I start with one reason I am thinking of quitting running businesses: folks who say that they will do something and then don't do it, letting you down. I have had two this weekend and it is just poor behaviour, very tiring and something that bores me. Then it is onto discussing a crap headline article in the Sunday Telegraph on Interserve (IURV) and another on Carillion (CLLN) before my main subject - my 22 hour trip home from Greece. EazyJet you are bastards and this is why I loathe, despite and pity you for being lying scumbags.

Following the sad demise of Beaufort Securities yesterday one chap looking for a new job is Gavin Burnell, the man who brought the fraud Globo to market and made a killing as one of its NEDS, the man who brought you uber dog Magnolia and whose CV is a resume of shareholder value destruction. Natch he was an obvious candidate to work in corporate broking at a place like Belfort but where will shamed Burnell go next? You can win a bottle of champagne in our new prize contest.

I dropped Tom a note immediately upon seeing the great looking Ipsos funding deal with Big Sofa Technologies (BST) on Friday morning saying that it looked like good news. He followed up immediately with a demand for a grovelling apology. Being a reasonable sort, I thought I had better do the decent thing and give him as fulsome a one as I can muster from the bottom of the heart.

Almost exactly three years ago, Kibo Mining (KIBO) raised funds from Hume Capital, a couple of weeks before it went into administration still holding the placing proceeds. Somewhat unbelievably, history has repeated itself with Beaufort Securities going into insolvency on Friday. It looks like a right old mess.

I see that Cynical Bear is wallowing in his own apologies today. I’m sorry too – and much sorrier that Cynical - for the update on my 5 shorts is a week late. Still, better late than never. 

Shares in Big Sofa (BST) closed at 12.75p last night. Today we were told that market research giant IPSOS had subscribed for £3 million of new shares at 18.5p to take a 20% stake. This is validation and vindication and you should buy aggressively this morning.

In the latest podcast from Palisade Capital, Florian Siegfried discusses where we are in the gold cycle and that we are past the bottoming in gold. In January 2016 we had the big run up until August, and since then things have been trading sideways. There were significant gains in miners, and some of this sideways action is profit-taking. The overall equity markets have seen good rallies, and the dollar remains weak. There is a disconnect between mining shares and the price of gold. We need to see fresh money rotate into gold stocks.

From the FCA's spreadsheet of short positions required to be disclosed to it, the following shows the shorted AIM shares with positions from 2017 and thus far in 2018 (by net short position %) - and if this position has increased (red), reduced (green) or remained unchanged (black) since last week...

Is this why the FCA put Beaufort into special administration today? Not only is it insolvent but here is a press release from New York. Ouch.

Hello, Share Chewers. I bought many of my IQE (IQE) shares at around 20p. I saw them rise to 140p. But after reading disparaging comments by Uncle Tom, I sold three-quarters of the holding. Sadly, the remaining quarter fell to 104p a few weeks ago.

Having asked for readers tips for 2018 for the amazing prize of a meal with Tom Winnifrith (or the chance to fob it off on someone you don't like) HERE, the following is a monthly update on performance (to be eligible needed to have selected, on a per username basis, a buy & sell pick from the LSE or AIM Casino and the stocks not to have been suspended at the commencement of 2018)...

AIM-listed Karelian Diamonds suddenly seems to have a bit of a problem. Its broker, Beaufort Securities, is now in administration and deemed (by the FCA) to be insolvent. But Karelian has a big hole in it’s balance sheet, as explained HERE.

Tom Winnifrith and Cynical Bear have been battling it out over AIM-listed Big Sofa (BST) for a fair while. Cynical worries about the company running short of cash, Tom is interested in the growth and points to the fact that Sofa is about to turn profitable (according to the company). In the middle of all this, I have a few shares myself and have been wondering what to do (and so did nothing!)

Previously writing on Mothercare (MTC) it was with its shares having fallen to circa 70p in November, with I concluding “Profit warning ahoy! - this all suggesting prior forecasts of building slightly on last year’s full-year profit (£7.1 million, £19.7 million on an ‘adjusted’ basis) now in tatters and the balance sheet position potentially becoming precarious to boot. Sell”. Now a 12 noon Share price movement and media speculation announcement…

I leave Kalamata shortly but when I get to Athens will there be a flight to take me home to Bristol or will I be dossing down at the Sofitel until the next flight on Monday? As I ponder that matter I consider the great news for we shareholders from Big Sofa (BST) and the real import of today's shocking news that Beaufort Securities has gone tits up. Postscript from Kalamata bus station: Bristol flights have been cancelled. With frightening efficiency I have transferred to a Gatwick flight. I am now working out how to get from Gatwick to Bristol in the middle of the night.

Previously writing on OneView Group (ONEV), it was ramptastic “Commencement of Australia Post Project” RNS. Wonder why? This week has now seen Short Term Loan Facility and CEO Appointment announcements…

Back in August I wondered if advertising behemoth WPP's (WPP) name stood for 'What Profit Progression'. Well I got that bit correct judging by yesterday's results which were truly shabby with like-for-like full year revenue declines, a pulling back of medium-term growth hopes and rather desultory profit progression. No wonder the shares were down 8%, apparently their worst day this century. That hardly reflects the zip of the 'Mad Men' view of the advertising industry, more the drudgery of a new world where the big corporations are probing and prodding more their advertising spend.

I gather that at least one critic of the current management at Pathfinder Minerals (PFP) has now received a lawyers letter in an attempt to gag him. So when the company last passed the hat around did it say that it would use the cash to hire expensive lawyers to attack those who had the nerve to question discredited boss Nick Trew and pompous Tory Toff MP NED Sir Henry Bellingham of the fraud 3DM infamy? Feeling rather left out I have an explosive letter below which alledges that Pathfinder is again misleading investors.

Its troubles started with a rogue salesman last year. Beaufort fessed up and compensated clients but the FCA insisted on a total overhaul of its compliance systems and clients found themselves unable to withdraw cash for a while. Broking is a tough business anyway with the staff demanding the fat via bonuses in good years and the shareholders picking up the tab in bad years. And so that run in with the FCA was the straw that broke this camel's back. The FCA said it feared Beaufort was insolvent and so...