UK 21:46 Monday, 21 September 2026
Breaking news and expert analysis on fast-moving AIM and LSE listed shares
Disclosure: I own shares in one or more of the stocks mentioned. I wrote this article myself, and it expresses my own opinions. I am not receiving compensation for it (other than from ShareProphets). I have no business relationship with any company whose stock is mentioned in this article.
The New World Oil & Gas (NEW) forward selling fiasco exposed one of AIM’s most significant structural faults; do you really own the shares you’ve purchased? The secretive role of market makers in the function of AIM is not widely understood or appreciated. Few private investors realise just how much power and control this furtive group wields over physical stock and, therefore, share prices. During the New World controversy the London Stock Exchange proved itself ineffectual in enforcing its own rulebook, which is meant to oversee the actions of market makers and protect the legal rights of shareholders. Below I share some correspondence I had with major retail broker Share Centre, six weeks ago. This helps demonstrate how certain City firms directly interfered with the legal rights of New World’s shareholders, while the London Stock Exchange stood idly by.
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Comments
RAF118
Yet another NEW article!?
It would be nice to read something that isn’t about SER or NEW.
Tom could suss a scandal from a mile away! This is just regurgitated, rehashed non-news.
Sorry to complain but the site is getting a little samey.
Ben Turney
@RAF – clearly you’ve not appreciated or understood the vital importance of possessing physical stock. Perhaps it doesn’t bother you that market makers are permitted not to supply stock they are contractually obliged to while ordinary punters can’t get their stock into certificated form to join an action group to stop a corrupt board of directors betraying those they are meant to work for because their brokers have disposed of it….
RAF118
Ben – maybe I don’t but I’m pretty sure this issue has been raised in a previous article on NEW and it doesn’t get any more interesting the second time round.
The site seems to be shifting towards Resource tiddlers and away from the investigative stuff that TW would write that was genuinely interesting and hot off the press.
I read practically every article on this site and have to say the content is not as interesting as it once was.
This is only my personal observation/opinion.
Jimbo
Anybody who thinks the above does not represent a clear systemic risk should the stock settlement/clearing system come under pressure needs to keep on snorting the happy gas. The warning seems pretty clear to me!