Each January, AIM-listed Verditek (VDTK) - chaired by Tory toff, Lord David Willetts - would issue a trading statement, covering the calendar year. It was never anything to write home about, as, despite announcing huge orders ahead of a discounted placing, none would turn into actual er….orders. So, this was typically a January confessional. But in 2022, there was no trading statement.
First, there was Atlas' pledge not to dump any more shares - which it immediately did. Then came the idea that it had cleared its death spiral debt, with the buried-deep-in-the-release admission that it had taken out another. Spoof two! Today, Vast Resources (VAST) becomes a hat-trick hero in the AIM sewer hall of infamy.
On Monday 16 May at 7.40 AM, shares in AIM listed Bulletin board darling Eurasia Mining (EUA) were temporarily suspended at just under 8p “pending an announcement.” At 6.18PM on Tuesday 17th (today) came that announcement. Eurasia “confirms it has no material new developments to notify” and so trading will resume on Wednesday 18th. So the shares were suspended for two days for an announcement that nothing had changed. That is insane. It gets more insane.
Naughty, naughty Nomad Liam Murray of Cairn Financial for signing off on today’s release from AIM perma-dog Catenae (CTEA) for it is only a partial ‘fess up. With the shares already suspended for failing to gt accounts out for the yar to September 30 2021, things look truly grim.
Vast Resources (VAST) is blessed with having the dumbest investors going. They fell for the last spoof RNS which, in a just world, would see the issuers banned from the markets, and bid the (worthless) shares up to 2.4p. Today there is a new monster spoof and the shares are 56% up to 1.3p offering the bears another chance for a slam dunk free short. The company says it has refinanced its Atlas death spiral leading the "marks" to assume that there is no more death spiral overhang. But buried at the bottom of the release is ????
These are the most-read articles and most listened-to Bearcasts of the week. The most read non-Tom article is Ferrexpo looks like a good recovery buy with large upside as long as its operations in Ukraine continue uninterrupted by Gary Newman at a sexy Number Six or Number 11 if you include Bearcasts.
Today's shocking news is not evidence of illegal behaviour, I am told by a member of the death spiral community. I am not so sure. But investors were indeed deceived by Vast Resources (VAST), Atlas and Beaumont Cornish, which signed off on the May 3 release. The incident brings “the world’s most successful growth market” into disrepute, and I have written to Marcus Stuttard, the bogus Sheriff and head of the Oxymorons at AIM Regulation, urging him to investigate possible illegality and to censure all those involved.
Apparently the charmer below was discovered yesterday in a hut in the village where a senior AIM geologist is on site right now. I invite you, to consider what you see and supply a suitable caption for the photo in the comments section below. I shall kick off with:
First thing this morning AIM-listed Trafalgar Property (TRAF) announced a board appointment, and the shares shot out of the traps like rocket on speed, trebling in the first two hours of trading. The excitement was to do with the arrival of Dr Paul Francis Challinor as an executive director. Dr Challinor specialises in indoor hydroponic vertical farming – so the tomatoes-in-test-tubes have returned!
After my weekend revelations, following on from Friday’s bombshell admission of rank dishonesty, I had expected Kinovo (KINO) shares to be suspended by now. For those weekend reports suggest that, very soon, the company will be reliant on its banks for its survival. I have written to the Oxymorons at AIM Regulation, about what is a major scandal of non-disclosure.
I commented on April 22nd that AIM-listed Pure Gold (PUR), also of the Toronto parish (PGM), in the wake of the admission that without bailout funding it would essentially be toast, that you should take advantage of the market’s stupidity (in marking the shares up to 15.75p) and sell, and that it would be lucky to raise money at more than 10p. And so this morning……
Aquis listed VSA Capital (VSA) makes its dosh floating and raising money for shitty little companies on AIM, the Sub Standard List and Aquis. The photo below, from yesterday, shows its staff preparing to party in the sun. So, with a prize of some worthless shares in star VSA float AIQ Limited (AIQ), let's all play "spot the customer's yachts."
I can’t say I’ve followed the affairs of ASX-listed (and formerly of the AIM parish) Medusa Mining (ASX:MML) since it departed our shores. But on Monday – for anyone still holding – the company is changing its name to “Ten Sixty Four”, ticker X64. So apart from the silly new name, what’s going on?
A note out on 26th April 2022 from AIM-listed Origo Partners (OPP)updated its long suffering followers that its shares would be suspended from the month end, as its Nomad, Arden Partners, was being acquired and was giving up on the Nomad business. But since the asset disposal programme was almost finished, the company advised that it was not looking for a replacement. So as of 30 May 2022 Origo’s career of the AIM Casino will be history.
Surely, AIM Regulation must publicly censure Kinovo (KINO), and possibly its Nomad and broker, Canaccord Genuity. One - or both - of them has grotesquely misled investors to the tune of £8 million and rising, only fessing up to the scale of that deception today, which has sent the shares tumbling.
Having previously attempted regime change at Iofina (IOF), the self style Brexit bad boy Arron Banks cannot be considered a passive shareholder. And hence this tweet from him yesterday has seen Iofina shares nudge higher. Arron you are such a tease. But doesn't flagging up that you are up to something make you a bit of an AIM bad boy?
Whilst Aston Martin Lagonda (AML) shareholders may be pleased that their shares are up over 6% today, it still remains a comedy investment. I am sure the cars are very nice but despite all the chat about 2022 guidance maintained and a “successfully launched DBX707 ahead of Q2 deliveries”, the reality is still centred on losses and higher net debt levels. It remains a car company controlled largely by the rich for the rich. Despite the wealth of its Chairman and the 92% share price fall since its most recent IPO in 2018, it remains an avoid for me (at many levels). So if fast and flashy cars are not really my thing, what about the “premium lifestyle brand and group with an authentic heritage and values of family, fun and joy in the countryside” offering of Joules Group (JOUL)?.
No doubt the ESG loon fund manager mates of Chris Bailey will be gagging to invest in Quob Park,the new venture of Quindell fraudster Rob Terry, becuaseshowing his commitment to diversity, Rob now confirms his correct pronouns to folks who follow him on Linkedin. Rob is "he, him" for the avoidance of doubt, as you can see below. And showing that crime does pay, Knob Park is booming and hiring. I can't wait for the AIM IPO.
First thing yesterday morning shares in Love Hemp (LIFE) the pot play backed by boxer Anthony Joshua saw its shares suspended. At 4.35 PM it fessed to the grisly truth: it had lied about a fund raise announced on 8 February. But then it carried on lying. No wonder, adviser Peterhouse has resigned.
AIM-listed Greek Holiday resort developer Minoan (MIN) released its full-year results to October 2021 last week. It has been a terrible tip as delays and more delays beset a proposed holiday resort at Cavo Sidero in Crete; has there finally been some concrete progress in monetising the asset?
AIM-listed (pro tem) Catenae Innovation (CTEA) updated the market this morning over its suspension from trading due to the non-appearance of its FY account to September 2021. One month down, five to go.
I have already flagged how Canadian Overseas Petroleum (COPL) and Pure Gold (PUR) misled investors, by hiding auditors' warnings. Now, Mkango Resources (MKA) has joined the deceiving club. The FCA, as regulator of the Standard List, must act. I have penned the letter below to Mark Steward at the FCA, and the bogus Sheriff of AIM, Marcus Stuttard.
In today's bearcast I discuss the different regulatory failings of AIM and the Standard List referring to 2 companies worth 0p, Vast Resources (VAST) and the fraud Chill Brands (CHLL) and the lies they tell. I look at Amur Minerals (AMC) and Eurasia Mining (EUA) and in detail at Novacyt (NCYT). I mention Jubilee Metals (JLP) where I am a loyal shareholder.
I have not written on Octagonal (OCT) for some time, as, on 21 January 2021, it delisted from AIM, following the self-imposed suspension of shares on 24 December 2020. In an RNS of the same day, Octagonal’s statement explained that the suspension was requested due to a complaint from the SEC:
Death spiral provider, Atlas, is selling shares as fast as it can, in the hope of reducing its $5.05 million exposure to AIM Listed Vast Resources (VAST). It knows Vast is teetering on the brink, but a source close to the company explains why it is already trading whilst insolvent. He says:
AIM-listed jam-tomorrow IoT investment company Tern plc (TERN) today provided an update in the form of its AGM statement. As ever, it is full of hyperbole but offers few hard numbers. The ShareProphets RNS Translation Service explains all…..
Yesterday, I explained why the extension of the Atlas death spiral - to 31 July - was bad news for AIM sewer-listed company, Vast Resources (VAST). 24 hours later comes a reminder of why I was right. The sequence reads: 1.57, 1.24, 0.86, 0.77, 0.59, 0.48 and now, 0.4p.
The most flea-ridden dog on AIM, Vast Resources (VAST), has served up yet more bad news. Just a year after consolidating its shares on a 100-for-1 basis, they are just 0.38p to sell, more than 95% down on the year. With today’s disaster, another 100-for-1 consolidation beckons. Let me explain.
AIM-listed Advanced Oncotherapy (AVO) has updated the market this morning on progress towards its first fully operational LIGHT system. The news is, for a change, good in that there is no further slippage. But will that last?
Since my last expose of the demining state of affairs at Lombard Capital (LCAP), things have gone from bad to worse. But now, enter stage left a man who was once the 57th richest person in Britain (or not), but then turned out to be a fraudster and was sent to the slammer. It gets better….
Long-term Michael Masterman, of AIM dog W Resources (WRES), has announced that its Nomad, Grant Thornton, and its joint brokers, Alternative Resource Capital and Shard Capital, have all resigned with immediate effect. The question is: did they resign or were they resigned?
As we await the latest heavily discounted bucket shop bailout placing – or worse – from AIM-listed UK Oil & Gas (UKOG), we have already had ramptastic 2D seismic processing from its duff Turkish assets and this morning it was announced that CEO Lyin’ Steve Sanderson has been buying shares. Quick, follow the man……..or not!
On 12th April 2022 AIM-listed Advanced Oncotherapy (AVO) announced an equity fundraise of £1.735 million at 25p a pop – a premium to market, but only at par price. We were told that the fundraise has been conducted through a direct subscription with the Company (the "Subscription") for a total of 6,940,000 new ordinary shares. So the money was in the bank, right? Wrong….
Whether as Strat Aero (AERO), Remote Monitored Systems (RMS) or Nanosynth (NNN), there are a few common threads. For starters, they have repeatedly lied to investors. Then there is the fact that every business bought fails to make any cash.
AIM-listed Haydale (HAYD) issued an RNS Reach this morning to announce that it is celebrating a double award win, with the Group picking up an award at the prestigious 2022 British Engineering Excellence Awards ('BEEAs') and named as a winner of the Kidney Research UK MedTech Competition respectively. But…..
I haven’t commented on AIM-listed Inspirit Energy Holdings (INSP) for some time – not since June 2021 although Tom Winnifrith stuck his boot in over Christmas 2021, identifying a stack of ginormous new Red Flags. But the recent Interims (to 31 December 2021) and yet another breach of the law by the company (presumably at the behest of AIM’s worst FD, Mr Nilesh Jagatia, whose past sins appear to include charging his shopping at Sainsbury’s on a company credit card) drew my attention.
Happy Easter to you and your families. Today's podcast looks at four ways, some very easy indeed, to clean up London's share markets, the AIM sewer and the Standard List. I cannot see any argument against what I suggest, but maybe you can think of a few.
At the end of March, I asked whether or not Michelmersh Brick Holdings (MBH) was a cheap AIM stock. Back then, I concluded that it was probably worth 140p+, which made it cheap, but the day before Good Friday, the company chatted a bit more to market followers. So, what did I make of what “Britain’s Brick Specialists” said?
Whiffy investment company, Asimilar (ASLR), has engaged in numerous Spanish practices, exposed on this website. Anyone owning its shares will, one day, need to lube up and take what is coming to them - it is just a matter of when. Could that time be dawning; could the house of cards be about to collapse?
This marriage of two AIM-sewer-listed companies gets dumber and dumber by the day.
Sleazy Labour peer, Lord Drayson, pocketed an £850,000 bonus for floating Sensyne (SENS) at 175p, despite promising the Nomad he would not be so greedy. Now, three and a half years later, it has all gone horribly Pete Tong. So, will he hand the cash back, as those who backed the IPO prepare to lose, more or less, everything? Today, Drayson has got the order of the boot, and, to survive, shareholders face dilution to high heaven, while the shares will be slung off AIM.
When professional services group, Ince (INCE), announced that it was buying its own, subscale, Nomad Arden Partners (ARDN), I suggested this posed such humungous conflicts of interest that it was a duff deal. Ince, advised by Arden, disagreed. Ho. Ho. Ho.
By the end of April, worthless, deceitful and pointless AIM-sewer-listed Vast Resources (VAST) has promised to refinance its Atlas death spiral with a bunch of Swiss gents. But with $5.5 million outstanding on the loan, the market cap, at 0.625p, down to £2.3 million, and a high risk of bankruptcy, maybe the Swiss are getting cold feet. Hence…
AIM-listed Gold (and Silver) producer in Turkey, Ariana Resources (AAU) has at last updated the market over its second Gold mine at Tavsan. It seems that things are indeed progressing and we are now given to expect mine construction to commence this quarter.
AIM-listed online purveyor of ladieswear, Sosandar (SOS), has released a trading update for its full year to March 31 2022 – and the news is good. Expectations had already been raised, but this morning the company tells us that those newer forecasts have been beaten. So is all rosy in the garden of Sosandar?
These are the most-read articles and most listened-to Bearcasts of the week. The fact that BREAKING: Darren Atwater Resignation letter is the most read article this week quite disturbs me: were ShareProphets readers thrilled or dismayed at the news? (It was, of course, an April Fools.) The most read non-Tom story is Friday news I missed last week from Rolls-Royce and Imperial Brands by Chris Bailey at Number 10 or Number 16 if you include Bearcasts.
It has been a while since a took a look at my Gold stocks so here is an update, including AIM-listed Ariana (AAU), Panther Metals (PALM) of the Standard List and Centamin (CEY) and Golden Prospect (GPM) on the full list.
I commented on the Interims to December from AIM-listed Barkby Group (BARK) yesterday, noting a massive black hole in net current assets to the tune of a whopping £12.4 million. So how is the company paying for this acquisition – and the comprehensive refurbishment by June 2022?
AIM-listed Catenae Innovation (CTEA) was suspended from trading on Friday morning as it was unable to publish its FY21 Accounts to September 30 by deadline day. I can’t say I didn’t warn you – the only surprise is that it has taken this long for a suspension.
A day after its lie-infested results announcement, Wildcat Petroleum (WCAT) has yet to put out a correction. Instead, we are treated to its quarterly newsletter, which might as well be an April Fool, or written from Alice’s Wonderland but instead is authored by “Mr T.C., the virtual representative of Wildcat Petroleum in these times of social distancing & restricted travel”. Jeepers.
It is now two years since His Highness, Sheikh Ahmed Dalmook Al Maktoum, clambered aboard the jam-tomorrow joke that is Oracle Power (ORCP). News of the Sheikh’s involvement saw its shares surge to 1.25p. Last December, he exercised 200 million warrants, meaning he now owns 500 million shares, for which he paid 0.25p each. But Oracle’s share price has flagged a bit of late, as investors have grown mightily tired of its jam-tomorrow coal and gold projects.
As noted back in November, I am a fan of Tate & Lyle (TATE) shares so it is pleasing to see them up 8% odd year-to-date. There are a bunch of reasons for this as I observed nearly five months ago, but the news today is that it’s buying a “leading prebiotic dietary fibre business in China from ChemPartner Pharmatech Co., Ltd for a total consideration of US$237 million”. It is far from a boring thing to do, in fact – for a company which is outsourcing the management of much of its core historic business shortly – it is actually quite interesting to help it access more of the Asian/emerging market world over time. I remain a fan. And what also about James Halstead (JHD), “the AIM listed manufacturer and international distributor of commercial floor coverings”, whose shares are most certainly not up year-to-date?
AIM-listed Barkby Group (BARK) reported its interims to December 2021 yesterday morning. Having picked up on this outfit over Christmas, when it reported diabolical FY results to 1 July 2021 on Christmas Eve – an automatic Red Flag – was there any improvement this time?
Six months ago Malcolm wrote about Michelmersh Brick Holdings (MBH) that “This Brick Maker Makes Hay While the House Boom Shines”. He is absolutely correct at many levels as today’s FY21 results are headed by the observation of “strong performance surpassing record adjusted 2019 financial year and positive momentum into FY22”. So why are its shares down over 13% during the last six months?
Yesterday, I suggested why Stifel pulled the second IPO, and accounted for the shock resignation of CEO Adrian Griffiths – just days before the IPO D-day. An expert investor has written to me with his analysis: he thinks I was on the right lines concerning the bankruptcy of Pure Global Limited – where Griffiths was on the board. He adds, however, far more detail, suggesting the predicament Stifel may have faced, hence its resignation.
OK, we got it wrong over AIM-listed Tern (TERN) and the cost of converting its first round of warrants in Wyld with regard to needing an urgent placing. But the maths still suggests an imminent placing is needed to keep the lights on so whilst we have goofed on the specifics the general point was correct.
Yesterday I revealed that the proposed AIM IPO and £30 million plus a Primary Bid fund raise of Recycling Technologies had been pulled – today we learn that just days before D day the CEO, Adrian Griffiths is to walk. Curiouser and curiouser.
Central Asia Metals (CAML) is one of those companies which I think is consistently undervalued by the market, and although it carries some degree of geo-political risk, I believe that too large a discount is applied for that.
Oh dear, oh, dear. To have your IPO pulled once is understandable, but twice seems like carelessness. Perhaps Nomad Stifel might care to scotch certain rumours doing the rounds.
Reader A alerts me to another player in the nest of related Andy Frangos party snakes: AIM-listed Blue Star Capital (BLU), a grossly overvalued investment company with a curious definition of profit, no cash at all and a barking-mad valuation. What’s not to like?
I have, today, written to both the FCA and the oxymorons at AIM Regulation, on, what seems to me, sure-fire market abuse. The original letter names two AIM Companies and one “social media influencer” (I have redacted the names below). But I understand that the problem is not confined to these two companies and one “social media influencer”, and I am urging the authorities to work together on tackling what seems a growing issue.
It seems my slam-dunk sells for 2022 – AIM-listed Tern plc (TERN), Catenae Innovation (CTEA), Trafalgar Property (TRAF) and URU Metals (URU) along with sub-Standard listed AIQ (AIQ) is set for a very interesting few days ahead which could see disaster strike for at least two of these companies.
AIM-listed jam tomorrow IoT investment company Tern plc (TERN) badly needs to get a fundraise away as the closing date for cashing in its first round of warrants at Wyld, listed on the Nasdaq First North joke market in Stockholm approaches. I reckon it has got at best a couple of weeks and probably only one week before disaster strikes. The only question for me is whether the disaster will be the collapse of Wyld or just a massively discounted bucket shop placing-induced collapse in Tern’s share price.
AIM-listed Advanced Oncotherapy (AVO) finally announced the fundraise that was obviously coming yesterday – at 25p, the nominal price (and the lowest price allowed by law). But the funding round is inadequate and the company will have to return to rattle the tin once again in a couple of months’ time.
Ian Storey was the CFO of musicMagpie (MMAG) from March 2015, becoming the COO when this company joined the AIM sewer last April.Are investors fully aware of his history of cooking the books at one of the biggest FTSE frauds of the past two decades?
It is always a Red Flag for me when a company posts a profit but is burning cash, and that brings me to yesterday’s full year results for 2021 from AIM-listed Yu Group (YU.).
Legal and professional services group Knights (KGH) has announced recent “lower than management’s expectations” performance but, with “cash conversion remains robust, with industry leading lock-up and debtor days”, is a share price response to below 200p, a more than 45% fall, justified?…
News this morning from AIM-listed Gold-producer in Turkey, Ariana Resources (AAU), is that its (currently) 50%-owned investee Venus Minerals is set for an IPO on AIM during Q2. This is very positive, and will surely give Ariana’s shares a boost when completed.
On January 31 Vast Resources (VAST) announced that it had almost replaced its Atlas death spiral with alternative funding, a refinancing. Natch that was grossly misleading! This is Vast after all.
I noted at the beginning of this month that AIM-listed Advanced Oncotherapy (AVO) needs to get a fundraise away pronto, but that its shares were threatening to drop below the nominal price of 25p, below which it cannot issue new shares by law. On Friday the shares closed at 24p (mid) and I would suggest that Advanced – or, rather, its shareholders – have a big problem.
It was announced yesterday that CEO Lyin’ Steve Sanderson of AIM-listed UK Oil and Gas (UKOG) has again been buying shares in the market. But if you think this might be a buying signal, you need your head examining.
AIM-listed Gold producer in Turkey has updated the market this morning with regard to the amount of shiny yellow metal we can expect it, along with its JV colleagues, to produce at the Kiziltepe plant this year. The figure, 25,000 oz, is bang in line with what I was expecting given that the company had already indicated at much a few weeks ago, but it is nice to have the confirmation all the same.
Tom Winnifrith pointed to yesterday morning’s RNS Reach from AIM-listed jam-tomorrow IoT investment company Tern plc (TERN), noting that in effect the investment made was worth around a grand. So even if it was a rampant success it would never make a jot of difference. But not satisfied with that Tern issued another RNS Reach intra-day detailing an internet of things standards project with reference to its biggest investee Device Authority. So was this any more significant?
The on off long term love affair between self-styled “Brexit bad boy” Arron Banks and perennial AIM dog Iofina (IOF) is back on, for reasons he explained to me in a tweet today as his stakebuilding emerged.
Shares in Aim-listed URU Metals (URU) have been on the rise and this morning the company issued an RNS regarding drilling news from 74.8% majority-owned ZEB Nickel, listed in Toronto (ZBNI) regarding the Zebediela Nickel project in South Africa. The RNS is, natch, very positive but I wonder if it really is.
Of course ,for the diehard cultists it will all be different this time. Or next time. Or the year after. But it will not be. A hat tip to reader G for this table of Versarien’s (VRS) track record up to the end of March 2021. When we update it with the next numbers it will look even worse.
As Deepverge (DVRG) burns cash and prepares for this year’s bailout placing, the journalist trolling arse of a CEO Gerry Brandon is playing his usual game of spoofing the morons who comprise his shareholder list and ramping the shares with announcements that are designed to mislead a group of investors with a collective IQ of less than that of a cheese sandwich. Last year Gerry the arse broke AIM Rule 11 with the pre-placing ramp, this year it is more nuanced spoof.
Nomad and broker Finncap (FCAP) led by smug Sam Smith the City’s fave female entrepreneur, so we cannot say anything bad about her company, floated on the AIM Sewer on December 5 2018 at 28p per share. Today, after a ramptastic, but odd, trading statement, the shares are …. 28p to sell, 29p to buy if you are nutso.
Sam runs Finncap (FCAP) which earned vast fees floating Parsley Box (MEAL) at 200p last March. The shares are now 17.5p. As a belated celebration of International Women’s Day I have dropped Sam a note.
Yesterday afternoon at 3.40 PM AIM sewer dog Omega Diagnostics (ODX) stunned the market with news that shareholders had committed financial hara kiri by voting down GM Resolutions to allow the proposed £5.48 million placing and open offer. That was madness, what followed was utter madness.
For most of the last year, AIM-listed jam-tomorrow IoT investment company Tern plc (TERN) has survived because its supporters were truly sold on Tern’s portfolio being worth a multiple of the official NAV per share which allowed Tern to issue more and more shares like there is no tomorrow at a huge premium to NAV per share, even if at massive discounts to the prevailing share price. Until now.
AIM-listed and surely sort of cash Advanced Oncotherapy (AVO) announced yesterday morning that Prof Stephen Myers, executive director and the chairman of ADAM – Advanced’s development team in Geneva – had bought a total of 140,000 shares. At 27.64p (on average) that is £38,700 worth of stock. It sounds quite impressive, but this is certainly not a situation where it is advisable to follow director buying. In fact, I take the opposite view: the shares are a sell.
AIM-listed jam-tomorrow IoT investment company Tern plc (TERN) announced yesterday that it is to participate in the Sure Valley Ventures UK Software Technology Fund, to the tune of an initial £90,000 and a total of £5 million over the next ten years. So where is the money coming from as the deadline for converting Tern’s first round of warrants in Wyld (due at the end of the month) ticks down to an inevitable discounted bucket-shop placing?
AIM-listed Barkby Group (BARK) has announced the completion of a clinical study by Verso Biosense, a minority shareholding of the company. There were, natch, no numbers from this missive from a lookalike of the Adam Reynolds keyboard, so it is hardly an RNS released to inform shareholders…..but then, it is an RNS Reach.
AIM-listed Mediazest (MDZ) announced its full year results to September this morning and the numbers were a horror show. The shares are 18% down as I write, to 0.0775p and there is every reason to expect them to fall further.
Last April 15 musicMagpie (MMAG) joined the AIM sewer at 193p. Today, after publishing its first annual results, a tale of disguised cashburn and a deteriorating outlook the shares trade at just 112p.This is another example of the greed and stupidity of the 2021 IPO bull market. This time it is Peel Hunt which should hang its head in shame.
AIM-listed Advanced Oncotherapy (AVO) has announced that its first proton beam therapy unit at Daresbury has once again been delayed. First it was due in 2021, then the end of 2021, then Q1 2022….now we are told more tests during Q2 and then finalisation of the integration of the remaining high energy accelerating modules and reaching the 230MeV target over the summer. That sounds like Q3 for Mr Godot to finally make an appearance. Or not.
We are (almost) at the end of February and the world appears to have changed very much for the worse. So how are my five slam-dunk sells of Tern plc (TERN), Trafalgar Property (TRAF), URU Metals (URU), Barkby Group (BARK) – all on the AIM Casino – and AIQ (AIQ) of the sub-Standard List doing?
AIM-listed graphene play Haydale (HAYD) announced its interim results to December 2021 this morning and despite the advertised £3.84 million of cash, yet another placing is surely inevitable. Revenues fell from £1.28 million to £1.19 million, pre-tax losses increased from £1.93 million to £2.46 million year on year – what’s not to like? But the real problem is the balance sheet.
AIM-listed jam tomorrow investment company Tern plc (TERN) is desperate for good news to ramp its shares ahead of a bailout placing which looks needed to raise money to keep its end up at Wyld as the deadline to convert the first tranche of listed warrants there falls on April 4th and if my back-of-a-fag-packet is right, the money isn’t there. And that brings me to today’s intra-day RNS…..
As I noted here last week, as things stand that hound from the AIM sewer UK Oil & Gas (UKOG) does not have sufficient cash to pay both its liabilities and its commitments and is burning cash like billy-o. Thus, it needs to ramp its shares aggressively to get away yet another discounted bucket shop placing, something that is imminent. And that brings us to Lyin’ Steve.
I see that shares in AIM-listed Advanced Oncotherapy (AVO) are down to just 26.5p – only a penny and a half above the nominal price. Normally that might not be an issue, but Advanced is a serial non-deliverer of promises and has had to place at regular intervals until now. So what chance a bucket-shop placing to keep the lights on whilst we await the ever-delayed first LIGHT system to even offer a sprinkling of hope for some revenue?
Last week saw yet another RNS Reach announcement from AIM-listed Graphene play Haydale (HAYD). Reach announcements are used for non-regulatory news, ie non-financially significant announcements and advertising, so a deluge of them is a Red Flag for me, indicating it is bucket-shop placing ahoy.
There was good news this morning for shareholders in AIM-listed Ariana Resources (AAU) as it confirmed dates for the second tranche of its special dividend. As a loyal shareholder, I am looking forward to topping up my supplies of Ouzo o the proceeds.
AIM-listed Ariana Resources (AAU) has released details of Gold discovered at the Klirou sector of the Magellan project in Cyprus, owned by 50% investee Venus Minerals which is itself set to list in London.
AIM sewer posterboy NightCap (NGHT) still has massive questions to answer over misuse of shareholders cash by CEO Sarah Willingham and her husband Michael Toxic. But there is a another elephant in the room: how it is misleading investors as to just how poor its underlying trading position is. This matters as we head rapidly towards the next bailout placing.
Yesterday I outlined how the proposed Value Creation Plan at AIM listed Kistos (KIST) was nothing of the sort, it was just a scam aimed at handing up to £25 million of free shares to senior management, notably Andrew “Piggy” Austin of IGAS (IGAS) & Equities First Holdings infamy. The shares slumped on the news allowing Piggy to buy another 150,000 of them at a year low price. Today the company “clarifies.” My arse. It dissembles. This scheme needs a radical redrawing.
AIM-listed holiday resort developer in Crete Minoan (MIN) announced a company update yesterday. There was news from the boardroom and some positive noises from the Cavo Sidero project in Crete as well as some developments with regard to Greek law which the company the company thinks will have a positive impact. So is there light at the end of the tunnel?
The headline is “value creation plan”. My arse. This is a disgracefully structured plan to further enrich Kistos (KIST) boss Andrew Piggy Austin and his fellow boardroom troughers. Oink. Oink. This is a disgrace. How on earth has Nomad Panmure Gordon signed off on this scheme as being fair?
These are the most-read articles and most listened-to Bearcasts of the week. The most-read article non-Tom article is once again by me, the ShareProphets Sunday Pub Quiz #127. The most-read non-Tom, non-Darren article is Investors should not worry like this, Can the home of “Crystal Methodist” really be so sanctimonious about a sex scandal? by Chris Bailey at number 10 or number 17 excluding bearcasts.
As I explained in the free to access podcast yesterday, shareholders in Omega Diagnostics (ODX) should be blaming the company and its advisers FinnCap and Paul “Queenie” McManus of Walbrook PR for their losses. I have written to the Oxymorons at AIM Regulation asking for an investigation into CEO Jag Grewal, CFO Chris Lea, Geoff Nash and Alice Lane at FinnCap and into Queenie himself.
How do you keep an AIM-listed Tern plc (TERN) shareholder in suspense? Why, of course, issue a Portfolio Update with no numbers attached! And that is what we had yesterday morning, from a company desperate to get a big bucket-shop funding round away as it faces a hefty bill to stand its corner at Wyld, which has a round of warrants due to expire at the start of April and not enough cash to pay for full conversion. But perhaps the biggest Red Flag of all was the excuses offered with regard to principal investee Device Authority.
Predator Oil and Gas (PRD) is a rather very questionable company I have not commented on for some time. Last time was in July last year. I commented on the exec director share dumping and a late reported related party asset deal. 5 days later Ron Pilbeam departed the board with the assistance of Tom Winnifrith and the FCA. Tom celebrated with Ouzo for breakfast and me with Chianti and fava beans for tea. Guess what – I see history about to repeat on one interesting aspect.
A reliable source tells me that Omega Diagnostics (ODX) has completed a c£5 million placing at just 5p. And given how the morons who own this stock – which at 9.9p is capitalized at £17 million – will be royally diluted, there will also be an open offer at the same price to raise up to £2 million.
Once a dawg with fleas always a dawg with fleas. I covered the horrors of David Lenigas created horror story Afriag (AFRI) in full. Eventually after too many criminals such as Yusuf Kajee were exposed by this fine website, the company was booted off AIM and then, via a RTO organized by those scallywags at Peterhouse which took two years to consumate, became a medicinal cannabis play based in Jamaica and listed on the Aquis lobster pot. On April 13 2021 £2.5 million was raised at 5p and the company became Apollon Formularies (APOL). Now follow the white rabbit for the shares are now 2.6p and a cash crisis looms.
Pro tem there are no articles from Gary Newman as our man is in Uganda doing his day job as a fishing journalist. Anyhow, he has posted this photo he took of David Lenigas wallowing in the AIM sewer, I mean, of the wildlife diversity spotted as Gary tries to catch a fish. I invite you to supply a suitable caption in the comments section before midnight tonight. Do not hold back.
We are just over a month into the year: how are my Slam-Dunk Sells for 2022 doing? My portfolio of disaster for this year was Tern plc (TERN), Trafalgar Property (TRAF), URU Metals (URU) and Barkby Group (BARK) of the world’s most successful growth market and, from the sub-Standard List, AIQ (AIQ).
During the time that it has been “up for sale” whether in or out of a Formal Sales Process (FSP), Eurasia Mining has managed to get three bailout placings away at prices it could not have dreamed of without the – so far unjustified – bid speculation it, itself, has created. What a wheeze! It seems that the old Eurasia FSP and place switch is catching on and naturally London’s regulators see nothing wrong in this. Which brings us to Angus Energy (ANGS) run by lucky Lord Lucan. Not so lucky his shareholders.
A rise in the shares of AIM-listed Applied Graphene (AGM) caught my eye today. Like Haydale (HAYD) and Versarien (VRS) – apparently – it is a graphene play on the world’s most successful growth market. So how is the growth here? Er…..
AIM-listed jam-tomorrow investment company Tern plc (TERN) announced yesterday that investee Talking Medicines had raised £1.59 million from a fundraise – including £400,000 from Tern. The company trumpeted that the value of its investment had therefore headed north from £0.86 million to £1.79 million. Is it time for the TERNers to crack open the Ouzo?
The good doctor Teeling, boss of Botswana Diamonds (BOD) is, as you many know, the only AIM CEO to have seen me naked. But today it is Dr Teeling who is left exposed having been let down, as predicted here, by the scoundrels at worthless POS Vast Resources (VAST). A good Nomad would have warned him against engaging with such wastrels but Dr Teeling uses the services of London’s worst Nomad, Roland “fatty” Cornish. Enough said.
As predicted on this fine website, AIM-listed Purplebricks Group (PURP)’s interims to October 2021 are suitably disastrous. But since the company isn’t bust (yet) the market has reacted with relief and the shares are marginally up on the day, at 20.3p – though a long way shy of the 50-60p they were at only last autumn, and a country mile off the £5 at peak Neil Woodford-ramp back in 2017. The opening preamble tries to polish the turd, but a peek at the formal accounts shows that it lost £20.2 million in just six months. During a housing boom where anything standing sold within hours and average prices roofed it as mortgages were almost free to a good home. Yikes – just how bad might it have been in a slump?!
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
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….
Today marks three months since Eurasia Mining (EUA) last updated the market on the status of its supposed sale process. The “sale” is on a par with a DFS furniture sale, having now lasted two years and three months since it was first announced, yet with no sign of an end in sight! Frankly I think that it’s obvious that the sale (if there ever was one) has fallen through. On today’s anniversary I’m calling out to SP Angel to bring this farce to a close. Pull your finger out SP Angel, do your job and force some proper disclosure from your client!
AIM-listed Yu Group (YU.) has updated the market with a full year trading update for 2021, claiming a very strong performance for FY21, significantly ahead of market expectations….FY21 revenues, profitability….have all extensively exceeded management forecasts. So the coffers are burgeoning with cash, then? Er…..
Tom Winnifrith covered yesterday morning’s non-news of AIM-listed URU Metals’ (URU) proposed listing of majority-owned Toronto-listed subsidiary ZEB Nickel on the joke US OTCQB market. The shares rocketed from 170p to 210p on the news, a 23.5% gain. But the bald truth is that we are talking about a joke market with little liquidity and in any case, I would have thought your average US punter would manage to get access to the Toronto Venture exchange without having to deal with a tin-pot middle man.
This is a charade. A pretence. A farce. For the second time, Nicola Quayle, the former head of KPMG’s Manchester office has been fined for signing off on misleading accounts. KPMG has also been fined but the idea that this will change anything is just a farce.
AIM-listed Gold and Silver producer in Turkey, Ariana Resources (AAU) released its full year production data for 2021 this morning – and the news is good. Alongside that came an expectation to double the original life of mine at Kiziltepe, and the company confirmed that the plant expansion there had indeed completed in early H2 increasing the capacity to 300% over the feasibility design. It is a cracking update.
LBG Media (LBG),the owner of LadBible, floated on the AIM Casino on 15 December last year. Its valuation just looks bonkers. With a hat tip to reader TB…
I asked on Friday whether AIM-listed jam-tomorrow internet of things investment company Tern plc (TERN) had run into some problems with its proposed listing on the US OTCQB market. A trip to the SEC website asks more questions than it answers.
It is now just three days short of seven months since AIM-listed jam-tomorrow investment company (which is a tad short of cash) Tern plc (TERN) announced plans to join the OTCQB market on the other side of the pond. Of course, even by the standards of the world’s most successful growth market OTCQB is a demonstrably tin-pot exercise, but Tern was clearly very excited about it.
He took an £850,000 bonus for staging the AIM IPO of Sensyne (SENS) even though he had promised his Nomad which had then assured institutional investors, that he would not. Then Lord Drayson used more company funds to pay off a whistleblower. This man, enobled by the war criminal Sir Tony Blair after, in a wholly unrelated way, donating vast sums to New Labour, is a festering wart on the backside of the corporate world. One hopes that a cash crisis will deal with this wart once and for all. Natch I have been a bear of this stock all along, unlike hedgie Matthew Scarborough of Gatemore who did his darndest to get me to pump this stock days before the scale of the current crisis started to become apparent.
In today’s podcast I look once again at ADVFN (AFN) and the chances of a bid, I look at Wildcat (WCAT) and Tintra (TNT), en passant, as indicators of market madness and finally I have a detailed look at Mercantile Ports & Logistics (MPL), a company that should have been booted of the AIM Casino a long time ago.
If you are into corporate updates it is an interesting day today and loads to write about. Here is the exciting news: it is going to be like this for over the next couple of months. It has always been thus over the last twenty-five plus years I have been looking at the U.K. markets. I guess I should start with ASOS (ASC), which may have formally talked about a four month trading update to the end of December, but a second headline it gave, observing that the company ‘announces intended move to London Stock Exchange’s main market’, is kind of interesting too.
On Monday AIM listed Haydale (HAYD) announced the appointment of new Nomad/Broker FinnCap. Yesterday there was a first RNS Reach spoof and today there is another. With cash surely inadequate to get through the auditor’s Going Concern test later this year, I ask again: when’s the placing.
AIM-listed graphene play Haydale (HAYD) is up to its old tricks again with the release of an RNS Reach telling us that iCraft is using Haydale’s graphene product in a graphene-coated fabric. Yesterday we were told of the appointment of a new Nomad/Broker, today we get an RNS Reach. When’s the placing fellas?
We all know that AIM-listed jam-tomorrow investment company Tern plc (TERN) needs to rattle the tin yet again and sharpish in order to hold its corner as the first round of Wyld warrants comes up for exercise. We also know that Tern’s share price has collapsed (not by enough) in the wake of bad news from its portfolio of cash-hungry investees. And that brings me to today’s flag-waving RNS.
As I explained in detail HERE, Gerry “the arse” Brandon and Deepverge breached AIM Rule 11 ahead of last June’s bailout placing. That AIM Regulation has allowed “the arse” Brandon to keep his job shows what a joke market the Casino is. For today, six months after that bailout placing at 30p, the shares are 20.25p, sliding and still monstrously overvalued. Had the Oxymorons publicly censured this company and Gerry the arse, investors might have got out before today’s shambles.
AIM-listed Graphene play Haydale (HAYD) has appointed FinnCap as Nomad and Broker. So is it fundraising ahoy?
Let nobody suggest that David Lenigas is a shameless penny share huckster who makes Zak Mir look like a man of impeccable integrity. The great analyst (Lenigas not Mir) has highlighted a stock I own as one of his top 5 ramps, ooops I meant, conservatively analysed value investments, for 2022 but suggests you do your own research before filling your boots. Well since you mention it Dave, I might as well flag up the shite you are talking about one of the five.
AIM-listed onliine women’s fashionwear purveyor Sosandar (SOS) has offered up a bullish trading update for calendar Q4 2021 (its own Q3, given accounts are to March). We are told that revenues were up some 122% year on year, that each month was EBITDA positive making for the company’s first EBITDA positive quarter. Of course, EBITDA is bullshit earnings but even so this is a positive update. However….
Will Joshua ever make it back to school? There appear to be suggestions that Wales’s bone idle teachers will postpone his education in why white privilege makes him an automatic victim by yet another day. In the podcast I discuss why Cliff Weight is wrong about share options, the Chill Brands (CHLL) spoof and then took a detailed look at AIM China play Univison Limited (UVEL) which looks tome to be a zero. Have you looked at what this loss making indebted POS spunked £949,000 on during the first half? In signing off on interims,Nomad Spark Advisory is ‘avin’ a bubble.
Entirely predictably, AIM-listed John Zorbas vehicle URU Metals (URU) has slipped out its interim results on deadline day (never a good sign) in no-one-is-watching week, the few trading days between Christmas and New Year. As such it is a fabulous day to bury bad news……and there is, of course, plenty of bad news.
Between Boxing Day and January 3 all of our writers will be serving up their share tips of the year for 2022 – and now a new occassional contributor has stepped up to the plate so that will be 24 tips. Seventeenth in our series is a BUY from Nigel Somerville. Over to the Deputy Sheriff of AIM…
I discuss the arrests made on 29 December in the USA and why the FCA should look at some of the activities of folks in the UK small cap world. Case studies include Eurasia Mining (EUA) and Chill Brands (CHLL). I then move on to Supply@ME Capital (SYME) and its news today, Wildcat Petroleum (WCAT) and also Verditek (VDTK), which I reckon is a zero for 2022 but since it can’t be shorted is not one of my tips of the year. To JP, sorry I have no idea why Peel Hunt quit as broker to Bushveld (BMN) but I suspect it gave three months notice. Leaving SP Angel as sole broker can’t be seen as good news. It is like firing our beloved West Ham as joint broker to retain the sole services of Chesterfield Town.
Inspirit (INSP) snuck out its piss poor results on 29 December at 5.30 pm and today sees its shares down around 14%. You don’t need to be Mystic fecking Meg to know what comes next but a detailed interrogation of those results throws up some ginormous new red flags.
Between now and January 3 all of our writers will be serving up their share tips of the year for 2022. Eighth in our series is a SELL from Evil Banksta. The great bear writes a damning expose of a large cap AIM darling bring new red flags aplenty to the party. :
The lower end of the AIM market seems to be littered with small companies that haven’t made any real progress over the years, in terms of shareholder returns, and I’m often left wondering what the point of them being listed is, given the additional costs that involves.
Following our 13 December bombshell about a sack the board requisition at AIM dog ADM Energy (ADME) the company ‘fessed up the next day and admitted it had received the correct paperwork from Richard “nobody likes me and I don’t care” Jennings of Align Research. But is it still playing by the rules?
AIM “starlet” PCF Group (PCF) has finally published its long delayed annual report for the year ended 30 September 2020. The company’s shares remain suspend at the present time. The strategic report indicates that “a number of items have caused a reduction to profit before tax of approximately £7 million for the twelve months to 30 September 2020, compared with the preliminary results published in December 2020”. The preliminary results recorded a profit before tax of £2.1 million so it’s a massive change.
Bah Humbug! It is that time of year again when crappy companies slip out bad news when nobody is watching as they are getting ready for Christmas. Profit warnings, director share sales, resignations, awful results are the rage on Christmas Eve and as we enter a self-imposed Christmas Lockdown at the behest of Doom and Doomer, this year will be no different.
Last night at 5.11pm – no-one-is-watching o’clock – AIM-listed URU Metals (URU) ‘fessed up that it had taken a C$950,000 loan from CEO John Zorbas last June. That, of course, is a related party transaction which therefore should have been disclosed but rules are for little people…
AIM-listed Mediazest (MDZ) offered up a trading statement yesterday and I wonder why. There were positive noises, of course, but this was a trading statement apparently covering the second half of the year ending 30 September 2021! Last year it offered up its year-end statement, including the second lockdown, on November 12th 2020. Why has it taken Mediazest an extra month in an environment somewhat less affected by Covid this year?
AIM-listed jam-tomorrow internet of things investment company Tern plc (TERN) has announced a fundraise at investee INVMA resulting is an upwards revaluation of its investment. Two other investors have stepped up to the plate in the form of Foresight and Mercia, stumping up £1.925 million between them (presumably of other people’s money) to add to a further investment from Tern of just £0.2 million. Good news for INVMA, as it now has cash – and good news for Tern as at least one hungry mouth to feed has been satiated for the time being.
Richard “Nobody Likes me and I don’t care” Jennings of Align Research has demanded an AGM at ADM Energy (ADME) to oust the useless board and to install him instead. Jennings will work for just £1. Just two of the directors have, he claims, cost the company almost a million quid over the past two years. The current ADM board is overpaid and has failed, we back Jennings almost 100%. Jennings has today written an open letter making his case, which makes shocking allegations. It is below. Our only gripe with Jennings is that he seems to think that appointing Tory toff Sir Henry Bellingham of 3DM infamy as a NED helps anything. It does not. Bellend is a useless and tainted tosser who should be cold shouldered. Other than this lapse of Judgement by Jennings, we agree with all said below.
I have been watching Companies House with interest recently, regarding AIM-listed jam-tomorrow internet of things investment company Tern plc (TERN) and its principal investee Device Authority (DA). Following news of the bailout investment of yet more cash into DA, I have a few questions. Call be a pedant, but……
AIM-listed graphene products company Haydale (HAYD) has released its full year results to June 30 2021. Amongst the highlights we are told of a “robust trading performance” and the “Summary of Results” shows that cash outflow from operations was down by 52% whilst cash at year end was up by 100% at £1.64 million. So all is well, right? Think again…..
Well surprise, surprise! AIM-listed Advanced Oncotherapy (AVO) has announced that the first fully operational LIGHT system has been delayed from the end of this year to the end of Q1 next year. I noted HERE that the delay announced this morning was pretty well baked in. Given that we have moved from “could slip into Q1 2022” to “around the end of Q1 2022” in the space of less than two and a half months, it seems to me that further slippage is highly likely. Indeed, despite this morning’s announcement, one wonders whether any progress has been made at all since the announcement of diabolical interims at the end of September. So there will be at least another quarter sans revenue……what about the cash?
Having posted my five slam-dunk sells for 2021 at the start of the year and watched in amazement as the market bid up complete rubbish, it is time to take stock as the year draws to a close. My sells were Tern (TERN), Catenae Innovation (CTEA), URU Metals (URU) and Yu Group (YU.) – all roll-overs from 2020 – and Trafalgar Property (TRAF), which came in as a replacement for the defunct ShareProphets AIM-China Filthy Forty play Walcom (WALG).
I am not so keen on pubs these days and my feelings on my fellow residents of the rain sodden* land that is Wales fluctuate. But I have invested a modest sum as a present for my daughter in a fund raise that closes at midnight Sunday. If you like pubs or Wales or both I urge you to join me on the shareholder list. Will I make money? I doubt it so this is like most stocks on AIM but this is a good cause.
It was announced this morning by both AIM-listed Gold and Silver producer in Turkey Ariana Resources (AAU) and Standard-listed Panther Metals (PALM) that Panther’s Australian assets have been floated on the Australian Stock Exchange. This is good news for Ariana, as its subsidiary Asgard has a small stake and for Panther Metals it means that the Australian portfolio is now separately funded, leaving Panther with just its Canadian assets to fund to production/sale.
Richard Shearer at Tintra (TNT)continues with the rapid news flow with two more RNS announcements since my last article. Let’s start with a positive from yesterday’s RNS: “Dan Pym, the Group Finance Director, will leave his job at the end of this week. The Company expects to make an announcement regarding his replacement prior to his departure.”
I comment on day three of the Greek Hovel olive harvest, a good day but a long one. But I start with Peter Brailey’s piece on Union Jack Oil (UJO) and explain why the company is now possibly the most toxic on AIM. I then look, en passant, at Amala Foods (DISH) and in detail at Tern (TERN) and Argo Blockchain (ARB).
AIM-listed Gold producer in Turkey, Ariana Resources (AAU) released two lots of news this week from Venus Minerals, the Cyprus-based explorer in which Ariana holds 50%. First up came a revised mineral resource estimate at the Apliki project, which Venus wants to buy into and which looks set to cornerstone an IPO for the company. Then an increased JORC resource estimate at the Kokkinoyia project was released.
The Financial Conduct Authority has confirmed new listing rules which came into force today. Under those new rules the FCA is:
Yesterday AIM-listed jam-tomorrow IoT investment company Tern plc (TERN) announced that principal investee Device Authority (DA) had completed a fundraise involving Tern (for $1.25 million), Tern’s partners in DA, Alsop Louie and the Samenuk Trust for $0.41 million, and a new investor in the form of Venafi which had ponied up a further $1.25 million. Tom Winnifrith covered the maths on why this was a disaster for the BBMs who think Tern should be valued at a multiple of NAV but it seems to me that yesterday’s RNS was disingenuous toboot.
AIM listed investment dog run by charlatans, Tern (TERN) has dashed the hopes of the Bulletin Board Morons when it issued the Device Authority funding update RNS which revealed that Device was not worth billions or even hundreds of millions but less than $40 million for 100% of the company based on latest funding round which included a new third-party technology investor (which presumably would have been granted access to the latest accounts, budgets and been able to assess the technology). Let us pray for those morons too stupid to listen to our countless warnings and thank heavens that the Salvation Army will be there to assist them this Christmas.
AIM-listed jam-tomorrow IoT Investment company Tern (TERN) has announced yet another roll-over with regard to the loan notes from principal investee Device Authority. This is a repeating pattern: every six months the maturity is pushed back another six months and the latest is that they have been pushed back to the end of March 2022. One might gently wonder if Device Authority will ever be able to pay them off or whether the conversion terms will be invoked due to lack of cash.
In the past AIM-listed online ladies clothing purveyor Sosandar (SOS) boasted of EBITDA (bullshit earnings) in part because they were pretty close to real, bottom-line earnings and cash outflow. Not so any more! So we are told of EBITDA positive trading recently and the company boasts of revenue growth of 184% to £12.2 million, Gross Profits of £6.9 million, Net Cash of £7.4 million and that the EBITDA loss was £0.99 million in the six months to 30 September, So things are going gangbusters, right? Not so fast……
A couple of years ago we exposed how SP Angel had been ramping the arse off Bluejay Mining (JAY) with ludicrous price targets while secretly dumping its entire holding at a fraction of the stated target. In other words it was selling its shares to the same folks who wanted to buy because of its ramping. SP Angel should have lost its license from the FCA then and the regulators should have been pressing charges against the individuals involved. The regulators did nowt and now we come to Union Jack Oil (UJO).
AIM-listed Gold producer in Turkey Ariana Resources (AAU) has announced the second investment of its wholly-owned subsidiary, the Asgard Metals fund: it is to put £200,000 into UK-registered Pallas Resources, along with a consultancy agreement worth up to £75,000 under which Ariana will provide technical consulting services to Pallas over a two-year period.
I deal with the specifics of ADM Energy (ADME) shares in which must surely be suspended after my second bombshell in 24 hours, another fake sheikh exposed, but this is the AIM sewerr somaybe not.I deal with individuals who enabled this and name them and say why they should not have been in a position to enable this and have some ideas for the FCA, after its recent statement, on Quindell and other frauds.
During the next 24 hours I shall be publishing a number of articles showing that AIM listed ADM Energy (ADME) has consistently misled investors as to the state of its finances while raising money in new placings. I shall look at where some of that cash went and who was aware of it, including former Tory MP Sir (now Lord) Henry Bellingham of the the 3DM fraud infamy who is a NED. At the end of the series you will be in no doubt that this company’s shares are utterly worthless and that those hawk like watchdogs at AIM Regulation, the folks fomerly referred to as the Oxymorons, should be swooping to feel collars both at ADM but also acting against its advisors. I start with a letter sent to the Winnileaks service which ADM received on 9 July 2021.
Let us be clear, Mercantile Ports & Logistics (MPL) is not on trial itself.But none the less this looming $300 million fraud trial is another red flag for this perennial AIM uber dog.
I have been a bit of a fanboy of Headlam Group (HEAD) – Europe’s leading floorcoverings distributor, providing the channel between suppliers and trade customers of floorcoverings – for a while now. So what did its ‘trading and ESG update’ say today?
After a six year investigation the FCA has finally launched lawsuits against the CEO and CFO of the £300 million Greek fraud Globo, once a poster boy of the AIM sewer. The company raised more than £100 million in debt and equity but was a complete fraud, going tits up in 2015. You may remember …
There is no word from scandal ridden AIM cash guzzler Nightcap (NGHT) on the misuse of company funds by CEO Sarah Willingham and others or the undeclared non-independence of the NED who waived such payments through. Instead Willingham’s other half Michael will get his third £100,000 bonus of 2021 for arranging another completely insane acquisition.
Eight Capital Partners (ECP) is blessed with having as its chairman Dominic White, one of the brains behind the Supply@ME Capital (SYME) fraud and until recently its chairman.It also has as its CEO David Bull whose accounting blunders have created a massive black hole at AIM Listed PCF (PCF) causing its shares to be suspended. Bull chairs the Audit Committee, no sniggering please, at Supply. And Eight is, via a complex structure enabling Supply boss Alessandro Zamboni to dump all his remaining shares in his Standard Listed scam. What’s not to like? Oh yes: Eight has fallen foul of the Companies Act.
Back in last July I exposed AIM Wannabee Central Copper Resources. The team behind it had listed a company, Cradle Arc, on the AIM sewer in late 2018 which within a year saw its shares suspended pending clarification, engaged in tax evasion, traded while insolvent and deceived investors before going bust. Surely advisers and AIM Regulation would not allow such scallywags a second chance?
As you may recall, the business model of Vox Markets is that companies pay £15,000 a year to get interviewed by Justin the Clown who then asks the CEO whether he prefers Hob Nobs or Jaffa Cakes and whether his schlonger is ginormous or merely massive. The sort of AIM and Standard Listed companies that sign up, hope that such interviews can move the share price so allowing the next bailout placing. Maybe those companies have finally worked out that nobody takes the Clown seriuously and this business model is finally being rumbled. I see interesting filings at Companies House.
AIM-listed Gold and Silver producer in Turkey, Ariana Resources (AAU) has announced that exploration at the Salinbas project and at the forthcoming second Gold mine at Tavsan has kicked off in a mid-winter programme which will inevitably present some challenges for the three-way joint venture in which Ariana holds 23.5% alongside Ozaltin and Proccea.
AIM-listed gold producer in Turkey Ariana Resources (AAU) has updated the market on the proposed 50-50 joint venture between investee Venus Minerals, in which Ariana now holds 50%, and Hellenic Copper Mines involving the Apliki Project in Cyprus. If all works out successfully the plan is for Venus to pursue its own IPO, giving Ariana some additional liquidity in the form of listed shares.
Manx Financial (MFX) the AIM listed bank based on the Isle of Man, where my pal Jim Mellon is the second largest shareholder and also the chairman, has announced a raft of board changes. No offence intended Jim, but from a G as in Governance perspective this sucks. Now Manx is very well and conservatively run so this is not suggesting anything is amiss but it is how it looks.
There are a few things that I disagree with Comrade Malcom Stacey about: all this green shite from COP26 for starters. Just how great meat tastes is another. And whether the Guardian newspaper has any useful purpose other than to light a fire is a third. A fourth is Feedback (FDBK) which he keeps tipping and which I regard as a cash guzzling, jam tomorrow generating, worthless piece of crap which serves only to enrich City financiers and has two decades of failure to boast about. So today we have (dire) results and a £10.5 million or more fund raise. A bookbuild is underway.
I am all for patience when it comes to investing, but the forbearance of small retail investors when it comes to continual promises made and broken by small and disreputable companies never ceases to amaze. Amazon and Apple are two examples, often cited by dreamers, of plucky minnows which struggled for years before exploding into being behemoths. If they can do it, the thinking seems to be, why not anyone? Give them more time and money.
As you may know, John Teeling of Botswana Diamonds (BOD) is the only AIM boss to have seen me with no clothes on. But it is not fond memories of Clontarf veterans rugby team that brings him to mind today. It is a $4 million black hole that his company and, more specifically, Vast Resources (VAST) need to address with an RNS first thing Monday.
The top non-Tom article this week is Ariana – Oh No: Not More Good News! by Nigel Somerville, the Deputy Sheriff of AIM at number 11 or number 18 if you include the Bearcasts.
I set out below four reasons why Tintra’s (TNT) interim financial statements are not compliant with the requirements of IAS 34 for interim financial statements and why new interims are required. Do I expect Nomad Allenby or the Oxymorons at AIM Regulation to do anything about black and white breaches of the rules? No. My faith in regulators or City advisors is at rock bottom. But just for the record:
Friday saw the publication of Alpha’s (ALGW) second interim results albeit no Prospectus has yet appeared on the FCA register of Prospectus almost 8 months after the placing occurred. I show below why the results need to be restated dramatically.
I start with the two companies beginning with V and articles on this website today: Versarien (VRS) has responded, weakly to this expose. Vast Resources (VAST) cannot respond to this bombshell which exposes the cancer at the heart of AIM Regulation again and makes the shares uninvestable at any price. Then I look at Ben’s Creek (BEN), Skinbiotherapeutics (SBTX) on product launch day and at Central Copper where an IPO that should be pulled is delayed again.
In March this year WH Ireland was approached to become joint broker to Vast Resources (VAST). It conducted due diligence and that threw up so many red flags about the business but also about boss Andrew Prelea that WH Ireland said that it could not act. The email exchange detailing this has found its way via Winnileaks to myself and is published below. It is damning and all credit to WH Ireland for putting principle before profit. But Nomad Roland Fatty Cornish has been made aware of the same issues and appears to think that a) it is just after two so time for the third course of a six course luncheon and b) that he should just carry on taking the cash come what may. Lunches don’t pay for themselves after all. Enablers like Fatty are why AIM is a sewer. I am aware of a number of matters which WH Ireland discovered and anyone owning shares in Vast is truly certifiable.
Serica Energy (SQZ) has seen a sizeable drop in its share price over the past couple of days, and the news that landed this morning suggests that some got wind of this before the official RNS announcement. TW Note. Surely you are not suggesting insider dealing on the AIM sewer, the “world’s most succesful growth market” – surely not?
The shares are today trading at 29.5p, valuing this POS at c£58 million, but are slipping gently. The reason: Versarien (VRS) the AIM listed jam tomorrow stock run by serial ramper Neill Ricketts is, according to a City source, sounding out investors about a fund raise of £30million at 18p. The rationale?
I imagine that the moronic shareholders in Eurasia Mining (EUA) are lining up to buy me a drink after THIS LETTER yesterday to the Oxymorons at AIM Regulation forced the company into a formal update on the bid situation today. No? You shock me. Bear raider Waseem Shakoor was clear of what he thought of the statement:
It was back in July 2018 that I first started to expose the murky and, at times fraudulent, world of First Derivatives (FDP) and its scandal plagued auditors at KPMG Belfast, with the shares at £46. A lot has happened since then. Fascist PR pigs FTI tried to bully me to take down my articles but I told the mothers where to stick it. I reported First to the FRC and it was forced to restate its crooked accounts signed off by KPMG. And Brian Conlon, the CEO and architect of this enterprise sadly passed away leaving his grieving widow as the largest shareholder. Today the name is now FD Technologies (FDP).And it is still a cracking short ahead of numbers next week.Let me explain.
First came the insider dealing. No, surely not this is AIM! That took the shares to 4.2p in five working days. Then came the catalaogue of disasters trading statement the next working day. That took the shares to 3.5p. And today, as I predicted, three days later, there is a bailout placing at 2.5p and the shares are now 2.95p. What a shitshow. Of course it also magnifies the lies told to investors back in late April.
The Oxymorons at AIM Regulation, led by the hapless poltroon Mr. Marcus Stuttard, the bogus Sheriff of AIM, like to claim that they have created the world’s most successful growth market. But the events of the past two years at Eurasia Mining (EUA) have shown that those who want to run rings around Marcus and the clowns who work for him don’t have to try too hard. I have written to Marcus and his colleagues about the farce at Eurasia and the supposed bid talks. Enough is enough. Will AIM Regulation force a statement? The answer to that one may involve myself and Ms Cheryl Cole.
AIM-listed Gold (and Silver) producer in Turkey, Ariana Resources (AAU), has had a wonderful summer in terms of its Gold exploration activities with a stack of very promising drill results from across its portfolio which suggest good news to come next year. Gold and Gold stocks may have had a torrid time, but on the exploration front Ariana hasn’t been able to disappoint and this morning saw yet more good news from investee Venus Minerals in Cyprus.
I cannot help but notice that shares in AIM-listed John Zorbas vehicle URU Metals (URU) have crashed by 19% thus far today, on no news. Having called it a sell at 405p in August, a sell at 320p in September and a sell at 270p earlier this month, the stock is now down to 190p. Of course, it is still a sell but perhaps it is time for an early Ouzo as the shares have now more than halved.
AIM-listed jam-tomorrow IoT investment company Tern plc (TERN) has released a portfolio update this morning. Naturally the BBMs are pleased as punch but I fear that, once again, the company has borrowed the Adam Reynolds (who, for the avoidance of doubt, has nothing to do with Tern) keyboard, for there are no meaningful numbers to be found – and the few included are pitiful.
Tintra (TNT) continues to pump out new RNS announcements. Some are bollocks and a spoof, but one vindicates a major thrust of my attack on this POS.
Today, Vast Resources (VAST) served up its usual fare of bad news: project delays, financing set backs and death spirals ahoy. All the usual bad news but enough to send the shares crashing below 4p. And it was only two months ago when the company’s third rate joint broker Axis Capital raised it £1.76 million at 6.3p. Ouch. The shares were almost 5.5p last Monday but fell throughout the week to close Friday at 4.2p.
The top non-Tom article this week is Centamin – Q3 Report Again Shows All Is On Track: BUY For the Yield, The Upside Is In For Free by Nigel Somerville at number eight or number 14 if you include the Bearcasts. The next non Tom is at 9 or 16 and is from yours truly.
A correspondent writes that I am wrong to suggest that AIM-listed Tern’s (TERN) jewel-in-the-crown investment, Device Authority (DA) which on its own is apparently worth over half of Tern’s NAV, is in grave financial difficulty. Let’s look at what we do know – and, perhaps more importantly, what we don’t.
Shareholders in Supply@Me Capital Plc (SYME) have dual exposure to Mr. David Bull. The first is in his capacity as the Non-Executive Director and Audit Committee Chairman of Supply where his role is to exercise oversight and guidance over the financial reporting process and controls at the Group. The second is via his position as CEO of Eight Capital Partners (ECP) which holds an equity interest in Supply and is also lender to an Alessandro Zamboni corporate shareholder in Supply which is secured on Supply shares.
I have followed the fortunes of the Hemerdon Mine in South Devon for some years, and it is back as a listed asset via the IPO today of its new owner Tungsten West (TUN) on the AIM market. The asset has an interesting history with a twist that was worthy of some time and effort to properly understand.
In today’s podcast, I consider the video interview I’m doing later on the FCA, Ben’s Creek (BEN) and how its inevitable failure will come to haunt the AIM sewer, Vast Resources (VAST), UK Oil & Gas (UKOG), Seed Ventures (SEED), Eden Research (EDEN) and the dual list on OTC con, and Predator Oil & Gas (PRD)
Device Authority Limited states that it has filed abbreviated accounts because it qualifies as a small company which it is why it only files a balance sheet and selected notes. However, even based on the limited information provided we can see that AIM listed bag of puff Tern (TERN) is providing approximately 2/3rds of the current funding to Device Authority in terms of cumulative advances and accrued interest as shown below:
I refer not to life at the Welsh Hovel where I have more workman issues but to Dev Clever (DEV) and my exposé of earlier HERE. I also comment on Verditek (VDTK), Deepverge (DVRG) run by journalist trolling arse Gerry Brandon, the serial AIM Rule Breaker, and Kefi (KEFI) where I remain a loyal, if somewhat trappist, shareholder.