Bluebird Merchant Ventures (BMV) has updated including “there is little doubt that the programme for Kochang has been accelerated in the past week and that the potential to complete the transition to a Joint Venture could be completed within the next six months resulting in a decision to move into construction of the mine. This also allows the company to expand its programme on the far larger project at Gubong which still has the potential for a company maker”.

Over the weekend the extraordinary tweet below was sent by UK Oil & Gas (UKOG). Was it approved by its poltroon of a Nomad James Joyce of WH Ireland? Methinks not. In light of its content a responsible Nomad would be resigning or at the least forcing a statement. But not this one.

I have been a long term bear of Mothercare (MTC) on the simple basis that I do not see it as having a USP any more. It is a pointless dinosaur like Toys R' Us. The latter is already toast as of last week, the most recent trading statement from Mothercare indicates that it will go the same way.

Even though the event is still more than 7 weeks away on April 21, the Global Group UK Investor Show is now more than 60% booked out - we have never seen demand like this in 17 years. 

Hello, Share Tickers. Search the financial pages as I might, I could find no mention that Beaufort Securities has fallen into liquidation. It seems that to the press, the BBC et al, the fact that a broker with 20,000 private clients goes bust doesn’t count for anything.

Thanks to our Winnileaks service we can bring you a letter sent to AIM Regulation this week regarding Andalas Energy (ADL) the AIM listed POS which is almost certainly insolvent. The letter is detailed and is below:

Either iii readers are thick and so sent in the daftest softest questions to Neil Woodford or thiis just another blow job paid for interview. Where are the tough questions about disastrous performance, investing in companies that need to break the laws of phsyics, Capita, Provident Financial, The AA, related party deals, RM2, the list goes on and on. If successful fund management is a balance between arraogance and humility it, perhaps, explains why smug Nomates Neil is doing so badly. Get the sick bag ready and watch below...

I see that today’s Telegraph is reporting that Emerald Investment Partners (and the man behind it, Alan McIntosh) in emerging as a key player in the refinancing discussion of fully-listed Interserve (IRV). We are told that Emerald has pledged to back the refinancing, which is very good news. The last thing we want to see is another Carillion-style collapse. 

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.