I had a feeling that the Marks & Spencer (MKS) regulatory news update was something to do with a new CFO appointment. Longer-term readers may recall back in September last year I mused about the resignation of the wonderfully named Humphrey Singer, concluding that 'my guess is that Humphrey despite a big old salary and historic reputation just cannot quite cut it'. Today's news that in June this year 'Eoin Tonge will be joining the Board of Marks and Spencer Group PLC as Chief Financial Officer' looks positive…

This is a total omnishambles clusterfuck and it is hard to know where to start. So let’s just note the strange coincidence that yesterday shares in Bidstack (BIDS) were marked sharply lower and today the company has served up the most godawful of trading statements. But this is AIM, supervised by those stormtroopers of propriety, the Oxymorons at AIM Regulation with assistance from the chocolate teapots at the FCA so there cannot have been any insider dealing.  No really. Stop sniggering at the back please.

I called ITM Power (ITM) a speculative buy in August 2019 at 38p. My best call as a buy by some margin while writing for this site. The share price advanced to 71p by the start of the year and has now almost doubled again to 140p as I type. That is a gratifying reward for anyone who read my views and was influenced to buy only some 5 months ago. But where’s the share price going now?...

A “Trading Update and Board Changes” announcement from “designers, developers, distributors and retailers of sports, leisure and mobility equipment” Tandem Group (TND), which gets, er, ‘interesting’…

I see that my pal Richard Jennings of Align is tweeting like a Bulletin Board Moron, welcoming a falling share price in NMC Health (NMC) as an opportinity to buy more shares. Whatever. I think on this one I  remain firmly with Carson Block of Muddy Waters and view this as an accident that is already happening but will get far worse. Today Carson has compared NMC to Enron.

Hello Share Trundlers. As predicted, the full-year numbers from Water Intelligence (WATR) look to be a bumper set and the share price rose on the news. A few weeks ago I was well down on my fairly new investment and now I’m nearly back to par. I’m rather confident that better is still to come. Let’s have a look at the trading update info...

In today's podcast I look at the terrible and mounting woes of "star fund manager" Gervais Williams, at Versarien's (VRS) cash woes disguised in today's RNS by breaking AIM Rule 10, at NMC Health (NMC), Finablr (FIN), Bidstack (BIDS), Uk Oil & Gas (UKOG), and Bahamas Petroleum (BPC)

“Xpediator (AIM: XPD), a leading provider of freight management services across the UK and Central and Eastern Europe is pleased to confirm that trading for the year ended 31 December 2019 is expected to be in line with market expectations”. The shares have responded higher to around 29p… but earlier in the year were comfortably above 50p! Hmmm…

No wonder Premier Miton has been so tardy in updating the market. It has emerged today that the Gervais Williams Smaller Companies Fund was deluged with redemptions in January on a scale which must beg the question of whether it will, Neil Woodford style, need to be gated.

A “Trading Update and Notice of Results” from “value-focused consumer goods” company UP Global Sourcing (UPGS). Particularly pertinent as “the majority of the group's manufacturing is based in China”…

I asked you to nominate the moron making the most moronic comments on twitter or the LSE, ADVFN and iii asylums last week and there were many fine entries as you can see HERE. But the winner is clear and was spotted by me so I win the non prize. From the ADVFN Asylum, Versarien thread

NMC Health (NMC) has announced highly preliminary approaches from Kohlberg Kravis Roberts (KKR) and GK Investment Holding (GKI) regarding possible offers for the company. But in tandem, a second RNS from NMC suggests that Dr Shetty’s holdings and others’ may not be all they appeared to be. This was accompanied by an RNS from Finablr (FIN) suggesting similar shenanigans may be on the cards regarding the same people. Both companies are trying to get to the bottom of it, but from my perspective it all stinks and I would not be hanging around to find out what the true position actually is with either.

Versarien (VRS) has today issued an RNS which suggests that its Nomad, Bobbie Hilliam at Canaccord, has allowed it to drive a coach and horses through AIM Rules 10 and 11. I have written to the Oxymorons at AIM Regulation asking that Versarien and Hilliam be sanctioned and that it force the company to issue a clarifying RNS.

My pal Carson Block of Muddy Waters has savaged Burford (BUR) this moring with a savage report on recent results. His golden prose is below.

Jeepers I know that Bobbie Hilliam signed off on most of the fraudulent releases made by Quindell (QPP) but how on earth has he signed off from today’s cobblers from Versarien (VRS) which may impress the morons but should set alarm bells ringing.  The issue is cash.

Hello, Share Seekers. It’s not that often Tom and I have the same tips. He’s mostly a value investor who goes on fundamentals and balance sheets. Whereas I fix my sights on the future and dabble in pop psychology and the herd instinct. But we both picked Creightons (CRL), the maker of cosmetic and household fripperies. We were rewarded with big hikes in the share price last year...

Okay, I want to make Juicin happy so let us have another Bulletin Board Moron of the week contest. The deadline is midnight on Sunday 9^th February and all you have to do is find another comment from twitter or the ADFVN, iii or LSE Asylums which is more moronic than this one from mavfav on the ADVFN asylum, Versarien (VRS) thread. Entries in the comments section below

When forced to fess up on 21 January 2020 that its, much RNS vaunted,  US hub was in fact a serviced office with no staff, cash strapped Versarien (VRS) tried to sugar coat the pill by referring to discussions with a leading US tyre manufacturer. That rang a bell. For whom the bell tolls, etc, etc.

This week promises to be an exciting one for shareholders in Turkish gold-miner, AIM listed Ariana Resources (AAU). Quite apart from Q4 results from the Kiziltepe joint venture which are due shortly (though perhaps not this week) and news from the satellite gold deposits near Kiziltepe as well as further news from Salinbas to the east, all of which could drop at any time, there is the small matter of the proposed part-sale of the Salinbas and Kiziltepe projects and the announced deadline of the end of February to get shareholder approvals……if a final deal is struck. And I believe that means news this coming week.

With commodities being hit hard by concerns over coronavirus, and further weakness likely as deliveries of metals and hydrocarbons are starting to be put on hold by China, I’ve been looking towards opportunities in other sectors.