Cupid (#CUP) sells dating business for just £3m - to become an investing company
- 2014-12-08 01:28:32
UK 09:53 Tuesday, 10 November 2026
Breaking news and expert analysis on fast-moving AIM and LSE listed shares
Interim results from Cupid (CUP) were predictably disastrous and show why it had to see its dodgy Ukrainian dating businesses. In part that was because, despite the KPMG whitewash they were clearly engaged in unethical practises. But Cupid also needed the cash.
Cupid’s (CUP) shares fell 13% to 60p yesterday as it announced a pretty woeful set of numbers for 2013 and gave very little away as to what sort of business it is now or how it intends to make money going forward.
With February being the ‘love month’ what share could be best placed to feature in this month’s Stock-Ping? Yes, you’ve guessed it Internet dating company, Cupid (CUP), ‘a global leader in online dating’ with some 45 million members across 106 countries.
I have a bad feeling that it will be me rather than my young apprentice sending a £50 donation to Woodlarks as a result of losing our Christmas spread betting challenge. The force is not with me on this one.
If you believe some bloggers, Cupid is not a stock to have great faith in on the long side, but what we have seen on the daily chart here since March is actually quite a good example of consolidation/stabilisation.
I had never done a spread bet in my life until eight days ago. But I have just completed my fifth trade – selling Cupid (CUP) at £4 a penny at 54p. My stop is set at 64p.
Last week’s announcement by Cupid (CUP) that its CEO and largest shareholder Bill Dobbie is stepping down struck me as rather odd.
I last reported on Cupid (CUP) shortly after it reported the disposal of its casual dating business to the company’s founder Mr Polyakov back in July I had assumed that the whole of Cupid was a “casual dating business” but no, Cupid is now a “mainstream” and “niche” dating business.
So AIM Cesspit listed Cupid (CUP), the BBC last night accused you of defrauding your customers and showed why the KPMG enquiry was a whitewash – are you going to sue it for defamation?
Cupid (CUP) has announced that it has sold its casual dating (i.e. casual sex) sites for £43.1 million. Paid for researchers Edison have published a note giving this the full spin. But watch out. All is not as it seems.
Earlier this year an undercover reporter from the Ukraine Post applied for a job with Cupid (CUP) and she claimed that she was told that she would be paid on a freelance basis to pretend to be a dolly bird interested in dating ugly Western men in order to get them to pony up for a Cupid paid for service. Cupid denied the charge but commissioned an independent review by KPMG to investigate and today it has published its findings.
Now if you really wanted to find out about the charges levelled by Svitlana Tuchynska who is the first person you would contact?
Today's AGM statement from online dating business Cupid (CUP) throws up far more questions than it answers. It does nothing to ally my bearishness as I have explained in numerous articles on the website and elsewhere. But to get the ball roiling here are two questions for the Cupid-ites to answer.
The first concerns cash.
It would appear that would as far as Cupid shares are concerned, the technical argument as well as fundamental stakebuilding building news have for the time being outweighed any alleged issues will be with the companies business model. This is a great personal source of joy even though I would imagine that with a wife and four children under six years old I am unlikely to require the companies services in the near-term.
A great album by the Sex Pistols, one of the greatest albums ever, and although Johnny Rotten did not know it of the time, the perfect retort to the latest article on Cupid by Tom Winnifrith.
In for a penny in for a pound, another couple of observations on Cupid (CUP), the AIM Cesspit listed company that yesterday issued a statement in which it claimed my comments in an article that day were misleading.
The last time that online dating service Cupid (CUP) commented on an article by me it just noted that it was comment. This time I have been promoted to the rank of “market commentator” in a statement out this afternoon. Next time? “the UK’s top investigative financial journalist?” Needless to say Cupid is talking utter bollocks and that makes its shares even more of a slam dunk short.
Cupid shares are off again today at 52p. There are some folks who blather on about the yield of almost 6% and the strong cash balance. But what exactly is the cash balance? And is the dividend sustainable? Well let’s do some sums.
This has been well spun by Cupid (CUP) but yesterday’s trading statement was a disastrous profits warning.
