venus, has dumped 3.32 billion shares on Bulletin Board Morons. If it is allowed to, it will likely dump another 15-20 billion. But the fraud, Supply@ME Capital (SYME), is insolvent even with the Venus cash, as I noted earlier. I have asked the FCA to step in and save private investors from being mugged.
On 27 April, the fraud Supply@ME Capital (SYME) announced that it had issued 2,770,000,000 shares to death spiral provider Venus and on 10 May it announced that it had issued a further 550,000,000 shares to Venus following which its issued share capital is now 40,789,339,950. If Venus was, as some, of the Bulletin Board Morons are suggesting building a stake then it would now have a stake of 8.1 %.
The question being asked on the LSE Asylum, as well as Twitter, was: who was the big buyer of Supply@ME Capital’s (SYME) worthless shares, at the close of business on Friday? On 22 April, at around 16.50 pm, there were, according to LSE Asylum’s share trade indicator, three 90 million buys, at £71,410 each, and a monster 285 million buys for £228,000, at 16.35 million. In total, these buys amount to over £440,000.
This morning, I had a long chat with an industry insider, concerning the latest death spiral from the fraud, Supply@ME Capital (SYME); what I relay to you is truly shocking. Anyone holding these shares is bonkers.
Death spiral provider, Atlas, is selling shares as fast as it can, in the hope of reducing its $5.05 million exposure to AIM Listed Vast Resources (VAST). It knows Vast is teetering on the brink, but a source close to the company explains why it is already trading whilst insolvent. He says:
You read about a new “Capital Enhancement Plan”, and it sounds like good news. But no. This is Orwell speak, and it is, in fact, a series of disastrous announcements from the fraud, Supply@ME Capital (SYME). Even Helen Keller and Ray Charles can see the writing on this wall - although, natch, some posters on the LSE Asylum still know better.
Yesterday, I explained why the extension of the Atlas death spiral - to 31 July - was bad news for AIM sewer-listed company, Vast Resources (VAST). 24 hours later comes a reminder of why I was right. The sequence reads: 1.57, 1.24, 0.86, 0.77, 0.59, 0.48 and now, 0.4p.
The most flea-ridden dog on AIM, Vast Resources (VAST), has served up yet more bad news. Just a year after consolidating its shares on a 100-for-1 basis, they are just 0.38p to sell, more than 95% down on the year. With today’s disaster, another 100-for-1 consolidation beckons. Let me explain.
Long-term Michael Masterman, of AIM dog W Resources (WRES), has announced that its Nomad, Grant Thornton, and its joint brokers, Alternative Resource Capital and Shard Capital, have all resigned with immediate effect. The question is: did they resign or were they resigned?
On 12th April 2022 AIM-listed Advanced Oncotherapy (AVO) announced an equity fundraise of £1.735 million at 25p a pop – a premium to market, but only at par price. We were told that the fundraise has been conducted through a direct subscription with the Company (the "Subscription") for a total of 6,940,000 new ordinary shares. So the money was in the bank, right? Wrong….
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.
The idea of announcing a death spiral - while pretending it is not a death spiral - at the same time as a bailout placing, is odd. Who would want to buy into a placing, when you know that, at some point, a blizzard of confetti will be dumped?
We have previously noted why Ms Susanne Chishti is unworthy of Non-Exec Director of the year. But even low-grade corporate rats know when the game is up. The shock March 4 resignation of the one credible figure at Supply, its ex-chairman Jim Coyle, after just a few months at the helm, should have been a warning. Now, it appears that Chishti walked with immediate effect last Thursday.
The sequence that started on January 12, at 1.57, can again be extended: 1.24, 0.86, 0.77,0.59, and now, 0.48. Ouch! That is the price at which death spiral provider, Atlas, has converted loan notes onto Vast Resources (VAST) shares, the latest being $300,000 worth. The bad news? Atlas has another $5.2 million to go. Luckily, there was a spoof RNS on Monday, which must have helped with the forward selling
By the end of April, worthless, deceitful and pointless AIM-sewer-listed Vast Resources (VAST) has promised to refinance its Atlas death spiral with a bunch of Swiss gents. But with $5.5 million outstanding on the loan, the market cap, at 0.625p, down to £2.3 million, and a high risk of bankruptcy, maybe the Swiss are getting cold feet. Hence…
In the six months ended 30 September 2021, Versarien (VRS) burnt £1.11 million in operating costs and a further £1.9 million in the purchase of intangible/tangible assets. The interim results presentation indicated there was a monthly cash burn of £0.4 million, but also cited cash/headroom of £6 million, which sounds impressive. However…
Standard-listed Cloudbreak Discovery (CDL) has announced its Interims to 31 December 2021 this morning, the 4th of April. If you think that is a tad late, you would be right, for the deadline was last Thursday – three months after period end – and as far as I know the shares should therefore have been suspended. But the Standard List is regulated (no sniggering at the back….) by the FCA. As for the numbers, they are a horror show for anyone who can use a calculator.
As Q1 limps to a close, it is difficult to see clearly through the fog of war. Mindful, doubtless, of the Covid aftermath – which bottomed almost exactly two years ago and led to a spectacular rally in stocks – investors have returned, and the sell-off seems to have petered out.
Toople (TOOP), the sub-standard listed company, today issued an RNS about “debt financing”. And in that RNS, the CEO lies. Never buy shares in companies where the CEO is shown to tell a lie, as there are bound to be others you are unaware of.
Maths test – complete the sequence: 0.204, 0.135, 0.12, 0.11407, 0.10, 0.056, x – what is x for Supply (SYME)?
Just four days after death spiral provider Atlas converted $150,000 of debt into Vast Resources (VAST) shares at 0.86p having forward sold, it has announced the conversion of another $150,000 this time at 0.77p. In February the conversion was at 1.24p. Do you see a trend? My guess is that those shares have already been forward sold and that Atlas will now be working on dumping even more stock ahead of the next conversion. Why the panic? Two reasons:
The Mercator death spiral, can be repaid in cash or at Supply@ME Capital’s (SYME) option by being swapped into a convertible loan note. The total repayable is now £7.7 million repayable in 12 monthly instalments from inception. To date Supply has made 3 full repayments and one partial repayment as set out below:
On January 31 Vast Resources (VAST) announced that it had almost replaced its Atlas death spiral with alternative funding, a refinancing. Natch that was grossly misleading! This is Vast after all.
I noted at the beginning of this month that AIM-listed Advanced Oncotherapy (AVO) needs to get a fundraise away pronto, but that its shares were threatening to drop below the nominal price of 25p, below which it cannot issue new shares by law. On Friday the shares closed at 24p (mid) and I would suggest that Advanced – or, rather, its shareholders – have a big problem.
Heck: today’s news is an RNS Reach, that is to say financially insignificant. But when your entire shareholder base makes a garden worm look like the late Bamber Gascoigne in the intelligence department ,that matters little, Supply@ME Capital (SYME) shares are up by 6% on the news.
You don’t need to be Greta, the doom Goblin, Thunberg to know that in today’s environmentally friendly RNS Reach (i.e not financially significant) announcement from Versarien (VRS), the loathsome bore Neill Ricketts is talking out of his fat posterior. Here’s why.
Today is another day and another month where the fraud that is Supply@ME Capital (SYME) has paid back a portion of what it termed a loan but was clearly a death spiral by issuing another 489 million shares to Mercator. Okay, £500,000 repaid only £5.6 million to go and with the shares trending ever lower that will require an utter blizzard of new shares for Mercator to forward sell. But that is not the end of the dilution.
Neill Ricketts of Versarien (VRS) will today be boasting of how he has settled his libel claim against Bulletin Board poster Ian Westbrook and that it is a triumph for him. Au contraire! Only now can I reveal what Ricketts really wanted out of this case.
Just two weeks ago shares in sub-Standard-Listed Cloudbreak Discovery (CDL) were marooned at just 1.75p a pop – a hefty loss on the IPO price of 3p last June . Then they started rising and rising. A few days later it was announced that CEO Kyler Hardy had bought a stack of shares at 3p and sold some at 1.7p. Needless to say, there is no possibility of insider dealing……but now the shares have motored on up to 12p. What’s going on?
Under the Mercator death spiral, the fraud Supply@ME Capital (SYME) has received £7 million of cash and has to repay £7.7 million. For the first three tranches of the 12 monthly repayments, Supply – cash strapped as it is- has opted to convert the loan repayments into a convertible loan which Mercator has then converted into shares which it has sold. The continued lack of credible positive news (as opposed to ramptastic announcements) coupled with continual shares sales by Mercator has resulted in the conversion price continually dropping as indicated in the table below:
I see that shares in AIM-listed Advanced Oncotherapy (AVO) are down to just 26.5p – only a penny and a half above the nominal price. Normally that might not be an issue, but Advanced is a serial non-deliverer of promises and has had to place at regular intervals until now. So what chance a bucket-shop placing to keep the lights on whilst we await the ever-delayed first LIGHT system to even offer a sprinkling of hope for some revenue?
The supply chain crisis triggered by governmental responses to COVID 19 has led to a massive focus on supply chains and efficient financing of those supply chains. The acquisition of Taulia by SAP a $920 billion dollar market capitalisation business and the launch of Eliant Inventory Solutions backed by Apollo (a private equity giant) partnered with BNP Paribas and GEP a major supply chain specialist show that the financial sector is now actively mobilising to take advantage of these opportunities.
Over a month has passed since the fraud Supply@ME Capital (SYME) issued its 31 December 2021 trading update promising inventory monetisation revenue was due shortly. In January 2022 the sole RNS was the notification of the issue of 594 million shares in respect of the December loan note repayment. I suppose it all depends on what you mean by “shortly.”
The good doctor Teeling, boss of Botswana Diamonds (BOD) is, as you many know, the only AIM CEO to have seen me naked. But today it is Dr Teeling who is left exposed having been let down, as predicted here, by the scoundrels at worthless POS Vast Resources (VAST). A good Nomad would have warned him against engaging with such wastrels but Dr Teeling uses the services of London’s worst Nomad, Roland “fatty” Cornish. Enough said.
The disaster that is sub-Standard-Listed AIQ has lust lurched from bad to worse: it has announced a £500,000 convertible loan from insiders, led by Executive Director Li Chin Chung with £250,000. But the insiders connection does not end there…..
Each working day, Mercator, the provider of two death spirals to the fraud Supply@ME Capital (SYME) needs to offload c£20,000 worth of shares on to the muppets who think that they are going to get rich catching this particular falling knife. In a bull market when folks are prepared to overlook obvious lies and fraudulent results, that is not hard but we are not now in a bull market.
Tom Winnifrith covered yesterday morning’s non-news of AIM-listed URU Metals’ (URU) proposed listing of majority-owned Toronto-listed subsidiary ZEB Nickel on the joke US OTCQB market. The shares rocketed from 170p to 210p on the news, a 23.5% gain. But the bald truth is that we are talking about a joke market with little liquidity and in any case, I would have thought your average US punter would manage to get access to the Toronto Venture exchange without having to deal with a tin-pot middle man.
It appears that the cash strapped fraud Supply@ME Capital (SYME) has drawn down the additional £2 million available under the Mercator loan (no sniggering at the back) facility without explicitly announcing this material new “loan” advance via an RNS. I guess following LSE rules about material disclosures is only for “little people.”
Entirely predictably, AIM-listed John Zorbas vehicle URU Metals (URU) has slipped out its interim results on deadline day (never a good sign) in no-one-is-watching week, the few trading days between Christmas and New Year. As such it is a fabulous day to bury bad news……and there is, of course, plenty of bad news.
AIM-listed jam-tomorrow internet of things investment company Tern plc (TERN) has announced a fundraise at investee INVMA resulting is an upwards revaluation of its investment. Two other investors have stepped up to the plate in the form of Foresight and Mercia, stumping up £1.925 million between them (presumably of other people’s money) to add to a further investment from Tern of just £0.2 million. Good news for INVMA, as it now has cash – and good news for Tern as at least one hungry mouth to feed has been satiated for the time being.
I start with Bluebird Merchant Ventures (BMV) and the FCA. Who is being a moronic fucktard today? Then some very serious number crunching on Versarien (VRS) and its looming cash crisis as the death spiral from Lanstead starts to fail. Then on why Bidstack (BIDS) has offered its long suffering sharehoders a great selling opportunity today. And a few words and questions for Lyin’ Stever Sanderson at UK Oil & Gas (UKOG) – placing ahoy!
Quelle surprise. Who would have guessed it? The fraud Supply@ME Capital (SYME), now almost out of cash and still burning cash, has elected to pay the remaining November amounts due under its Mercator death spiral – which at announced as being a loan - by issuing more shares rather than in cash. Calling this deal a “loan” was the least of the lies told by Supply But it was a lie. With the shares at 0.1525p Mercator will have already forward sold – see volumes in the past couple of days – the £300,000 of shares it received at 0.135p. But there is a bigger elephant in the room.
This is the second dreadful trading update from Supply@ME Capital (SYME) in the space of six weeks. It demonstrates that the company will soon run out of cash and has hoodwinked mug punters to allow industrial scale director share sales and dumping by death spiral providers. If the FCA does not act on this latest clear evidence of outright fraud, it really is admitting that it is not fit for purpose. Anyone still holding the shares is insane and here is why.
The shares are today trading at 29.5p, valuing this POS at c£58 million, but are slipping gently. The reason: Versarien (VRS) the AIM listed jam tomorrow stock run by serial ramper Neill Ricketts is, according to a City source, sounding out investors about a fund raise of £30million at 18p. The rationale?
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.
I cannot help but notice that shares in AIM-listed John Zorbas vehicle URU Metals (URU) have crashed by 19% thus far today, on no news. Having called it a sell at 405p in August, a sell at 320p in September and a sell at 270p earlier this month, the stock is now down to 190p. Of course, it is still a sell but perhaps it is time for an early Ouzo as the shares have now more than halved.
To be fair, shares in the company are up by 26% today at 0.43p on news that it has finalised and ended a death spiral. But any company that has to use a death spiral is likely to be shit and shares in this company are down by 39.06% over 1 year, 86.01% over 5 years and 96.65% since its IPO just over a decade ago. Truly a penny dreadful, just the sort of stock David Lenigas likes to ramp. Dave’s dog de jour is …
Tom Winnifrith has plenty more, but here are three shares you just don’t want to own. All look like they should be toast.
When I commented on AIM-listed URU Metals (URU) at the end of August, following the “disposal” of its Zebediela nickel asset to TSX-V listed cash shell (with no cash) Blue Rhino, now Zeb Nickel (TSX-V:ZBNI) the shares were 405p and I said sell as it was an accident waiting to happen. By mid-September they were down to 320p and I still said sell. Now, following after-hours full year results to March, slipped out at no-one-is-watching o’clock on deadline day (never a good sign) – and showing it had net current assets of MINUS $1.5 million – the shares are down again, to 270p – and in my view they are still monstrously overvalued and a sell.
The fraudsters and chancers at Supply@MECapital (SYME) tried to seep out some of the poison of quite diabolical interims with a 31 August Trading statement, but the true horrors only emerged today. Even the directrs now admit it may go bust yet moronic private investors reckon an £88 million market cap is cheap!
I shall turn to quite appalling interims issued this morning by Supply@ME Capital (SYME) later. Suffice to say, they are dire and anyone holding onto the shares is completely bonkers, But first, yesterday Supply announced it has received a new loan which was really a death spiral. But how expensive is this facility? I now explain why Supply has deceived investors, yet again.
Supply@ME Capital (SYME) flagged up that this would happen a few weeks ago but today it has announced “New £7 million Loan Note Facility completed”. A loan as in you pay back the cash at the end of the term right? Er.. wrong. It is a death spiral.
Simec Atlantis Energy (SAE) rather surprised a few investors with an after-hours placing RNS yesterday at a whopping 48.4% discount to the closing price of 4.85p just minutes before. Of course to any regular reader of this site it should come as no surprise whatsoever – I have been warning for the last 2 years! But there is worse to come in my view.
A company does not have to say anything on trading, on its prospects or on other matters at an AGM but it can do so and if it has anything good at all to say you can bet the ranch, especially with smaller AIM promotes, that it will say it. And that brings us to the Versarien (VRS) AGM yesterday.
I cannot help notice that John Zorbas’ AIM-listed URU Metals (URU) continues to slide. At the end of July I noted that the shares, then at 405p, seemed to represent over-valuation to the point of madness. By the end of August the shine had started to come off with the stock at 390p. Now they are 320p – and still monstrously overvalued.
Supply@ME Capital (SYME) may have a couple of new directors but that appears to have changed now! It still appears to take a delight in deceiving the morons who own its stock. Today it says that it has closed its death spiral facility with Negma and replaced it with a loan except that it is not a loan but another death spiral! And it gets worse.
There is so much in today’s absolutely appalling trading statement from the fraud that is Supply@ME Capital (SYME) that I need to cover it in three parts. I kicked off with how Supply deceived the woke dullards at the FCA and investors by reporting bogus revenues. Now I move on to how it has helped generate liquidity for death spiral provider Negma with paid for research which is pure fiction.
Two dogs, covered extensively on Shareprophets.com where i am short are leaving it rather late to come up with the goods. Chill Brands Group (CHLL), formerly Zoetic, has until Tuesday to publish its results to March 2021 (and that’s after a Covid extension) and Supply@Me Capital (SYME) has stated that a trading update is “expected” this month.
I noted the other day that AIM-listed John Zorbas vehicle URU Metals (URU) seemed to be an accident waiting to happen. With a boat-load of death spiral shares and warrants to come at 85p against a then share price of 405p, that was surely enough of a Red Flag, but with its main asset now held in TSXV-listed ZEB Nickel (ZBNI) following a “disposal” which was not really a disposal, whose shares (of which URU holds 41 million of, but mostly held in escrow) and ZEB’s shares sliding alarmingly since the suspension was lifted, the Red Flags were certainly fluttering wildly in the wind.
Sub-Standard-Listed Cloudbreak Discovery (CDL), which rushed its way onto the Standard List only in June as Imperial X (IMPP) before it had even managed to change its name amid a forest of Red Flags, has announced an industrial trough-load of options for directors, PMDRs and other staff. Its nice to be valued, but what about the shareholders?
It has been a busy few weeks for AIM-listed John Zorbas vehicle URU Metals (URU). The “sale” of its Zebediela nickel project in South Africa to Toronto Venture Exchange listed (lack-of) cash shell Blue Rhino (RHNO), now renamed ZEB Nickel (ZBNI) has completed, with Zeb having raised some cash along the way. But it seems that the Toronto market is less than impressed.
Who is Negma the death spiral provider to the fraud Supply@ME Capital (SYME). Negma probably thinks all its Christmas have come at once and cannot believe its luck being able to flog so many shares onto moronic mug punters thanks to a recent, utterly unjustified, rally? Well here are a series of remarkable coincidences for you to consider.
Back in April Vast Resources (VAST) managed to persuade shareholdcers to approve a 100-1 share consolidation by telling them a stack of blatant lies, lies which have been shown up with news today of yet another discounted placing.
It is hard to know where to begin with the results from Versarien (VRS) for the year to March 31 2021. They are, at every level, just utterly diabolical. However much the morally bankrupt PR spinners at Yellow Jersey – who else would act for such scoundrels – try to polish the turd, it is still a turd.
AIM-listed John Zorbas outfit URU Metals (URU) had a good day in the market yesterday as its shares shot up by 8% to 405p on news of developments regarding its “disposal” of the Zebediela nickel project in South Africa to Toronto Venture Exchange listed Blue Rhino (RHNO). Except as far as I can see it is not really a disposal as one might normally understand the word.
AIM-listed St James House (SJH) – formerly Lord Razzall’s disaster that was Boxhill Technology (BOX) – has announced FY numbers to January this year. Needless to say, they are disastrous…..
In my article of 22 July, I revealed the piss poor CV of David Bull, the new Non-Executive Director for Supply@ME Capital (SYME). In the career summary issued via the RNS, he managed to omit key facts such as his close links to outgoing Chairman Dominic White (in his capacity as a Non-Executive Director of Dominic White’s Eight Capital Partners Plc) and his prior role as CFO of now suspended AIM share PCF Group Plc (PCF) caused by a number of deficiencies in PCF’s financial control and reporting function.
I shall explain why and what tomorrow. But I eat my own pudding in that I believe the recent sell off in small caps offers opportunity. But for some companies, notably those with funding issues, it could be very bad news. I discuss Supply@ME Capital (SYME), its director Mr Bull and its mother of all death spirals, Remote Monitored Systems (RMS) where the cash, its only asset of value, is disappearing fast and Versarien (VRS) where I urge you to back Ian Westbrook TODAY as its 2 death spirals really start to bite. I also comment on Predator Oil & Gas (PRD) which looks to be a can of worms and Loop Up (LOOP) where maybe I am just a bit dim but isn’t it pointless?
It was on July 1 that Evil Banksta sent me a job advert for the non exec chairmanship at Supply@ME Capital (SYME) asking me if I was thinking of applying. With no wish to add chairing a fraud to my CV I declined but I assumed that Supply had already announced that Dominic White was off. Schoolboy error!
Shares in sub-Standard Listed Cloudbreak Discovery (CDL) have dropped to another new low this morning of 2.275p – as against the IPO price only last month at 3p. It’s not looking good, especially as today’s decline accompanied a ramptastic RNS. Again!
Happy Bastille Day to our listeners in France. Here another day of swimming and cooking for guests. In today’s podcast, I look at Verditek (VDTK) and the latest missive from Gollum, the investment whores at Proactive, the fraud Supply@ME Capital (SYME) & its death spiral and finally more thoughts on today’s Winnileaks special on MC Saatchi and what it says about the useless FCA when it comes to tackling white-collar crime. Finally a few words with Cliff Weight of ShareSoc re Financial Promotions.
I suggested that having dropped below its IPO price back in June at 3p, sub-Standard Listed Cloudbreak Discovery – nee Imperial X – (CDL) would struggle. Having peaked at 5.5p, the stock is now down to just 2.6p. Shall I save the Ouzo for the footie on Sunday?
When a director of a listed company is interviewed by a fine fellow such as my old friend the Sith Lord Zak Mir or Justin “the clown” Waite there are restrictions on what he can or cannot say. Of course some directors ignore the rules and the Oxymorons at AIM Regulation do nothing. But there will be at least a note of caution in making ludicrous claims. But in recent times, there has been more evidence of a get-around.
Imperial X listed on the sub-Standard List back on June 3rd at 3p per share. The shares quickly rushed up to 5.5p but the share price chart shows a ski-slope ever since, despite a series of ramptastic announcements and a name-change to Cloudbreak Discovery (CDL). This morning we have another ramparoonie……
For a death spiral to work, your shares need to be trading. If they are suspended, you cannot run a spiral. And without its recently arranged death spiral, Supply@ME Capital (SYME) and its soon to be bought sub scale loss-making fund manager Tradeflow go bust as they have no cash and are both burning cash. Hey ho. The shares could be suspended as soon as next Thursday morning. The reason?
The fraud Supply@ME Capital (SYME) has now postponed its results four times and still they are not out. The mugs who own this stock should be panicking. Firms delay results for two reasons:
I discuss my local Tory councillor being a spinless cretin, my daughter Olaf being a girly swot and with reference to Peter Brailey’s most excellent article earlier the nature of death spirals, they are not all the same but bad companies attract bad finance.
The current fashion for retail investors to back any old company that claims to be active in the UK intermittent generation market continues. Dukemount Capital (DKE) has been brought to my attention as one of the latest to attempt to tap into the retail enthusiasm for anything power and green related. Unfortunately this one does not pass my test as a worthwhile investment on so many levels.
How do you know if the fraudsters at Supply@ME Capital (SYME) are lying in an RNS or financial report? Simple. If there is a “y” in the day, Supply is lying. It lied about its net assets in its RTO document, repeatedly lied about its sales pipeline, lied about its sales in 1 RNS and 2 interim reports and lied about so much else. And here is another lie exposed yesterday. I have written to the FCA which has already suspended the shares once.
Death spiral providers take no view on whether a company is good, bad, honest or dishonest as long as there is liquidity in the shares so it can dump who cares? Thus the cash guzzling fraud Supply@ME Capital (SYME) says it has secured a £5.6 million death spiral. And it seems as if once the initial tranche of shares is dumped Supply/Negma can repeat up to nine more times. Talk about a rolling maul of selling pressure!
I have been ploughing through the prospectus for previously Aquis-listed Imperial X (IMPP, now CDL) regarding its move to the sub-Standard List. It looks like a shambles, as it was supposed to have changed name in the process (but hasn’t yet) and the myriad of conflicts of interest is just grim. If ever there was a sign of the top of the market, this IPO is surely it.
Last night, at 6.02pm – no-one-is-watching o’clock – AIM-listed URU Metals (URU) announced it has increased the death spiral facility with an outfit called Boothbay Absolute Return Strategies from $250,000 to $500,000 – and the bargain giveaway conversion terms which were originally due to expire within 90 days of the original loan have again been extended so that Boothbay can convert at just 85p……with the stock trading at 325p!
Even at 34.1p to sell, a new low for 2021 achieved despite the raging bull market in small cap shares, Versarien (VRS) is capitalised at £66 million which for a company with negligible net cash and burning cash is a preposterous joke. Let’s start with a reminder of what fair value is…
Once upon a time, there was only one CBD company listed in the UK, Zoetic (ZOE). It lied to investors, regulators and customers and was pumped by unscrupulous investors and PR veterans of the China fraud scams, and its rarity value and the lamentable failure of the woke dullards at the FCA to address all that lying saw the shares ramped to ludicrous levels. But now more CBD businesses are listing and that throws a spotlight on valuations. The clear read across implication is that Zoetic shares are going to crash.
As Q1 draws to a close, I have few regrets about having been inactive in the market particularly on the short side.
Let’s be clear. Although it might be deemed best practice for a company the size of Versarien (VRS) to issue a year-end trading update, there is no legal obligation for it to do so. And the only best practice Versarien adheres to is in industrial-scale share issuance and deceptive share ramping activities. Had it won any material business at all, new contracts for graphene which actually generated real sales – as opposed to taxpayer handouts from his Tory chums – you can bet the ranch that loathsome Neill Ricketts would have been itching to shout about them via an RNS. He hasn’t so there are not any.
Technically insolvent AIM POS St James House (SJH) made a song and dance yesterday of its latest bailout rescue finance package – which neither bails it out or rescues it – with Tintra Acquisitions Limited. There is a £250,000 loan convertible into a death spiral at 10p per share (take note shareholders, with the price currently 45p a pop!) but tied to that are two option deals which apparently bring in between them a fraction below £180,000. So how much of that will find its way onto St James’ balance sheet?
As well as disastrous, red ink soaked finals, St James House (SJH) published its interims, to July 31 2020, today and revenue was up an impressive 51% on comparative interims to £641,000; however, administrative expenses of £874,000 resulted in an operating loss of £567,000. St James House (SJH) was only able to report a profit of £192,000 due to the profit of £759,000 for disposal of Market Access Ops Ltd for consideration of £1. As I highlighted in my note of February 2020, I struggle to understand why Mr John Botros would buy a loss-making company for £1 as it came with net liabilities of £759,000.
On January 28, the fraud Zoetic International (ZOE) announced that it really did not need any cash. That was an outright porky as events today showed. Here is that RNS cherry:
AIM-listed Mediazest (MDZ) caught my eye this morning: it is currently top of ADVFN’s gainers leaderboard today with a rise of a very impressive 140%, with a share price of just 0.12p – having been as high as 0.175p. There was news of new business wins due to bring in £350,000 of revenues but as we know, revenues are one thing and cash is quite another. But apart from that, it looks like a forest of Red Flags is upon it: have the Bulletin Board Morons completely lost the plot? TW Note did they ever have it?
For years, AIM sewer listed Bahamas Petroleum (BPC) has spun the line that all it needed was a farm in partner to unlock massive potential for oil in the Bahamas. For years I have called out CEO Simon “Harry” Potter as a useless and grossly overpaid promoter who should be fired – here is a piece from 2015. And warned that this stock was just not investment grade - you can see a series of exposes and scoops HERE. Sadly, Potter was not fired in 2015 and today – with him having hauled out well over £5 million in compensation – since his 2011 appointment when the spoof started, the house of cards has collapsed. It will get worse.
It is only a matter of time before Iconic (ICON) is put into administration and I shall then be one upstanding citizen who contacts the administrator about the conduct of the Good Germans, the three directors who quit on Monday, as well as former chairman and then shadow director toxic Dave Sefton whose private companies have grown rapidly using Iconic’s cash. But I shall not be alone. Death spiral provider EHGOF claims it is owed cash by Iconic and has launched the most explicit broadside at toxic Dave and the Good Germans (John Quinlan, Liam Harrington and Sam Asante) with specific, shocking allegations, and making clear threats.
Last night, at 5.32pm on a Friday – no-one-is-watching o’clock – AIM-listed John Zorbas outfit URU Metals (URU) issued an RNS related to its death spiral financing package first announced in May last year. It is good news for the loan sharks, but surely shareholders deserve better.
It helps when shorting a company’s shares to have a tailwind and there are few more favourable tailwinds than if that company is resorting to death spiral finance. This desperate measure tells you that all normal financing options are closed to it and that realising cash at punitive and dilutive rates is the only way to survive. The reality of death spiral financing is so grim that it is little wonder that many companies attempt to obfuscate it by hoodwinking investors into thinking that the finance provider is an institution willing to invest in their shares…
Cash guzzling POS Iconic (ICON) faces a 15% shareholder wishing to oust the board, OTT, and a legal claim from death spiral provider European High Growth Opportunities Securitization Fund, EGHOF, which it airily dismisses as baseless. It is wrong to do so and here is why.
How many letters have I written to the Oxymorons at AIM Regulation about the lies and market abuse committed by Versarien (VRS)? To their credit, the Oxymorons have, on a number of occasions, forced Versarien to issue a new RNS fessing up to various ghastly truths so they do heed my words sometimes. Anyhow, Versarien has told another porky today and so I have written again.
Notwithstanding the receipt of an illegal Government loan from Neill Rickett’s Tory chums and the fact that it had one massive death spiral from Lanstead in place, the cash position of Versarien (VRS) has – as oft predicted here – become so grim that it has had to set up another death spiral to keep the lights on. There is also another daft acquisition which will only add to the cashburn and naturally all this bad news is wrapped up in a grotesquely misleading release which only a Nomad as bent as SP Angel, of the fraud MySquar infamy, could have signed off on.
I revealed on April 2 how Tertiary Minerals (TYM) had ramped its shares by announcing that it had terminated an utterly usurious death spiral with the spivs at Bergen. How the Bulletin Board Morons lapped it up. Tertiary has refinanced with a new entity which er, if you read the small print, turned out to be Bergen and the new package was a death spiral on steroids. Oh boy how the morons had to lube up for that spoof.
As a loyal former citizen of the Isle of Man I feel that it is my duty to go to my good friends at its Financial Services Authority on Bucks Hill in Douglas to dob in Bahamas Petroleum (BPC) for apparently breaking the law with its disguised death spiral placing announced today. Crime should not pay. Have they abolished birching for naughty Nomads on the island yet?.
Ascent Resources (AST) has only avoided a crash landing in tits up alley thanks to the provision of death spiral finance by Riverfort Global and Align Research. Essentially, it has sod all cash, its assets in Slovenia it failed to monetize for eons and some joke Cuban assets. At c6p it is capitalised at c£5 million. Given Parsons’ track record as a pump and dumper and value destroyer, only a total poltroon would buy any shares. So step forward… Mr James Parsons.
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.
AIM-listed John Zorbas POS URU Metals (URU) has announced the issue of a stack of shares to settle directors’ fees and those of an adviser this morning. That to add to yesterday’s paltry subscription shares raising just £280,000 (before expenses). I would suggest that this latest splurge of confetti shows just how badly screwed the company is.
Versarien (VRS) is not generating any meaningful revenues from graphene. At a PLC level it is almost out of cash & its debt facilities are almost maxed out. And so notwithstanding the fact that it already has a Lanstead death spiral in place, it needs to get a placing ahoy. Hence a release today which is almost certainly materially misleading if not a slam dunk lie.
Iconic Labs (ICON) has a history of deceiving investors as long as your arm. That history today got even longer with City penny stock shufflers Shard Capital at the heart of the latest deception. The RNS reads: “Firm Placing, End of EHGOF Share Issuances and New Conventional Debt Facility. “ But that simply is not true.
AIM-listed technically insolvent John Zorbas POS URU Metals (URU) announced yesterday that it has for the second time extended the initial 90-day initial notice period on its convertible death-spiral loan by a further 90 days. With the shares at 260p, the initial deal to convert the loan is massively more attractive for the loan shark than the 35% discount that would otherwise apply – so why is URU doing this?
In March, Versarien (VRS) announced a £6 million funding facility with a supposed institutional investor, Lanstead. Thanks to my work, AIM Regulation forced it then to ‘fess that actually, if the shares stayed at 53.3p, it would realise only £5.5 million net. But they have not. So how much has the Neill Ricketts promote actually raised?
On 23 March 2020, POS AIM promote Versarien (VRS) announced “ subscription to raise £6 million”. Natch the headline was misleading and indeed Versarien was forced to issue a clarification at a later date. On 16 October, the lies started to reveal themselves big time.
AIM-listed John Zorbas vehicle URU Metals (URU) – the one described by Cynical Bear as being happier mining its own shareholders than anything in the ground – has updated on its Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) at the Zebediela Project in South Africa. Bear in mind that it announced in April that it planned to spend £250,000 it hadn’t got on this back in April.
Now that Versarien (VRS) has finally published its annual report, I have had a look and drawn out a few highlights. As the subsidiary accounts are not yet filed at Companies House, it is not yet possible to perform the detailed analysis of the results to show exactly how little the Graphene sales were as I did for last year’s results showing that sales were just £26,000. However, I show below an indicative analysis by analysing the elements that Versarien does disclose and it makes for grim reading for the deluded followers of Neill Ricketts.
Of course there really is more chance of me shagging Cheryl Cole than of this happening. But let’s hope for it anyway. How many of the current wave of enthusiastic shareholders who piled into the grossly misleading announcements starting on September 10 understand that there could still be much more share dilution to come? There are three separate financing instruments under which Iconic (ICON) can be required to issue shares for and they are as follows:
Ouch! I do hope that the morons who have piled into worthless, cash-guzzling, POS Iconic (ICON) in recent days had lubed up properly for this morning for they were shafted completely. The shares have slumped by 47% to 0.01325p having also dumped yesterday. Now we know why and it is horrific.
In today’s podcast, I look at Supply@ME Capital (SYME), Berkeley Energia (BKY), Novacyt (NCYT), Franchise Brands (FRAN) and also at Versarien (VRS), its loathsome boss Neill Ricketts, the death spiral provider Lanstead and what it is not telling us all.
It was announced this morning that AIM-listed Advanced Oncotherapy (AVO) has drawn down an initial $10 million on its secured convertible loan package totalling $30 million with Nerano Pharm – a financing vehicle wholly owned by significant shareholder Seamus Mulligan. So is this a death spiral, and what’s the catch?
I guess under the Tories it is about who you know, not whether you are qualified when it comes to accessing taxpayer cash. It worked for the pole dancing American bimbo who was a “close friend” of Boris when London’s Mayor and, as you can see below, with the blues in power, Neill Ricketts of Versarien (VRS) is a man well positioned to open the right doors. Today, his firm confirmed that it had received the first £1.96 million of a £5 million soft taxpayer loan from Innovate UK. Senior Tories such as Alok Sharma and Rishi Sunak were warned that Versarien did not qualify but the loan went ahead regardless. Let’s be clear this is the biggest ever loan by Innovate UK by a mile and this is pure and simple sleaze and here is why.
I see that shares in URU Metals (URU), a company run by John Zorbas which Cynical Bear observed seemed to be more interested in mining its shareholders than digging anything of value out of the ground, have dropped to just 80p to sell. This is in the wake of the disgraceful fundraise at a massive 57.5% discount (which was advertised as a 24% discount) to its previous 200p share price. That is bad enough, but there are implications of far worse to come.
Uber dog Iconic (ICON) is still losing money. But that is not the real story here.
As you all know, I think AIM-listed jam-tomorrow investment company Tern plc (TERN) still needs to raise cash to see it through to the end of this year, and I think its balance sheet valuations are pie-in-the-sky. Having offered up disastrous FY19 results on Tuesday which saw the shares crater by 25%, this morning we have news of a fundraise by one of its investees. Or is it….?
What a complete and total POS. As I pointed out (yet again) yesterday, AIM-listed URU Metals (URU) was technically insolvent and for no apparent reason the shares had marched up to 200p, overvaluing this outfit by…..er….200p. Needless to say, the directors had a duty to raise money and at no-one-is-watching o’clock last night (4.56pm) we learnt that they had. But the company misleads over the massive 57.5% discount – and that is a best case scenario – and the company is STILL technically insolvent.
Tom Winnifrith has already added to my comments yesterday about the ridiculous aluation of AIM-listed Tern plc (TERN), which even after yesterday’s 25% crash and a further 10% drop today is still monstrously overvalued. Tern is not alone, which brings me on to AIM-listed URU Metals (URU) which has been rising steadily from a low point of 90p on 27th April to the current 200p. So what has been the catalyst for this meteoric rise? After all, URU is – as I have pointed out before – technically insolvent!...
It is like extracting teeth. Getting the proven liars at Versarien (VRS) and the morally bankrupt evil PR spinners at Yellow Jersey, of the Frontera fraud infamy, to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth is a nightmare. And we are still not there yet. Today, however, the company has been forced to start to clarify.
Tertiary Minerals (TYM) seems to think that its investors are the dumbest folk going and with the shares up by 75% at 0.32p maybe it is right for today’s news of a £600,000 placing is just an almighty spoof. For starters this is not a £600,000 placing!
Yesterday Versarien (VRS) announced a death spiral on steroids which will only postpone bankruptcy and will see the share price shredded but the RNS was, I believe, an exercise in market manipulation and market abuse. Only a Nomad like SP Angel of the fraud MySquar infamy, could have signed off on it. I have written to the regulators demanding that, again, they take action
Versarien (VRS) this morning announced “subscription to raise £6 million”. Folks looked at the headline and the shares soared to 31p. Ha! Mugged by Ricketts again! Then they read the release. It is bullshit. Death spiral provider Lanstead is not putting up a cent up front and the total amount handed to Neill Ricketts’ bag of shite company over the next two years could well be well below its monthly cashburn! Ricketts really is the most shameless bullshitter and only scumbags like SP Angel, who took over as Nomad after Canaccord resigned, would sign off on such misleading gibberish which contains one MONSTER lie.
A new financial life support for crap companies like Versarien (VRS) today seems to have appeared in recent years in the form of an equity sharing agreement – lots of companies have done such deals with all the usual death spiral providers, hence the howls of “it’s a death spiral”. However, they are not new and there are key differences with the standard death spiral.
I start with the rising flood waters here at the Welsh Hovel, which are now about two or three yards from the bottom step leading to the back door. Then it is onto Coronavirus, where it is starting to sink in as to how bad it could be in terms of fear and our behaviour if not actual deaths. Then onto what filing management accounts means and the question of possible securities fraud at Dev Clever (DEV), which I have flagged up with the FCA today. Then, as per the screenshot below, it is the changing behaviour of Neill Ricketts at Versarien (VRS) and what that tells us about the regulatory hole he is in and why Canaccord quit as Nomad. Finally a comment on Bahamas Petroleum (BPC), its piss poor death spiral and crazy valuation.
Further to my article last weekend which pointed out that someone at former David Sefton outfit Iconic Labs (ICON) couldn’t add up with reference to its RNS of 4.08pm on Friday 7 February (no-one-is-watching o’clock) announcing a capital reorganisation, a week later the company finally got around to correcting it…….at no-one-is-watching o’clock (4.09pm) yesterday. Perhaps yesterday’s crony capitalist lunch at shareholders’ expense was alcohol-free.
Tom Winnifrith has already taken his sup from the ouzo bottle with regard to seeing David Sefton “resigned” from Iconic Labs (ICON) and called it insolvent. In a statement at 4.08pm on Friday – no-one-is-watching o’clock – which was littered with Red Flags, we were told that the company’s business is now generating revenues and starting to achieve real growth but it plans a capital restructuring and has agreed a new death spiral as it is not currently possible to raise conventional capital. So that’s alright then! And courtesy of ShareProphets Nomad Services I forecast a correction first thing tomorrow for it seems someone did rather too well at lunchtime on Friday.
One day short of four months on from its first announcement, AIM-listed Vast Resources (VAST) has at long last confirmed receipt of the first tranche of the death spiral funding it said it would not do. So yesterday’s announcement that the cheque really was in the post this time appears to have been true. Quite why it has taken so long remains a mystery, but whatever: let the death spiral commence. But how much actual cash does Vast gain from this charade?
Only the laziest, stupidest and most credulous of Nomads would have signed off on the death spiral funding releases issued over the past few months by, almost certainly worthless, Vast Resources (VAST). Luckily Vast employs Roland "fatty" Cornish and so today we get another update. You may remember...
There is borrow so don’t hold back. The market cap was £28 million at a 0.305p share price when this piece first appeared. The shares are now 0.285p but this could go all the way.
Show me the money, AIM-listed Vast Resources (VAST)! Eight days ago at 3pm the company slipped a small statement with regard to its long-awaited death spiral financing first announced way back on 1 October 2019 into its no-one-is-watching o’clock Interims to October 2019……and we’ve heard nothing since. Is the deal off? What is the problem? Was there ever a deal? Has the lender got the cash?
But it does not. Its Nomad is Beaumont Cornish, run by Roland “Fatty” Cornish who only acts for companies that are the dregs of the AIM Cesspit. They can say what they want in an RNS, fatty will sign off on it before waddling off for a four course breakfast, luncheon or dinner. Bad companies use Fatty as he will sign off on anything. Good companies do not want investors assuming they are dodgy so use another Nomad. And that brings us to Vast.
Amazing. Yesterday, having promised news on a $13.5 million finance facility at regular intervals since 1 October, AIM-listed VAST Resources (VAST) essentially told us it didn’t know when it would come through. This morning and bingo, its arrived. Its nice to feel the board is fully in control of things. But having told us in December last year that it would not do any more death spirals, guess what! And worse still, the previous clientele of this fine upstanding finance firm appears to consist of the fraud MySquar (MYSQ), and Bushveld Minerals (BMN) back in the days when it was a penny stock dreadful gasping for cash.
AIM-listed Vast Resources (VAST) announced a mega-funding on 1st October and said it would be signed later that week. Then on 8 October we were told it was in the process of being finalised and a further announcement would follow. On 11 October it said it would be signed later next week. It is now October 22 and there is still no sign of it. Surely a statement is overdue.
Infrastrata (INFA) has been trying to get the Islandmagee gas storage project in Northern Ireland into construction for practically a decade. Why the company has bought one of Northern Ireland’s most iconic businesses, in Harland & Wolff, is somewhat beyond my comprehension. Infrastrata doesn’t appear to have any money or ready access to money - perhaps the company lives in a parallel world to the rest of us and can grow money on trees? Or it just likes debt or government handouts?
It never ceases to amaze me how willing many private investors are to forget past failures and accept that a complete change of direction in a business is suddenly going to bring success.
Earlier today, Anglo African Oil & Gas (AAOG) and its spineless and morally bankrupt Nomad FinnCap (FCAP) were finally forced to respond to our series of exposes. But their limp dick statement will have fooled nobody and the pressure on Anglo to fire Sefton is mounting. Just to pour a can of gasoline on the flames let’s turn to the £300,000 of shareholders cash question.
After intense pressure from ShareProphets and from those who were signed up to take part in a £2.7 million placing at 5.2p and are threatening to pull out, disgraced David Sefton and Anglo African Oil & Gas (AAOG) have made a statement. But the turd Sefton has misled investors again. How is Nomad FinnCap putting its name to this? Does FinnCrap have no shame? As Sefton dissembles I have some new revelations below....
Having announced a £2.7 million placing at 5.2p and a shockingly bad undeclared related party death spiral to bring in another £5.5 million yesterday shares in Anglo African Oil & Gas (AAOG) are tumbling are are now just 4.4p to sell. An urgent statement on two matters is needed. Firstly:
News this morning, as I predicted on this site on Monday HERE of an £8.25 million raising by Anglo African Oil & Gas (AAOG) looks to be a disaster for existing shareholders once again under David Sefton's watch.
In today's bearcast I discuss how and why the word bugger come from Bulgaria, at least according to my hero Paddy Leigh Fermor. I look at Versarien (VRS) and why it will end in tears, report that Anglo African Oil & Gas (AAOG) is trying to raise £9 million at 5p and or via a death spiral, look at Hurricane (HUR), Prospex (PXOG), Grand Vision Media Holdings (GVMH) - as per my prescient piece HERE - Condor (CNR) and uber dog Premier African Minerals (PREM)
AIM-listed diagnostics play Novacyt (NCYT) announced a death spiral deal on 23 April 2019 and at 6.23pm on Friday evening it slipped out details of the first two rounds of conversions – at no-one-is-watching o’clock….except ShareProphets was watching. It is also listed on the Euronext Growth market (ALNOV), and joined AIM at the back end of 2017 – since when it has been heading heavily southwards, as you can see from the chart below.
Since the scandal of its administration, AIM-listed biotech company RedX (REDX) has had a much better run of things under the new leadership of Exec Chairman Iain Ross. But today’s statement, issued intra-day at 11.34am, suggests that a death spiral may be on the way. If it is, then this is an automatic sell for me...
It is some three years since Evil Banksta covered AIM-listed AFC Energy (AFC) on this site with his piece In the long run, AFC Energy is a zero. The shares were then 14.5p. Last night they were 3.775p and now they are 3.39p. I guess we are 76.5% there, then! This morning we were told that the company was pleased to announce its results – but should it be?
As if the poor shareholders in AIM-listed Vast Resources (VAST) had not suffered enough! Today the company announced that its Manaila mine in Romania which has been on care and maintenance since December 2018 will not now be reopened as planned this month (with just two working days left!!), in order to reduce costs. Oh, and there is a full corporate restructuring and refinancing underway.
Normally when I see a damaging (to shareholders) death spiral in play it is with reference to company trading on the AIM Casino. We’ve had a few: Tern (TERN), Advanced Oncotherapy (AVO) VAST (VAST) to name just three. But Widecells (WDC) is listed on the main market – well, sort of: it was unleashed onto the Standard List in July 2016. But this death spiral really does take some beating!
Alpha Growth (ALGW) is running on ‘vapours.’ It hasn’t got a pot to piss in. Cash on hand is probably close to £170,000. Its auditor has issued a ‘Material Uncertainty’ as to viability going forward as a going concern. The Company has ‘fessed up that it has no revenue and will need funds. What is not to like?
I highlighted the latest in a series of death spirals entered into by AIM-listed Vast Resources (VAST) on 22 December (see HERE). That was after the company had said it wouldn’t do any more, but then announced its issue at no-one-is-watching o’clock on 21 December 2018. The thing is, it told us that tranches of the death spiral loan would not be convertible into shares of the Company (the “Shares”) for the initial 30 days from the date of their respective advance. And so today, 18 January - and thus four weeks and not thirty days later…..
Well Humbug and Bah Humbug to you all! You all want to know who won the Bury Bad News sweepstake. Needless to say, it wasn’t me! The entries ranged from 7 to 50 bad news RNSs on Christmas Eve, but who won – and what was the worst of RNSs?
We are days away from the end of 2018 and so it is time for almost the final reckoning for my portfolio of 5 shares to sell this year. I say almost the final reckoning because Tom Winnifrith’s Winnileaks has been receiving a few things which suggest that AIM-listed Frontera Resources (FRR) may well be facing its final reckoning extremely soon – ouzo at the ready, then!
Oh dear! Previous boss of AIM-listed Vast Resource (VAST) Roy Pitchford had an unhappy time with death spiral finance facilities with Crede and Bracknor and now, despite the company having said it would avoid death spiral finance facilities in future, has announced – under Brian Moritz – a “bridge facility” which is….a death spiral, this time with Bergen. It is interest free, naturally – if you ignore the fees – but critically, this time the facility is not convertible for 30 days. After that…..well, we know what death spirals do to share prices.
And so another month has slipped by and it is time for another update on my five to sell – or just steer a very wide berth around. Last month the average loss amongst AIM-listed Telit (TCM), Inspirit (INSP), Catanae (CTEA, formerly Milestone Group, MSG), Frontera Resources (FRR) and UK Oil and Gas (UKOG) was sitting at 17.4%. But we’ve had a bit of a sell-off……
AIM-listed Imaginatik (IMTK) has beaten the odds and signed up a new Nomad to replace FinnCap which slipped out of the back door a month ago. Good news – and on deadline day too. And so WH Ireland steps up to the plate. We also learnt that the company got a placing away – at just 1.1p, plans an Open Offer and has signed up for a death spiral toboot. Great stuff – but I won’t be interested for now and here is why.
We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight them in the law courts. So said Zaza Churchill of Frontera Resources (FRR) last month after his company defaulted on an agreement with death spiral provider Yorkville, failed to hand over shares, lied via RNS and ended up with a legal dispute. Oh well, it turns out that Zaza is not Churchill but Chamberlain after all. And it is not just one little piece of paper that is on the way but billions more pieces of confetti, worthless share certificates.
Tom Winnifrith writes: This has been a bad tip. We apologise. We owned the shares too and share that pain. But with the stock now at 0.1p-0.12p the shares are a STRONG BUY, average down. Let me explain.
I can’t help but notice that shares in AIM-listed Haydale have been on the slide once more. Today they are off by another 13.2% - I wonder if the company wants to issue a statement as to the reason why? Na….thought not. Well, just to help out Haydale (‘cos we are such nice guys)…..
Let's be clear here. Widecells (WDC) was a client of Align Research run by Richard Jennings. That is to say it paid Align to publish research. It is thus all the more remarkable that Jennings is prepared to stock the knife in, attack recent actions by the company and is now buying shares in the market to call an EGM to fire the board. Get your beer and popcorn ready, for what it is worth I agree with Jennings on this matter and urge all shareholders to contact him to offer their support. He writes:
In the end the chaps at Nomad Cairn walked from Cloudtag (CTAG) when it was clear that it was a fraud run by liars. Frontera Resources (FRR) is a shit show run by liars and a fallout with death spiral provider Yorkville (YA) today could be the final straw for Cairn – might it resign leaving the (worthless) shares suspended? Or will Frontera just go bust?
Two days ago we asked you HERE to guess the price of the bailout placing which Frontera Resources (FRR) needs ASAP to avoid going tits up. And, with the stock still 0.22p to sell, you said…
Grossly overvalued AIM listed piece of crap Frontera Resources (FRR) is running on vapours. It has less cash than your average Venezuelan and is burning it at an alarming rate. Despite the best efforts of disgraced PR man Tim Thompson of scumbags Yellow Jersey PR and the whore blogger, Malcom “Fat Bastard” Graham Wood to ramp the stock, it has more than halved since May 1 and is now just 0.22p to sell. So what price is the looming bailout placing going to be at. You guess in our reader poll, the deadline to enter is midnight tonight:
This is undoubtedly good news for AIM-listed Advanced Oncotherapy (AVO) and the meagre 4% discount in quite a bonus. But I find it hard to get too excited.
The leopard does not change its spots. Pumping UK Oil & Gas (UKOG) hard as it was trying to arrange a bailout placing is bad enough. But now we come to Angus Energy (ANGS) another Horse Hill play and one where the CEO has just "been resigned" in disgrace following revelations HERE. But Big Dave has, as you can see below, been pumping its shares hard on twitter. What happens after a Big Dave pump?
Time to get out the ouzo, for AIM-listed jam-tomorrow investment company Tern plc (TERN) has raided the bucket shops once again – this time raising £2.9 million (before expenses) at 26p, a discount of 21%. In a separate announcement, we are also told that investee company InVMA has been shopping – but no financials are offered and I fancy that is because the purchase is quite insignificant - it was, after all, an RNS Reach.
At 4pm yesterday, AIM-listed Mysquar (MYSQ) slipped out and RNS announcing that it was calling a General Meeting. It seems that the board is running short of shareholder authority to wheel out the printing presses to issue more worthless confetti. The ShareProphets RNS translation Service explains all (original in bold)
AIM-listed Eqtec (EQT) has announced a funding package this morning. The good news is that short-seller Bercheva - run by a convicted crook - has been given the heave-ho from the death spiral facility, but the replacing loan deal seems to offer great terms to the lender and the accompanying placing is at a 35% discount. So what’s the upside for shareholders?
We forced a statement last Friday and, today, UK Oil & Gas (UKOG) says it has completed an “oversubscribed” placing at 0.9p. FFS these bastards have a nerve. How they abuse and insult the owners of this company, its shareholders.
On Friday we forced UK Oil & Gas (UKOG) to fess up that it was trying to raise £5 million. It is struggling to fill that back and the shares – now just 1p-1.05p – at least partially discounts the pain that is coming. But ShareProphets readers, when polled HERE, think far worse is coming. I agree.
The whore blogger, Fat Bastard Malcolm Graham Wood, may try to spin today's disastrous financing news from Frontera Resources (FRR) as a triumph but as I explained earlier it is far from it. Zac "the knife" Phillips of SP Angel, the City's No 1 oil analyst, goes further with a statement that the entire board needs to be sacked. He opines:
I wonder how the whore blogger, Fat Bastard himself, Mr Malcolm Graham Wood will explain this away as good news. After all that is what Frontera (FRR) pay him for. In essence Frontera has no cash, is burning cash and had to repay $2.891 million to death spiral provider Yorkville on 16 June. Problemo!
AIM-listed jam-tomorrow IoT investment company Tern plc (TERN) has an interesting date in its diary at the end of this month, for on 30 June its recent loans to investee company Device Authority must be converted into DA stock or repaid (at 300% of principal!) Given the scale of the cash-crisis across the portfolio at FY17 (see HERE) it seems unlikely to be repaid, so what happens if/when the loan is converted, and why is it a problem for Tern?
AIM-listed Advanced Oncotherapy (AVO) announced this morning that Bracknor, the death spiral funder, still had convertible loan notes to swap for shares. This, despite the RNS of 19 July 2017 telling us that the Company does not intend to use the Bracknor facility in the future. As part of these arrangements the Company will issue 7 million warrants to Bracknor. These warrants are exercisable at 25p and may be exercised at any time over the next five years. Anyone would have thought that was the end of the matter. Apparently not.
On March 8 2018 I revealed how low life Nomad Northland had banked a fat fee for recommending that its client Eqtec ( EQT) take out death spiral financing from a proven fraudster. Worse still, the deal Northland thought fair was bound to destroy the share price as I explained at the time. Last week it got worse and the negligence of Northland is now almost criminal.
This is covered in bearcast but I can't disagree with a word that the great bear raider and professional Northern git Waseem Shakoor says about Frontera (FRR) ina BB post today. For a wider audience, Waseem opines:
I offered a portfolio of shares to sell for 2018 during the ShareProphets Christmas Tipfest – let’s see how it is doing (albeit a few days late). Into the original portfolio went Frontera (FRR), Milestone Group (MSG), Tern (TERN), UK Oil and Gas (UKOG) and Telit (TCM). Subsequently Milestone changed its name to Catenae (CTEA) and Tern dropped its death spiral so was replaced by Inspirit (INSP).
We have been calling out AIM-listed Inspirit Energy Holdings (INSP) here on ShareProphets for an age: we reckoned the boiler room had no cash and its shares were below nominal. On Friday, at 2.54pm, as the market was getting ready for a nice sunny bank holiday weekend (talk about no-one-is-watching o'clock), up popped an RNS entitled “Issue of Convertible Loan Notes”. It is only after reading the whole RNS that you realise that they are proposing to split the ordinary shares of 0.1p into one ordinary share of just 0.001p and a deferred share (with no rights) of 0.099p. Oh, and incidentally, where is the Confirmation Statement on Companies House, which was due on 30 March?
I have made the point before but do so again that not all death spirals - or alternative structured financings or whatever the MBA phrase is - are the same. Some can actually help the share price. Some really shaft shareholders royally. All are created in a way where the provider cannot lose but some are just usurious. Why, for instance, has Angus Energy (ANGS) agreed to a deal this week with Bergen which ensures that its investors will get so utterly rogered that no amount of lube can ease the pain.
The day, that after 28 years as a journalist,, I take lectures on my vocation from a lying toe-rag like UK Oil & Gas (UKOG) boss Steve Sanderson is the day I quit. Lyin' Steve attacked me at his company's AGM and blames me for the death spiral which - along with drilling disasters - has cratered his company's share price.
After 16 years of missing targets and ongoing dilution, AIM listed Amur Minerals (AMC) is still nowhere near actually building its mine in Eastern Russia and still does not have a single institutional shareholder. The only folks who still believe in this stock are mug punter private investors and that means the only funding available is via bucket shops or death spirals. Right now it is the latter and hence the shares are in a steady retreat - right now just 4.5p to sell. At this rate, losing 1p a month, the shares will be trending towards zero by the summer so its time to panic and go into mega spoof.
Having said that it never needed to raise money again when it raised £1.2 million as it committed securities fraud on July 31 2017, MySquar (MYSQ) announced a £2.11 million death spiral deal on March 7 2018. The first £200,000 loan note conversion was announced on April 12 at 1.31p.
Well I’m glad I removed AIM-listed Tern plc (TERN) from my list of slam-dunk sells for 2018 when the company announced it had binned its death spiral, and instead raised cash from a placing. I still don’t think it has enough cash, but apparently the market disagrees and the share have shot massively higher – from a low point of just over 2p in February, 4p by the end of March and now they sit at 9.85p (having peaked at 11.25p). What of the value of the investment?
Hat Tip to the great Waseem for this but after yesterday's death spiral conversion from UK Oil & Gas (UKOG) here are all the death spiral conversions to date. If I was Cynical Bear I would now be offering a prize for anyone who can show the trend. But I am not as I am a mean bastard with a reputation to protect. So here is the data:
AIM-listed investment company Tern plc (TERN) announced its full year numbers for last year. It is not quite the record-breaking speed of previous years, but getting them out before the end of March isn’t a bad effort. However….well, there are the excuses and then there is cash.
As we approach the end on March it is once again time to look at my portfolio of shares to sell. Of course, it is now down to four after Tern plc (TERN) ditched its death spiral so we’ll need to find a replacement for that one.
AIM-listed Tern (TERN) has announced a placing this morning, raising £650,000 (gross) at 2.55p, and that it has terminated its death spiral facility with immediate effect. This is very good news indeed. I don’t suppose shareholders will be feeling the love just yet, given the destruction of Tern’s share price since last summer, but at least the rot seems to have been stopped.
I realise that the crony capitalists round at Nomad Northland have a few things on their mind, such as who will pay the wages this month, but how on earth can they have signed off on the worst death spiral deal I have ever seen where the counter-party is a man who the SEC nailed for "defrauding investors." I despair.
In today's bearcast I start with a reader complaint but then he is a tosser so who cares? Then it is onto looking at the differences between the funding facilities at UK Oil & Gas (UKOG) and MySquar (MYSQ). I am bearish on both but the differences in the two packages are instructive. I look at Nature Group (NGR), Jim Mellon's uber-ramp FastForward (FFWD) and at Purplebricks (PURP) is the Neil Woodford bubble about to burst again, as even former supporters like Paul Scott admit my analysis was right and theirs wrong.
Today's death spiral funding for MySquar (MYSQ) is bad enough as I explained HERE. But now let's look at who is providing that funding - I'll tell you who: proven liars. Natch Nomad SP Angel should have flagged this up but since it is prepared to overlook brazen securities fraud as long as it banks another retainer for the coke & hookers fund, we know that it is morally bankrupt. Anyhow back to the liars now in business with the holocaust denying fraudsters of MySquar.
When MySquar (MYSQ) misled investors to get away a £1.2 million fund raise in on July 31 2017 it said it would never have to raise cash again. Well it did not take long for a change of mind from the holocaust denying fraudsters did it? And this fund raise announced today is dodgy as hell, yet another mega red flag. So lets go through the lies and spoofs in order up to the latest spoof.
