Tom Winnifrith described the deal under which AIM-listed E-Therapeutics (ETX) repurchased a company called Searchbolt (having spun it off some while back) as stinking like a pile of rotting kippers at the height of summer. In the event, two directors of E-Therapeutics ended up with (between them) almost 3.4 million shares in the company from the transaction. Now the CEO (who accounted for 3,350,228 of those shares – plus a cash sum to cover capital gains tax) has quit with immediate effect.

My deluded lefty father is sitting in the corner of the room as I record and to keep the old lefty happy I look at who has gained from the Opera Investments (OPRA) omnishambles, what the company is worth and what should be done to stop clusterfucks like this littering the PLC scene.

Tim Martin of pubs chain JD Wetherspoon (JDW) is a Eurosceptic and a man who calls a spade a spade. In today's trading statement he deals with those who lied blatantly in the run up to the referendum. Tim Martin: we at ShareProphets salute you. Personally I find his pubs fairly ghastly but next time I am passing buy I shall pop in and have a drink for Mr Martin toasting you publicly. Does Mr Martin serve ouzo? Tim writes in the RNS: 

Sabien Technology (SNT) has released the update provided at a General Meeting held today. Why the General Meeting? … “to effect a reorganisation of the company's share capital… the nominal value of the company's ordinary share capital needs to be reduced in order to allow the company to issue new ordinary shares should it decide to do so”. Hmmm...

Dealing with the Estate of a family member is a difficult experience at the best of times. Sadly, it is made no easier by some financial institutions which can be very unhelpful indeed. When one considers which firms to use, considerations as to the level of service offered and the costs come to the fore. But what happens after you have gone? How easy will it be for those left to sort out your affairs to deal with it?

Burberry (BRBY) has just issued a first-quarter trading update, which does little to alleviate the sense that trading remains difficult. But the market is also digesting the announcement of a new CEO and management structure, which is arguably much more important than short-term trading results. What does this mean for the shares?

A “Trading & Corporate Update” announcement from cross-border financial services group STM (STM) notes that “in April 2016, management took the decision to waiving the Qualifying Recognised Overseas Pension Scheme establishment fee for an initial trial period of six months, with the aim of driving new client business” and that “good progress has been made in generating these new relationships”. Good, good. You what though?, “the revenues generated within the first half of the year have not matched management's expectations with regards to the level of new business anticipated from our QROPS product”…

Five years ago, the Candy brothers tried to take Metals Exploration (MTL), a promising gold play in the Philippines, private at 13p. Now, at long last, after a super typhoon wrecked its chances of coming on stream last September and the shares hit a 4p nadir in March (when shareholders were obliged to stump up a further $5 million at 3p to keep the project financiers happy), the company looks on the cusp of making serious returns.

Well this doesn't happen very often. In fact, I can't remember the last time I had a morning note drop into my inbox only to find that something was being rated as an outright sell. The usual guff is a series of "speculative buy" ratings (often on things I wouldn't go near). But this morning Beaufort Securities has broken the city's unwritten code of conduct, plunging the knife into recent AIM IPO candidate Hotel Chocolat (HOTC).

For months and months Trinity Exploration (TRIN) has been in default on loans taken out with Citibank. Investors who declined to sell the worthless shares seemed to believe the truism that "If you owe the bank $1 you are in trouble, if you owe $1 million the bank is in trouble" as Citibank - which was actually owed $13 million declined to pull the plug. Until today. Instead of the normal weekly rollover announcement we are told:

A “First Quarter Trading Update” announcement from RhythmOne (RTHM, née blinkx). First section: “Financials… Q1 2017 performance is expected to exceed management expectations”. Ok, let’s take a look at the numbers then. Oh!…

During the past few weeks, I have received a few tweets from someone with the Twitter handle @CraftyOLegit accusing me of writing anti-LGO Energy (LGO) stories on ShareProphets or on various bulletin boards. I tweeted back the first time saying he had me confused with someone else and ignored the rest...

Hello Share Knockers. We are all - or should be - wary of investing in firms which produce fancy stuff for the technology market. Yes, we are only just approaching the frontier for innovation in personal computers, mobile phones, virtual gaming and all the rest of it, but it is still a risky speculation for share shifters like us. You just never know when someone is going to come up with an idea which makes what your company does obsolete. Yet one firm I've been prepared to invest in without losing sleep is ARM Holdings (ARM).

New River Retail (NRR) has issued a strong first quarter trading update which shows continued operation progress at this growing REIT. Even better, Brexit-related share price weakness looks to have created a potential buying opportunity for watchers of the shares.

In the past week I have flagged up two prime examples of why the established financial media is part of the problem of AIM corruption not the solution HERE and HERE. Today the same paper, the Torygraph, serves up a third. I refer you to the market report written by pouting Tara Cunningham ( see below).

1st July 2015: “Orchard Funding Group (ORCH)… is pleased to announce its flotation today on the London Stock Exchange's AIM market… will enable the business to grow to its full potential and become a leading lender in the insurance premium finance and professions finance market”. 14th April 2016: “we are pleased with how the business has grown since flotation”. Today: “the company's trading performance for the current financial year is expected to be below market expectations”. Uh oh…

There are so many Red Flags surrounding ShareProphets AIM-China Filthy Forty Aquatic Foods (AFG) that it is hard to know quite where to start. One could consider the discount to cash, to profits, to assets and wonder why there have been no buy-backs announced just for starters, but there are plenty more to be found HERE. So why have the shares been roofing it?

A short bearcast because of the family situation flagged up yesterday. I start with the election of Theresa May which seems to have pleased the markets BUT NOT ME!. Then I look at Orchard Funding (ORCH), IGAS (IGAS), Avanti Communications (AVN) and Golden Saint Resources (GSR)

AIM-listed cancer-buster ValiRx (VAL) has its EGM today at 11.30am at the offices of DAC Beachcroft LLP, 100 Fetter Lane, London EC4AS 1BN. After shareholders voted to reject a resolution to disapply pre-emption rights at the AGM a couple of weeks back, the company has called a new gathering at which shareholders are being asked to vote on it again with management hoping that this time the shareholders get the answer right. Heck, it works for the EU, so why not here? Update - motion passed, shares down.

Today's assassination with a pen from Zac Phillips at SP Angel is on Premier Oil (PMO) with a stark warning that things may be an awful lot worse than any share price rally might imply. Ouch. Zac writes: