Time to catch up with a half year update from Wood Group (WG.). As regular readers will remember, it is one of my tips of the year and last time I reviewed the stock I concluded that 'John Wood shares will have a 7 in front of them by the end of the year. I remain a buyer'. In short, I retain this view after yesterday's update.

Facing a raft of criminal charges for not paying her employees, Julie  “lingerie on expenses” Meyer  MBE has now refused to attend five court hearings and indeed has fled the island for good to avoid the Police who are now charged by the Courts with locating her. I can reveal that it is about to get a lot worse for Vince Cable’s favourite lying fraudster as new criminal charges are brought.

I suggested yesterday that things were looking up for Neil Woodford but we can all relax again as matters return to normal with disaster looming around every corner for the star fund manager as Itaconix (ITX) has suspended its shares this morning pending a potential fund raise.

Hello, Share Snatchers. Some folks have scoffed at me for opining that the weather affects the Footsie. But there’s a strong opinion among those that know that pop psychology plays a bigger part in how shares behave than economics or even common sense.

The 3Xs are the fraudbusters best friends. In this case it was one of Julie Meyer's 3Xs and a new source. we chatted for just under an hour. More to follow. Oh dear, poor Ms Lingerie on Expenses MBE. In the podcast I look at UK Oil & Gas (UKOG), Purplebricks (PURP), Frontera (FRR), FastJet (FJET), MySquar (MYSQ) - where I have again contacted John Meyer urging him to get off his fat arse - Andalas (ADL) and Magnolia Petroleum (MAGP). The good news is that sponsorship of the walk I'm doing with Brokerman Dan for Woodlarks is now, with gift aid, at almost £11,000. I explain here why this walk makes the difference between Woodlarks having to cut services or carry on, please do give a tenner today.  Think of my pain - not least in having to hear Dan talk total bollocks about Andalas for whole day - and COUGH UP HERE.

On Tuesday 26 June, ShareProphets AIM-China Filthy Forty play Origo Partners (OPP) fessed up that it had lost another boat-load of cash, this time on Kincorra Copper (TSX.V: KCC). Actually, it didn’t – we were simply told it had been sold for CAD 2 million (around US$ 1.5 million). It is not until you realise that the company had sunk US$ 8.5 million into Kincora that you see what a shambles that investment was.

Two years ago today, IQE (IQE) was trading at 17p per share, valuing the company at c. £120 million. Today the shares are nearly 6x higher at 100p per share, valuing the business at £750 million; an astonishing £630 million increase in value. And yet IQE’s most recent filing (year to 31 Dec 2017), reveals a company where, were it not for one new major customer, the remaining business would have demonstrated declining revenue and profit.

Writing previously on sports, leisure and mobility equipment group Tandem (TND) in March, I noted I question whether it’s to be profit warning ahoy down the line and was thus cautious. Today an AGM update…

The numbers from Greene King (GNK) today are pint glass half empty or half full as per your inclination. The good news is that the attractive 5%+ dividend yield is held and covered by cashflow generation. Additionally those wonderful attributes for a pub group - sunny weather and a World Cup - have helped out. As the company notes itself: 'positive momentum has continued into the new financial year, aided by good weather and popular sporting events'.

This morning ShareProphets AIM-China Filthy Forty play Walcom Group (WALG) issued a trading statement. Given that its interims are due by tomorrow, that does not look good – indeed, I wonder if the numbers will not be forthcoming and a suspension will follow.

Is there anything Julie “lingerie on expenses” Meyer MBE will not stoop to do? I begin to wonder as yet another shocker lands with Winnileaks. This is from 17 April 2018 as Meyer is desperately trying to raise money but is yet to fess up to her mounting regulatory and legal  problems in Malta which will soon see her lose her licenses to run funds there.

I am the last person to berate the fine folks from my family’s ancestral homelands  of the Kingdom of Ulster or indeed the modern day province. SUFTUM is what I say as I wake up every morning to retweet - with my own comments - @onthisdayPira . But some communities are just perhaps just too tightly knit, too cosy. I refer to the accounting arrangements of First Derivatives (FDP).

Another email arrives at Winnileaks which shows how Julie "Lingerie on Expenses"  Meyer is, not for the first time, running rings around Andrew Duncan of Leonard Curtis who is supposed to have had sole charge of Ariadne Capital Limited since it went into administration on 18 December 2017. But laws are for little people. Julie and her finance gopher Steve Piper were still taking decisions for Ariadne, moving assets out of it and backdating documents to cover their tracks well into 2018. Is Mr Duncan aware of this? Well I have made sure he is now. Surely this is a crime, in this case a £4.5 million one.

It often pays to be wary of companies that haven’t lived up to expectations in the past, but there are exceptions to that if the company fundamentally changes, especially if conditions in the market in which it operates also improves at the same time. 

It’s undoubtedly been a good week for Neil Woodford, with the Autolus IPO getting off to a flying start and I also sense the Stobart tussle is moving in his direction too. Nevertheless, as I’m still in a grump about his shoddy debt non-disclosure last week, I thought I’d have a look through the Woodford Patient Capital Trust (WPCT) portfolio to see what else I could find as he’s always banging on about unicorns hiding in there somewhere.

Writing earlier this month on Surface Transforms (SCE) I warned argues “these results are encouraging”… but looks to be firmly heading to cash crunch ahoy AGAIN!. Now it is “pleased to announce that it has successfully placed 9,000,000 new ordinary shares… at 17 pence per share, raising gross proceeds of £1.53 million”…

Hello Share Twingers. As I'm on the road, I lack my usual research resources. So I'll take the opportunity to review a few philosophical thoughts on that most difficult of shares: IQE (IQE). I'm attending the 50 year celebrations of BBC Radio Leeds, where I was shocked to find that two of my old friends didn't remember me at all. So sad. Dementia I fear.

Previously writing on Xaar (XAR) in November it was “shortfall against previous expectations… largely from fewer than planned new printer installs of Xaar's 2001 Printhead, and slower than anticipated ramp up of the Xaar 1201 Printhead due to supply constraints”. Today a further trading statement…

AIM-listed Advanced Oncotherapy (AVO) released its FY17 numbers this morning. Looking through the numbers presented it is clear that the company was running on fumes last December. We are told that the company is in a stronger financial position since 31^st December 2017 having secured £33.3m of financing post period end, but I wonder how much stronger?

I most recently warned on shares in self-styled “the UK's leading value butcher”, Crawshaw Group (CRAW) HERE. Today an “AGM Trading and Strategic Update”…