‘Digital value retailer’ Studio Retail Group (STU) commences a trading statement with “Improved performance on Black Friday and in Christmas period”. The shares are currently at 97p in response to the announcement, 39% lower! So what’s going on?…

It is going to be a busy week. Even beyond the world of US tech giants, there are loads of UK stocks reporting including Shell, BT Group (BT.A) and Vodafone (VOD), with the latter having a bunch of (overly) excitable new active investor chat. Who said the FTSE 100 was boring…(although for various reasons it has been a shabby performer for the last decade or so, but obviously what always really matters is tomorrow and not yesterday). Later in the week the Bank of England will be giving an update where a further interest rate increase is surely highly likely. And of course that makes the importance of corporate analysis even more important, which brings me today to Porvair (PRV).

Shares in Chill Brands (CHLL) were 76p when I published that 60 red flag dossier last February – they are today at just 9.25p, the lowest since July 2020. They are falling sharply again today on the back of Friday’s interims which showed sales in the six months to September 30 which were only about half the level of sales already announced in three separate RNS statements covering the same period. I have again written to the FCA.

On Friday I reported that Omega Diagnostics (ODX) was sounding out folks about a deeply discounted bailout placing, at as low as 5p. This was not speculation, this was not guesswork. I had a source. This is what is called good journalism, a scoop, printing something of note that the subject does not want to read. Today Omega ‘fessed up but, natch, it also deceived.

Hello Share Collectors. This old punter has long thought the company that invents the everlasting battery would find overnight it had the fastest growing share of all time. But like the indestructible tyre, that’s probably not going to happen. Nevertheless, a company which specialises in longer-lasting giant batteries could be worth a look.

I start with the Carrie Antoinette “victory party” a few weeks after my dad’s funeral.This is the final straw at so many levels. Then I move onto news that the FCA staff are balloting on strike action over plans to scrap their bonuses. Then to lessons learned from the Novacyt (NCYT) scandal – where I did warn you! The chief lesson is that poor corporate governance often goes hand in hand with poor share price performance. I discuss ADVFN (AFN) in this vein.

I have warned you time and time again that Novacyt (NCYT) was a ramp with the sole purpose of allowing now departed CEO Graham Mullis to trouser an enormous cash bonus based on the share price on just one day. In the end Mullis trousered £8.5 million but, last week, Private Eye served up a great article showing how the company has a cultrure of lying and fabrication and, had investors known the truth about tests that did not work or which were contaminated, Mullis would be far less well off than he is today. This is a scandal and the ramifications could be very serious. Potentially a claim by the DHSC could wipe out most of this  company’s balance sheet (cash of £100million) with ongoing cash burn now that sales of its covid tests are evaporating, taking out the rest. This remains a bargepole stock/short.  The article is below. 

Following on from Evil Banksta’s most excellent article on Friday about the £640 million joke at Eurasia Mining (EUA)  it is quite clear that Nomad SP Angel does not give a FF about its clients shares being remotely orderly in its markets as we have seen with the scandals at the MySquar (MYSQ) fraud and at BlueJay Mining (JAY) where Angel pumped the stock aggressively so it could dump its own shares on mug punters. I have therefore written to the Oxymorons at AIM Regulation suggesting that it force an announcement

Broadcast and streaming service markets technology group Pebble Beach Systems (PEB) has announced that it “expects to report results ahead of market expectations for the full year 2021” and “underlying order growth was circa 17%, with H2 14% higher than H1”. This sounds like good news although the shares at a 12.5p offer are unchnaged on our original share tip of four months ago. For now!

Origo Partners (OPP) was a member of the ShareProphets AIM-China Filthy Forty and is one of the last handful still standing. It was an investment company and lost almost all of the shareholders’ funds as the nest of snakes that was running it made, ahem, questionable investments which either collapsed or just disappeared. In 2017 current Chairman, Mr John Chapman, arrived and the previous board – and Nomad, Smith & Williamson – were given the boot as the past was revealed in all its horrific glory, alongside a series of major write-downs or just write-offs as Mr Chapman applied some common sense to the stated NAV, and in some cases just bothered to find out what the company had bought (if anything at all). But last week came some good news….

Here are five long reads that have nothing to do with shares. Put the kettle on, find a comfy chair. You have the time, don’t you? 
 

We have had a boat-load of news from my Gold shares, so here is a round-up of my take on the latest developments from fully-listed Centamin (CEY), AIM-listed Ariana Resources, Standard-listed Panther Metals (PALM) and fully-listed investment company Golden Prospect (GPM).

Grab a cup of tea, sit back, and test your knowledge against the other ShareProphets members. Write your score in the comments, there are no prizes, and most important of all – no Googling!

These are the most-read articles and most listened-to Bearcasts of the week. The most-read non-Tom is Eurasia Mining: It’s Time to Fess Up and Tell the Truth SP Angel! by Evil Banksta at Number 8 ornumber 15 including bearcasts.

Building services company T Clarke (CTO) has published a year-end trading statement including that 2021 “in line with its expectations” and, having expanded its business, “many more opportunities across all market sectors”.

I start with a weather report then consider Diageo (DGE) in light of Chris Bailey’s mea culpa bull piece earlier. I am not sure that I agree with him. Then I look at THG (THG) where an £8 million share dump by a PDMR announced on Friday shows why the bears were right and are still right. Steven Whitehead knows far more about share valuations than Tory Boy poseur and A Grade bullshitter Matt Moulding.,

You should never mind a bit of hindsight from the 0.001% of people who did something a bit bonkers and made a fortune. I guess I should have theoretically invested a couple of thousand quid in bitcoin eight or ten years ago and would now look like a genius.  Whilst I am sure there are a few people who have made themselves absolute fortunes this way, I reckon 99% of people who did buy a few bitcoin back then, probably did not make much money (even if they could log into their electronic link successfully). Famously I sold my ASOS (ASC) shares a gazillion years ago after doubling my money, which was not very smart from the perspective of where the shares ended up fifteen years or so later. I am still living and learning 26 years into my actual investment life.  And that brings me back to Diageo (DGE) which had its latest numbers last Thursday…

So the result of last week was that the Fed didn’t hike rates (but essentially said it would next time) and Gold slipped back below $1800, having been knocking at the door of $1850 resistance until then. The yellow metal closed the week at $1792, having pushed as low as $1780 in the…er….disappointment.

Yes it is a parody. But quite a funny one.

Seed Innovations (SEED) has noted an announcement from portfolio company Little Green Pharma (ASX:LGP) emphasising “record quarterly revenue and cash-receipts, with ~$3.7 million revenue (unaudited) and $4.9 million in cash receipts” and that it is looking forward to a positive 2022 from Little Green Pharma with further progress and news flow.