Hello Share Takers. The victory of our new prime minister caused the stock market to take its biggest leap for some months. And though it did retrace the next day, the Footsie is bounding up again, as I write. It may be the noisy optimism of the bloke, but there are other reasons why the Boris effect is energising the market.

In today's podcast I look at Dev Clever (DEV), Tesla (TSLA), Mothercare (MTC), Versarien (VRS) and Block Energy (BLOE). Enjoy.

Questions have to be asked when a company produces a headline rate from a well test; the CEO goes on an interview road trips talking about how much free cash flow will be generated; £12 million is raised via an equity issue – and then subsequently initial production rates are just a third of what investors were expecting!

I like spin-offs as they are much more likely to be incorrectly priced than an average share will be. Sometimes this is because a newly spun-off business has a liberated management team who can really drive shareholder value and sensibly evolved strategic positioning. And sometimes it is because the remaining 'stub' business is underappreciated, as all eyes focus on the excitable new spin-off. This morning we effectively had spin-off related announcements from two corporate names I have individually written about before: Vodafone (VOD) and Mothercare (MTC)…

AIQ joined the Standard List in January of last year and spent most of its first four months suspended, has to correct its admission document following revelations on this website and the share price went bonkers – yet it had no business, just cash. This morning it released its interims – is it really worth 28.5p a share?

The critical point about today's interims from Dev Clever (DEV) is that they are piss poor in the cash guzzling sense. Now I do not wish to sound like an accosting pedant and geek but there is another issue: auditors PKF Littlejohn who will have cast an eye over the numbers, have screwed up and the numbers need to be corrected and re-issued. Let me explain:

Neil Woodford’s Income Focus Fund put on a modest 0.12% in NAV per unit yesterday, according to Morningstar. In theory that should have increased the size of the fund from the previous close of £287.08 million to £287.42 million before redemptions.

Dev Clever (DEV) listed on the Standard List in December at 1p with some true rogues subscribing for placing shares. One of them blogged a thesis that the shares were worth 50p (a £200 million market cap) and that sort of ramping saw the shares reach 13p. Today they are sharply down at 3p to sell after the release of dire interims.

Recent results from Volex (VLX) included “over the past year we have continued to deliver on our stated strategy to refresh our customer base and grow our business with both new and existing customers. This has resulted in a significant increase in profitability at Volex, and our group is now in a much stronger position than it has been for many years”. The shares have recovered from sub 50p as recently as early summer 2017 but are down from 100p+ last month to a current 89p offer price…

On Wednesday Versarien (VRS) held a 'Transport Infrastructure Technology Preview Event' for 12 'randomly' chosen investors.  The whole episode stinks and the hapless Nomad, Bobbie Hilliam of Quindell infamy, now at Canaccord, should be forced to issue a statement

Surveillance technology and networked security systems company Synectics (SNX) has announced results for its half-year ended 31^st May 2019 and a contract win…

Hello, Share Primers. Say what you like about gold explorers, there are a few that try really hard and deserve success. It’s a risky business, prospecting, but the rewards, if they come at all, can be dazzling. And it’s a reasonable strategy to have at least some fun money in this field, given the rosy prospect that some commentators expect on this scintillating website for a rising gold price...

Previously writing on Low & Bonar (LWB), in May I noted “net debt at mid-year expected to be below £110m” – that comparing to £128.5 million at the 30th November 2018 year-end… but there has since been a more than £50 million equity raise! Overall, “the board has decided that a change of leadership is required to accelerate delivery of the transformation programme”. As such, CEO Philip de Klerk is being ‘stepped down’, with September 2018-commenced Chairman Daniel Dayan to become Executive Chairman and this situation to be “reviewed later in the year”. Good luck Daniel!. Today a “Disposal of Needle-Punched Non-Wovens business” announcement…

On today's podcast I discuss Westminster Group (WSG) run by ex Tory MP Tony Baldry of 3DM infamy, Metro Bank (MTRO), the Sith Lord Zak Mir, Sam Antar, Optibiotix (OPTI), Inspirit (INSP) and Dev Clever (DEV) - when are its (sure to be dire) results?

Previously writing on Westminster Group (WSG), I concluded last week where’s the cash for that coming from? The shares are currently down to below 13p, but, natch, still avoid / sell. Now the company “is pleased to announce a placing… to raise £1million before expenses together with the issue of warrants”. Surprise, surprise…

A “2019 Half Year Trading Update” followed by “Heavy Rainfall Event at the Malomir Mine” announcements from Petropavlovsk (POG)…

Analyst David Hunter is sticking to his target of $1550-$1600 for gold, which he predicts will be reached around early September. For silver, he feels that $26 is still a definite possibility. He says, “When people become more interested in gold silver will head higher. Silver usually underperforms on the downward moves in gold and outperforms when gold rallies.”

Mortgage Advice Bureau (MAB1) has updated including “revenue for the six months ended 30 June 2019 increased by 5% (8% on an underlying basis) to £61m… in the second quarter of the year we have seen some improvement in banked conversion and continue to see these trends in July… encouragingly the majority of our Appointed Representatives continue to hold strong growth plans for 2019 and 2020”. Down from 700p+ reached last year, the shares though currently remain at circa 600p…

Having released FY18 numbers at eleven minutes past one in the morning and then last week announced massive redundancies at 6pm on Friday, Oslobors-traded Thin Film (THIN) has a bit of a track record for slipping ouit calamitous news at no-one-is-watching o'clock. And so last night at thirty seconds to 9pm……

Apparently it is hotter than in Bangkok today in London. I am not sure if I really want to visit either...but meetings await in the latter later on today. I am feeling calm and collected despite the weather and that one of my 'tips of the year' is down 9% odd on the day as I write. More about that in a paragraph or two…