I haven’t written about AIM-listed Vast Resources (VAST) since January, when I said sell  at 0.335p. Well, the stock is now 0.1375p so I guess it is time for an Ouzo – but a director share purchase announcement makes me think it is still a sell.

Here in Wales, all 50 of Tim Martin’s JD Wetherspoon (JDW) pubs are now closed as a reaction to crackpot Mark Drakeford’s latest mad plans. Yet Covid cases are roofing it as never before. Lockdowns do not work and today Tim Martin has issued a statement making it clear why and how badly we are going wrong in the UK. The great man says:

Ascent Resources (AST) has only avoided a crash landing in tits up alley thanks to the provision of death spiral finance by Riverfort Global and Align Research. Essentially, it has sod all cash, its assets in Slovenia it failed to monetize for eons and some joke Cuban assets. At c6p it is capitalised at c£5 million. Given Parsons’ track record as a pump and dumper and value destroyer, only a total poltroon would buy any shares. So step forward… Mr James Parsons.

Little Brian is a comic genius. His company may have been booted off two markets junior to AIM for gargantuan regulatory breaches but USOP, once ramped to £500 million, struggles on raising money as a private company. And so it still issues releases to sucker in more investors. They are a scream. Little Brian has won the highly contested “ShareProphets CEO fantasist of the year” several times in the past few years and with a release today, he must be a very strong contender for 2020.

Updating you all on Union Jack Oil (UJO) last month, we noted on the shares falling to 0.12p on a drilling update from West Newton (Union Jack Oil: 16.665%) that Kirkham Abbey remains very much in play, with the indicated hydrocarbon charge and the location confidence noted on the swift side-track… Initially targeting a recovery to 0.20p+, Buy. That call has been vindicated…

UK Oil & Gas (UKOG), the company (backed by British Investors, but mainly by Turkeys) has now confirmed, at least to me, that the Weald Basin rampathon has all been for nothing. Despite a desperate need for a water injection well at Horse Hill to maintain reservoir pressure and hence production rate, the company is buying unexplored acreage in Turkey with no seismic coverage.

Having previously banked big, quick, gains we again said buy Panther Metals (PALM) in October at a 10.5p offer price, looking for further exploration news upside though also noting risks including the balance sheet. And now recently from the company a placing. Disaster? No way!

Hello, Share Clangers. It’s been a few weeks since I last commended BT Group (BT.A) to your further scrutiny. Since then, the shares have risen by a third. But I don’t think the upward action is over yet. Latest news reminds us that BT, whose presence dominates Blighty’s busy phone world, is also a big global player.

No Advent calendar news today as I had to rush Joshua to his Nursery ahead of his Carol service. And, as I explain, it was the sort of event where you as a parent just want to hug your child. Then it is onto Anglesey Mining (AYM), those A Grade knaves at Iconic (ICON) and a detailed look at the ramptastic news from cash strapped Corero (CNS) and my analysis of why it is a) overvalued and b) going to run out of other folks’ money (again) in Q2 2021.

AIM-listed POS Trafalgar Property (TRAF) has this morning announced interims to September this year, claiming a truly commendable performance and looks forward to the immediate future with a degree of optimism and confidence not felt for a number of years. Goodness me – has Chris Akers missed out by selling then?

I accept that you might justifiably question a minor institution in the Fens which has historically only excelled in the production of homosexual Russian spies. But Cambridge University is not all bad and today it has served up data which should send shivers down the spine of those holding shares in Novacyt (NCYT) or planning to back the luducrous AIM Casino IPO, announced today, of Abingdon Health.

This year a lot of private investors seem to have been focussing on any stocks even loosely associated with Covid, plus those in the tech sector, and more recently mining has also seen a resurgence, gold in particular, but oil and gas has very much remained unloved and out of favour. That gives you a great opportunity and this is no fisherman’s tale…

Worthless Standard listed POS, Iconic (ICON), issued its final results for the year ended 30 June 2020 and they were dire. Truly dire. Unbelievably dire. And this comes after ramptastic RNS after ramptastic RNS penned by toxic Dave Sefton et al saying how well things were going.

Previously writing on neighbourhood retailer McColl’s (MCLS), I concluded with the shares having risen well above 40p that the ‘opportunity’ here has been somewhat reflected with the shares having recovered from below 20p and also above the sub 40p of the start of the year though the news flow continues to suggest it worth looking out for following financials. Today a “Full Year Trading Update”… and the shares currently 15% lower on the back of it to 26.5p. Why?…

Having had an involvement in UK onshore drilling decades ago, I follow the sector with interest, and just occasionally my cash. For some time now Union Jack Oil (UJO) has seen me invest and cross my fingers. West Newton has really interested me. Today’s news on the WN-B1Z drill results is a further very positive result, for what could be an exceptional find.

Nicholas Mertin is the founder of Digifox a digital finance platform and DataDash, the largest cryptocurrency YouTube channel is talking his own book here. But as we have a few bitcoin nutters on this website, as well as the legion of gold bugs headed up by comrade Somerville,  here is something for you.

Corero Network Security (CNS) has made an “Order Intake” update, emphasising “positive progression… reflected in the associated order intake of more than $3 million in the first two months of the final quarter of 2020” – and the shares have currently responded to 9.5p, more than 15% higher. Does this look justified?…

A reader of this website who I have known for many years and who is a truthful and honest man is a client of Hargreaves Lansdown (HL).  Poor man. He was advised, falsely, by Hargreaves that if he wished to convert Golden Prospect subscription shares (GPS) into Golden Prospect ordinafries (GPM), he had to notify the company by 31 October.  Hargreaves then claimed, again falsely, that this date had been extended.

Simec Atlantis Energy (SAE) updated the markets yesterday on the permitting and consent process for what it describes as its flagship scheme the Uskmouth (Money Pit) Power Station. It confirmed what I have been saying for some time – it’s seriously delayed. The company did not say what has caused the delay and what it means. Let me try to help.

Hello, Share Seekers. My favourite housebuilder, Berkeley Group (BKG) isn’t doing too badly given the disrupted year all builders have experienced thanks to the virus. It’s announced that first-half revenue was only down by 3.8%, to £895.9 million. It could have been much worse, but the virus has, rather perversely, caused house prices to rise which offset most of the damage.