On the surface, Neil Woodford has had quite a good week. Well, apart from the after-hours shock of another write-down in an un-named asset held by WPCT (and presumably his Equity Income Fund, WEIF). Not to mention grim results from Oxford Nanopore snuck out yesterday and the continued suspension of Eddie Stobart (ESL). And not forgetting the additional £12.5 million he has had to find from WEIF for the totally illiquid, unprofitable, non-dividend-paying Rutherford Health (RUTH, formerly Proton Partners) when he is supposed to be repositioning WEIF towards FTSE100 stocks. And we are yet to hear from Verseon (VERS) and Xeros (XSG) in relation to how funding rounds are going. No, apart from all that, he’s had a good week – relatively speaking.

Since they were launched by the John Major government in 1995, Venture Capital Trusts (VCTs), which are closed end investment trusts that provide finance for small and growing unquoted UK companies, and which are listed on the main market, have given investors a bumpy ride. The tax breaks remain generous, albeit not as generous as they were initially, and some of the now-established generalist ones have provided and continue to provide investors with a steady income from tax-free dividends with relatively low risk, whilst most of the worst ones have fallen by the wayside, taking a large chunk of investors’ money with them. I remain, broadly, a fan but there are still some appalling examples of around.

Oxford Nanopore is the flagship unquoted in the Neil Woodford portfolio both at EIF and WPCT. Yesterdaty it snuck out red flag strewn results and on a number of counts this looks utterly grim for Nomates.

I despair at the stupidity of some investors. I detailed earlier a series of threatening and frankly idiotic tweets from Iconic (ICON) shareholders to me encouraging me to stop doing my job, with threats and abuse. But one moron stands out for his stupidity.

I like Jordan Roy-Byrne’s analysis – even though he’s a technical analyst. Part of that is because he doesn’t draw magic squiggly lines and predict what the CEO of a company will have for breakfast next Tuesday. Part of it, however, is that he’s not just a technical analyst – he learns from history too (something I wish the great and the good at Westminster would follow), and looks at fundamentals too. So with all the gold so-called experts seemingly in mega-bull mode (and we’ve featured a good many on ShareProphets), for balance I thought I would share some of his thinking, because he’s no bull right now – although be in no doubt, he is in the longer term.

From the FCA's spreadsheet of short positions required to be disclosed to it, the following shows the shorted AIM shares with positions from 2018 and thus far in 2019 (by net short position %, those in bold not on the list at the start of 2019) – and if this position has increased (red), reduced (green) or remained unchanged (black) since last week...

Anyone who owns shares in a company that tells demonstrable porkies, via RNS, is by definition a moron. And, after events this week, that clearly includes shareholders in Iconic Labs (ICON). But they do not like the demonstrable falings of Iconic being pointed out to them and a small band of lunatics have taken to twitter to attack me.

Previously writing on Tex Holdings (TXH), in April I noted from two weeks ago bank covenants breach partially caused by accounting change… to now, no it isn’t!. Now a Friday 2:23pm “Prop Related Party Transaction Transfer of Listing” announcement. Hmmm…

I’ve already waved bye-bye to Haydale (HAYD) when it collapsed earlier this year on a massively discounted rescue refinancing – as long predicted by yours truly – saw me call it a win. Now it seems that Walcom (WALG) is finally heading for the corporate knackers’ yard next month, unless some miracle happens and the shares are down to just 0.25p. That will be two out of five if/when (with emphasis on the when) it happens. All hail the ShareProphets AIM-China Filthy Forty, from where it made this year’s sell list.

Hello, Share Smackers. Keeping a careful watch on your shares is a complete waste of time. Yes, I know a lot of folks will throw their hands up in horror at this view. Most serious analysts stress that we should keep all our companies under constant review.

Writing on self-styled “pioneer in solid-state battery technology” Ilika (IKA) earlier this week I noted more ramptastic stuff from long-time loss-making Purdy & the bonus people. Now a “Bonus Share Options, Exercise of Options & TVR” announcement. Who are these ‘bonus share options’ for then?...

So much for the #BoycottWetherspoon campaign. Its value pricing and support for British products and democracy are serving it well. Full Year numbers out today impressed (despite the Boycott campaign sales went up by 7.4%). And chairman Tim Martin again stepped up to the plate and is our hero of the day for sticking it to the elitists who wish to block Brexit because they know better than we dirty 17.4 million plebs. The great man, Tim, opines:  

As it is a Friday, a short quiz. How many of the following do you recognise: 'Teksta, Chill Factor, The Zelfs, Doctor Who, Peppa Pig, Fireman Sam, Postman Pat'? If you got more than four...then clearly you have a young child in the house as these are some of the key brands for toys company Character Group (CCT)…

There is some macro babble focussing on the woes of the EuroZone, why Malcolm is wrong about housebuilders and other matters. I look at Woodford Patient Capital Trust (WPCT) after yesterday evening's shock news and ask when it breaches gearing limits and what happens next. I touch on i3 Energy (i3E) then look at the shock departure of Dave Sefton from Anglo African Oil & Gas (AAOG). He should have been fired sooner and what happens next? And what does this mean for Iconic (ICON) which I mistakenly refer to by its former name of Widecells and where Sefton still casts his malign influence as a director.

Yesterday the FTSE All-Share – Neil Woodford’s benchmark for his Equity Income and Income Focus funds – was more or less flat. Income Focus put on 0.11% in NAV per unit, but Equity Income lost an impressive 2.09% to take it back down to £3.1 billion of assets. Over at WPCT we had after-hours news at twenty past six in the evening of yet another write-down (an un-named company) which knocked 5.5% off NAV as the bad news kept on rolling. But in the wake of a lending facility, Oslobors-listed Thin Film (THIN) shot higher and Woodford offloaded his remaining holding into the rise as announced at no-one-is-watching o’clock last night (twelve minutes past five).

I3Energy (I3E) has caused Gary Newman and then I to comment. It’s also caused the Nomad and Broker WH Ireland to comment. I called for the company to clarify what the heck was going on and it looks like WH Ireland agrees with me- it seems to have no more idea than I do! How can the company’s nomad and broker decline to put any value on the equity? Perhaps fair equity value is less than the debt? What a farce!

Link Fund Solutions is, we are told, responsible for the valuation of Woodford Patient Capital’s (WPCT) portfolio of unlisted and other dogs, with the help of valuation firm IHS Markit. Since the gating of Neil Woodford’s Equity Income Fund (WEIF), Link has got its hatchet out several times and the official NAV per share of WPCT has dropped sharply from 89.61p as at the end of May to yesterday’s lowly figure (as at the close of play on Thursday) of just 72.85p. The last notified hacking was on 23 August (Industrial Heat) and saw 3.4p per share wiped away at the stroke of a pen. Last night at no-one-is-watching o’clock (6.20pm) another 4p disappeared from view. It is death by a thousand cuts.

I’ve never been able to see any value in Catenae Innovation (CTEA) and haven’t been surprised to see the share price collapse, but an attempt to give it a pump now seems to be underway – which I’d expect given that a placing can’t be that far away!

Earlier this month, it was from ProPhotonix (PPIX) new laser diode ‘delight’, but it’s an RNS Reach… – I noting no financial information provided having previously questioned the company’s financial strength. Now another such announcement…

Hello Share Chasers. My series of recommendations to buy into house building expands today to take in Bovis Homes (BVS). Yes, there are doubters - including some on this legendary website - but builders continue to post encouraging numbers and Bovis is the latest firm to improve. And yet the share price initially fell on its half-year results...