Hello Share Players. Despite the Footsie’s lack of progress, quite a few members are posting encouraging numbers. They include Reckitt Benckiser (RKT). In the first half of this year, its like-for-like sales improved by 8.6%. Revenue was up by 2.2% and, more importantly, underlying operating profit increased by a fifth to £1.8 billion.

Premium UK cinemas group Everyman Media (EMAN) has announced “record half year sales and EBITDA… the pipeline for H2 2022 and 2023 is well progressed with a minimum of six further venues contracted to open”. So what of the shares currently moving up to 111p?

Golden rules of AIM, Number 34: If there is a 'y' in the day, Lyin’ Steve Sanderson is either pumping or dumping. On 20 July, just three weeks after the last ramptastic update from UK Oil & Gas (UKOG), came a full operational update.

Pray for poor Jackie Louise Cope for she is a moron, an obsessive and a fantasist. Her twitter line is full of tweets giving folks, generally utterly spurious, reasons to buy shares in Union Jack Oil & Gas (UJO). I fear that she is obsessive for she seems almost one track minded. Please Jackie go and do something interesting for once. Go get a life! Take up pilates. Learn vegetarian cooking. Go to the boozer. Do something different to break your rather sad routine!

Describing itself as “a leading provider of technology and services for the global offshore energy markets”, Tekmar Group (TGP) has announced “a significant new contract award to supply 100 Cable Protection Systems for use on multiple offshore wind farms in the Shangdong and Guangdong provinces of China”. What of a current more than 5% higher share price response to 11.375p?

Writer, Robert Moriarty, is a cheerful bear. He discusses the capital destruction that has occurred within both the cryptocurrency and stock markets. He believes crypto is analogous to beanie babies, due to the number of different currencies.

I have written to the FCA, which is the regulator - no sniggering at the back, please - of companies on the (sub) Standard List, like the fraud, Supply@ME Capital (SYME). A statement is now overdue, for clarification of whether or not its boss, Alessandro Zamboni, has covertly dumped shares.

Previously writing on construction software company Eleco (ELCO), in May with the shares down to 88.5p I concluded that the valuation didn’t look to discount the risks and thus still avoid / sell. What though now with the shares last closing at 70p and a trading update the company states it “is pleased to provide”?

The answer to the question is that they don’t because the old ways of blowing up their balance sheets already work jolly well.  And that brings us to musicMagpie (MMAG) a company with a proven fraudster one missed heartbeat from the helm, which has no real USP, which has deceived its investors and is burning cash. Great! That sounds like just the sort of company a bankster would want to do business with as we enter a recession. Coke and hookers all round. Today we learn that NatWest and HSBC have offered it a three year RCF, an overdraft for corporates And boy will music need that cash.

I start with the business, the spoofs at shamed Union Jack Oil (UJO) and Hydrogen Utopia (HUI), where the Aquis DOM of the year is yanking your chain.  Then, onto today's appalling trading statement from Parsley Box (MEAL). I run you through the implied maths, rather than its adjusted EBITDA and other fantasies, demonstrating why by this time next year, it will have gone bust.  It is a zero, however much the bird in charge protests otherwise. Target price 0p by July 2023.

Hello Share Tasters. The number of folks eating away from home is growing. Just look around your high street to see that. After the lockdowns it seems everyone has missed the joys of not doing their own cooking. One company which is benefitting from this trend is Compass Group (CPG). A latest trading statement, for its third quarter, seems to show that.

MyHealthChecked (MHC) has announced half-year trading “has been stronger than expected and ahead of management budgets”, that increase in COVID-19 infection rates has led to a significant increase in demand for lateral flow test kits in recent weeks and that it is “very pleased” with the feedback around its recently-launched wellness tests – for which it has now also announced availability on Amazon.

Footwear retailer Shoe Zone (SHOE) has announced “trading has been stronger than expected… now expects adjusted profit before tax for FY 2022 to be not less than £9.5m”. So what of a current share price move up by 3% to 190p?

I start with the Tory leadership contest. Aren't they both awful?  Then, I discuss chatting to a whistleblower. After that, it is onto Reach (RCH), Toople (TOOP ) - surely the FCA must act - Wickes (WIX), Made.com (MADE) and the fraud, Supply@ME Capital (SYME).

It gives me no pleasure seeing companies heading toward bankruptcy. I do not care about institutional investors losing money. I feel some sympathy for private investors, almost certainly roped in by some newspaper tipster or those pushing low grade broker research. But I do feen genuinely sorry for staff and suppliers who will have their lives turned upside down. That6 brings us to Made.com (MADE).

Toople (TOOP) has always been a dog with fleas and anyone owning the shares, down another 28% today to 0.021p has only themselves to blame – the loss since launch is now 99.75%.  But today’s statement seems to contain an admission of an obvious and monstrous lie told in an RNS before Christmas. Is low life adviser Novum happy with its clients lying to investors? I suspect it doesn't care as long as it is paid but I'd hope that the FCA would care.

Mobile data computing and managed services to industry company Touchstar (TST) noted in April-announced results “short-term prospects are being tempered somewhat by a level of inactivity which we believe is a momentary reaction to the present economic and global uncertainty, with some orders being held up”. So what now of a half-year trading update?

I hope you enjoyed a nice start to the week because - if you are an investment markets follower - it is going to get really busy. All good usual late July fun then. I guess I should start with easyJet (EZJ), a company I have become royally hacked off with ever since the cancellation of my flight back home with it in early July.

Describing itself as “a leading provider of real-time, high-performance, automatic Distributed Denial of Service cyber defense solutions”, Corero Network Security (CNS) has issued a half-year trading update it states it “is pleased to provide”. So why currently a more than 8.5% lower share price response towards 10p?

AIM-listed Gold producer Ariana (AAU) has announced the approval of a new exploration licence to  75%-owned Western Tethyan Resources (WTR). This is, of course, good news – even if it is not the news I really want to see.