Previously writing on currently Hotter Shoes brand 55+ demographic footwear group Unbound (UBG), in August with the shares at 14.75p I noted, following an equity raise it stated would see it “focus on accelerating our growth strategy”, that following the prior misleading market expectations, I remained highly sceptical. Having last closed at 6.75p, today a “Trading Update and Operating Review”.

AIM-listed jam-tomorrow (if ever) IoT investment Company Tern plc (TERN) has followed up yesterday’s ramparoonie over Wyld (listed on the joke Nasdaq-of-the-north exchange in Stockholm) with a big announcement of a new contract for jewel-in-the-crown Device Authority worth $1.2 million…….over five years.

Tomco (TOM) arrived on AIM via an RTO int a failed tech business just in time for Christmas 2006. Was that a White Christmas? I only ask because I am dreaming of one and the chap behind that RTO was Howard Crosby, nephew of Bing and cousin of Mary who shot JR.  More than £5 million was raised at 2.5p. Wind forward today and, accounting for a 2017 200-1 share consolidation, the shares at 0.335p, are 99.933% down. Can any AIM dog, still going, match that record of disaster?

AIM-listed Barkby has released a trading and strategy update. It reads quite well, but I wonder if beneath the surface there might be a nasty shock for shareholders on the way.

Cloudtag (CTAG) was a bulletin board darling which we exposed as a bankrupt fraud on this website numerous times HERE. Eventually the company's Nomad, Liam Murray at Cairn Financial, arrived at the same conclusion and gave his notice of resignation.  However the company then raised £975,000 via broker Novum without telling Novum or anyone else about that resignation. Murray thus resigned with immediate effect and Novum unwound the placing while, with no other Nomad prepared to take on this toxic client, it was booted off the AIM sewer in March 2017.

On 1 August 2022, having failed to raise $30 million in an equity markets fundraise - as I warred here to hoots of derision from BBMs sitting in their underpants in their parent's basement - , Shield Therapeutics (STX) took out a $10 million loan from 13% shareholder AOP Orphan International AG. Now the clock is ticking on that loan.

According to City AM the owners of AIM listed POS bars chain Nightcap (NGHT) are Sarah Willingham and Michael Toxvaerd. Funny, I thought that it was long suffering shareholders who owned this financial abomination where every single person who has ever bought a share and held is now out of the money with the shares trading at just 8p-9p.

On the evening of 7^th November I revealed how perma-dog ( with fleas) Applied Graphene Materials (AGM) was trying to raise money at just 2p even though the shares were 12.5p at the close the working day before. The next morning it fessed, citing my article, and admitted that the issue had been pulled and that it only had cash to last until January 31. The late Mama Cass put a date in her diary for a new gig. Today comes the words every investor dreads “strategic review.”

Gerry the arse Brandon has only “been resigned” from Deepverge (DVRG) for two weeks and yet already the new bosses have managed to find annualised cost savings of £2 million from thin air. That begs an almighty question of Brandon and surely means that he must be fired at Microsaic (MSYS) if it is not to go bust next year.

Who said that for a small cap broker “delisting is inevitable. All are struggling to survive in a climate of scarce deals, low trading volumes, strong competition and rising costs” Okay it is a trick question but the answer is Andrew Monk of VSA Capital (VSA). The trick is that …

Oh dear, oh dear, more bad news from the green pipedreams, slurp the jam tomorrow and forget about the bonkers valuation sector. Today it is Ceres Power (CWR) an AIM listed company repeatedly recommended by our own in-house Guardian reading eco-Warrior Malcolm Stacey but red flagged by  myself and Peter Brailey. Its shares are down by 65% year to date and by c80% since February 2021, the peak of the green bubble madness.

Well I guess it is not quite so funny if you are a shareholder but this acquisition – now – rreversed – has destroyed Ince Group (INCE) as a credible investment. I was urged by the company’s PR to tip the stock but, according to some folks, that really would have been a kiss of death and anyhow it was self-destroying – as I predicted – without my endorsement. 

AIM-listed Turkish Gold-producer Ariana (AAU) has released a progress report over drilling and exploration across its 23.5% part-owned Turkish assets. With the shares having drifted to 3.05p amid general market disinterest (although I fancy that is changing as we speak) the report is upbeat.

Secondary lender PCF Group (PCF) was an AIM sewer high-flier with its shares trading at above 40p just over 4 years ago. Today after news that it was winding down its loan book and delisting the shares are just 0.56p and the man who is to blame for the chain of events that led to today’s bombshell  is David Bull, until August chairing Eight Capital Partners (ECP) and running the Audit Committee as a NED as its bastard big brother the fraud Supply@ME Capital (SYME). Is he the most toxic bean counter in the small cap world?

As CEO of AIM listed Deepverge (DVRG) made two schoolboy errors: trolling me on twitter and then breaking AIM Rules by hiding a profits warning before doing a placing at 30p last June. There were other blunders and deceits too but after that crime, that fraud, of last June came to light he should have been in jail and his position was untenable.

The other day I suggested that AIM needed to introduce a Lenigas law whereby if a known associate of a company director sold his asset to that company he needed to declare how much he paid for it. Lenigas has punted on 2 assets on an undisclosed mark up to his pal Richard Poulden at Wishbone Gold (WSBN) where, for reasons I find it increasingly hard to justify, I am a shareholder. But Alien Metals (UFO) is another can of worms. And guess which penny share huckster pushes this one.?

AIM-listed Bowleven (BLVN) released its full year results to June 2022 this morning and the news was not great. TW note, be honest it was piss poor. The cash is running low – noted in a material uncertainty warning regarding Going Concern and progress on the Etinde gas project off Cameroon – its one part-owned asset – has ground to a halt. Things are set to change, but there are plenty of problems.

My five slam-dunk sells for 2022, Tern plc (TERN), Barkby (BARK), Trafalgar Property (TRAF) and URU Metals (URU) of the AIM Casino, and sub-Standard-Listed AIQ (AIQ), were heading nicely towards a clean sweep, with four winners out of five at the end of September. As Tern heads for a desperate cash crisis within weeks, how are the scores-on-the-doors this month?

I wrote to AIM Regulation yesterday and it is clear that it has acted forcing the rogues at Bidstack (BIDS) to come clean about the “Private” bust up with Azerion email sent to some clients of Nomad Stifel yesterday, an email, that thanks to Winnileaks, I published in full within hours of it being sent. And the regulators have forced hapless Lyin’ James Draper to roll back on claims in that email.

Yet again Bidstack (BIDS) has leaked clearly price sensitive information into the market to only certain folks, that is to say, selected clients of its Nomad and broker Stifel, rather than via RNS as I exposed earlier HERE.  But this is not the first such sin by Bidstack which it has committed in collusion with Stifel.

£10 million in a placing at 2p. Plus a broker offer raising up to £2.5 million more. Lovely Jubbly. Everybody connected with the POS Deepverge (DVRG) is happy, except shareholders who have, again, been royally screwed. As I oft predicted. So who are the winners on a day when Deepverge fessed up to yet another undeclared related party transaction involving Gerry “the arse” Brandon.

AIM-listed Scancell (SCLP) was a company that I tipped – very unsuccessfully – in the past, on hopes of making pots of cash out of its medical technology. I sold, and needless to say, the shares then shot higher amid the Covid pandemic. But more recently, the ski-slope (downwards) reasserted. Until this morning.

The silence is ominous. If Deepverge (DVRG) cannot get a placing away it will have no cash and £4 million of debt (plus interest) to repay. It is, in short, screwed. Toast. Kaput. A dead parrot. It wanted to raise £9 million at 5p. Then it became at 3p. Then, the word is, it became 2p. But with the shares are now just 2p to sell

Gold finished the week at $1658 – marginally up on last week’s $1645 but essentially unchanged. However, as gold hovers around its recent low, Gold miners have picked up a smidgeon, as can be seen from my chart of Gold vs GDX (Gold majors ETF), GDXJ (Gold juniors) and GOEX (Gold explorers). I discussed a potential M&A frenzy HERE in the wake of three potential bids for AIM-listed Shanta Gold (SHG) and wonder if that might be showing up in the chart.

This is clearly a disorderly market. If the investor flagged up by Argo Blockchain (ARB) who was thinking of investing £24 million at 27.6p is going ahead the shares are dirt cheap as a trading buy. If not then, ceteris paribus, Argo will have gone bust by Christmas. It is a binary bet and Mr Market is telling you that it looks more like the adverse outcome than the positive one. But we can all agree the market is somewhat disorderly. So what the feck are the Oxymorons at AIM Regulation playing at?

Mr. Market is telling you that there is something horribly wrong at Argo Blockchain (ARB) and that could well be a looming insolvency. A company that really was going to raise £24 million at 27.6p as Argo promised it would on October 7 would not see its shares languishing at 12p to sell. I have written to AIM Regulation as this is, one way or another, a false market.

In today's podcast I discuss coverage of my friend Richard Poulden and Valereum Blockchain (VLRM) which is now utterly toxic. I mention Wishbone Gold (WSBN) en passant. I look at Verditek (VDTK) where AIM Regulation must now step in to tackle fraud then at IOG (IOG), lessons from the demise of Toople (TOOP) and then an expose of the  events at Technology Minerals (TM1) where you really just could not make it up.

Shares in AIM-listed Shanta Gold (SHG) shot higher yesterday after the company announced that it had received approaches regarding the potential takeover of the company. Could this be the start of a bidding frenzy in the bombed out Gold mining sector?

At what point is AIM Regulation going to say that enough is enough and kick Verditek (VDTK) into touch for what appears like serial securities fraud? Or do the Oxymorons at AIM Regulation consider that announcing contracts every single year since the 2017 IPO, contracts which eventually come to nowt but allow a share price pump and bailout placing, to be acceptable? Today we have another case study of the Verditek contract fraud.

AIM-listed Advanced Oncotherapy (AVO) has announced yet another fundraise – this time for £6 million (before expenses) for the issue of another 24 million bits of confetti and associated warrants at 25p – the par price of the shares (below which it is not permitted to issue stock). The grateful recipient of the latest round of paper? Step forward clients of Odey Asset Management as Crispin Odey’s outfit doubles down yet again.

AIM-listed online ladies fashionwear purveyor Sosandar (SOS) served up a half-year (to September) trading update this morning. The highlights were appealing: revenues up 72% year-on-year and a profit before tax of £0.1 million made good reading. But as Tom Winnifrith oft opines, sales is vanity and profit is a matter of opinion: what really matters is cash.

Eve Sleep (EVE) floated on AIM in May 2017 just two years after it started trading. It brought in Paul Pindar which had listed Purplebricks (PURP) the disruptor – no sniggering at the back – of estate agencies to help disrupt the world of mattresses which also needed disrupting. And Neil Woodford, whose funds owned 18% after an IPO which raised £32.8 million, was not the only fund manager who was made to look like a fool. Here is Luke Hakes of Octopus writing just after the IPO:

I think we have firmly established that AIM-listed jam-tomorrow investment company Tern plc (TERN) needs yet another placing some time before Q2 2023 despite its recent fundraising efforts. But that is just to keep the lights on. What about its portfolio of cash-hungry mutts? When will the next call on Tern’s (lack of) cash be? Wyld, with its warrant call mid-December? Or might there be a call for funding from another of Tern’s portfolio first?

I have lost track of how many times I have exposed the various wrongdoings of Osamede Okhomina, the CEO of ADM Energy (ADME)  but on the Cesspit that is AIM, in the end the Sheriff usually gets his man.  The shares languished at 0.52p at the Friday close, 99.84% off their all time highs but there is good news which ADM will now have to confirm on Monday. For I can reveal:

In yesterday’ response to my devastating placing expose of the prior day which it termed “market speculation” the RNS contact point at Deepverge (DVRG) was, for the first time in living memory not CEO Gerry “the arse” Brandon but  the company’s chairman Ross Andrews. Now across the internet there is real speculation.

On 7^th October Argo Blockchain (ARB) announced a three part emergency refinancing package. Two parts will see it limp through to November without calling in the administrators. The third part was news that an investor was preparing to stump up £24 million at 26.7p. But today the shares have fallen, again, to just 14.75p. Surely the Oxymorons at AIM Regulation must force a statement to clarify:

The roadshow started yesterday says a reliable City source. Having raised £10 million last June at 30p c/o the scholars and gentlemen at Turner Pope and blown all of that plus a £4 million Riverfort loan already, Deepverge (DVRG) cannot make the first £500,000 loan repayment to Riverfort due on Sunday as I discussed earlier.

On the 16^th of this month Deepverge (DVRG) has to repay £500,000 in cash to alternative finance provider Riverfort. And then the same again on 16^th November, December, January and February before a final loan repayment of £1.5 million in March. Guess what? Deepverge does not have any cash. It is running on vapours and so will only survive into 2023 by drawing down more Riverfort debt. Now how to solve this?

It has been a difficult week for the AIM-listed Tern plc (TERN) BBMs: the jam-tomorrow bubble has finally popped, the company faces a major cash-crisis in between 3-6 months' time and the share price has been hammered by a not-very-successful placing, down to just 7.45p from over 10p about two weeks ago. And the shares now trade at a discount to NAV, and it is clear another cash-call is on the way. In the midst of this nonsense, investee FVRVS’s accounts for FY21 came out on Companies House. Oooh - that looks like fun…..

Natch the announcement that the Richard Poulden/ Dave Lenigas sham that is Valereum Blockchain (VLRM) has signed up a new strategic advisor was signed off by corporate advisor Peterhouse but it is the directors who took responsibility and they should be ashamed. Here’s why.

Sarah Cope is not fit to run a public lavatory let alone a public company. Her performance at Anglo African Oil & Gas (AAOG) before it was booted off the AIM Sewer was a case study in managerial incompetence. Today we have an announcement from Predator Oil & Gas (PRD), itself a dog and where share dealings are often, er, interesting.

I am still nursing an ouzo-inflicted headache following Wednesday’s bailout placing at just 7.5p by AIM-listed Tern plc (TERN). Tom Winnifrith has covered this here and here already, but there are still more reasons to sell.

AIM-listed Haydale (HAYD), fresh from its bailout keep-the-lights-on placing and open offer at 2p in which it raised £5.5 million (gross) last month, has announced its full year results, to June 30, this morning. The numbers are truly grim.

I refer to this amazing exposé by Snopes HERE into Max Polyakov, Ukraine's Elon Musk. Why does it matter: I recall Cupid and the great establishment cover up.  Thjis is crime plain and simple and the board knew about it and covered it up. KPMG covered it up. The Nomad did nothing and so too did the Oxymorons at AIM Regulation. The SNP has been lobbying hard for Polyakov. They are all beneath contempt. Then I ask if share buying at Bluebird Merchant Ventures (BMV) is legit. It is. Then I discuss why a whistleblower may or may not have a story about another AIM company, look at Made.com (MADE), Sosandar (SOS), Tern (TERN) and Bidstack (BIDS): two placings , one a pea shooter, one possibly (but probably not) a bazooka.

You can sometimes get some borrow in Versarien (VRS) and if you can you should even with the shares, which were once almost 200p, having slumped to below 15p. The next collapse will happen and happen fairly soon. It is a when not an if.

I warned and I warned that this Mexican style fast food rollout would go badly and today shares in Tortilla Mexican Grill (MEX) have duly puked by 30% to 101p. It was just 362 days ago that this company joined the AIM sewer at 181p having raised £5 million for the company and £12 million for founders cashing in some of their nachos. Good call.

As I exposed here yesterday, Colin Bird’s Bezant Resources (BZT) is insolvent and has deceived investors with its interims on Friday. I have written to its Nomad, Roland “fatty” Cornish, treating him with the respect he deserves, suggesting that the shares be suspended and that a statement is needed ASAP. Since he is almost certainly missing in 7 course lunch action today or perhaps sleeping luncheon off as he prepares for supper, I have ccd in the Oxymorons at AIM Regulation.

AIM-listed Advanced Oncotherapy released its interim results to June 2022 this morning – deadline day (never a good sign). The numbers are horrific – and so it seems are the prospects!

AIM bad-boy, suspended for the past five months for failing to release accounts, Catenae Innovation (CTEA) has at last released full year accounts to September 2021 and Interim results to March 2022. Oh, and it has announced a death spiral package from Sanderson Capital, under which the lender seems to do very well indeed (at shareholders’ expense).

AIM-listed Scirocco Energy (SCIR) – the former Solo Oil (SOLO) - looks to have thrown the gauntlet down to rebels looking for change at the company in requisitioning an EGM to change the Board and take another look at its investment policy by defying the 2022 AGM which seemed to prevent the issuance of shares. 

musicMagpie (MMAG), the company floated by COO and proven fraud enabler Ian Storey has – as predicted – served up a (lack of) profits warning which is bullshit heavy.

Before today, during 16 years when various executives have troughed it on a material scale, shareholders in Vast Resources (VAST) have witnessed a 99.96% share price decline. Today it will get worse as there is another bailout placing to fund operational failure and fat cat largesse, including a CEO on £227,000 a year. Everything about this latest disaster stinks.

The end of August is generally regarded as the end of summer here in the UK, but the official date for the beginning of autumn is actually September 23 for this year. It is a moot point for most, but not so for AIM-listed Advanced Oncotherapy (AVO) – which had been promising that its first LIGHT medical proton bean unit would be up and running by the end of the summer.

AIM-listed Jam tomorrow investment company Tern plc (TERN) released awful interim results to June 30 2022 today – there is no jam tomorrow! With negative net current assets and a loss of £2.4 million, a failed takeover and a cash-crisis, it couldn’t get much worse…….but it does!

More ouzo on the cornflakes for the Sheriff of AIM as another 2021 IPO serves up quite dreadful news. After the debacle at Made.com (MADE) next up is Revolution Beauty (REVB) shares in which have been suspended since 1 September as it has failed to get sign off on accounts for the year to 28 February 2022. Now there is more bad news on two fronts: Lets start with the accounting tomfoolery.

We knew that half calendar year results from Deepverge (DVRG) would be shite for two reasons. One: they always are – this company is a serial dog. Two: there was a specific lack of profits warning. Natch, CEO Gerry “the arse” Brandon, a man who should have been booted off the public company scene for last year’s breach of AIM Rules 10 & 11, fooling investors ahead of a placing, fails to mention the elephant in the room. Instead, there is another spoof.

I have just written to AIM Regulation as Bidstack (BIDS) , lead by Lyin' James Draper, has today grossly deceived and mislead investors as to the collapse in trading.  The company has breached AIM Rules 10 and 11 and it, and its Nomad Stifel, need a public censure. The letter follows:

Another Neil Woodford disruptive pipe-dream is set to bite the dust next month. Having been bailed out repeatedly by Woodford as he sank his investors’ cash into a black hole, now that Woodford has gone there doesn’t seem to be anyone interested in taking on AIM-listed Eve Sleep (EVE) and this morning investors were warned of what we have been saying was inevitable for years.

As promised, AIM-listed Scirocco Energy (SCIR) – the former Solo Oil (SOLO) – has called the requisitioned EGM and published the associated circular which threatens to change the Board, sack advisers and revisit the investment strategy. Well done Scirocco…..but I have a few issues with what the company tells its investors.

These are the most-read articles and most listened-to Bearcasts of the week. The most read non-Tom non Darren article is “From Montana To ShareStock In Wales (By Thirty Yards) As Gold Hangs Around” by Nigel Somerville at number 3 or number 8 if you include Bearcasts.

Needless to say, the Oxymorons at AIM Regulation have failed to force serial dog Nanosynth (NNN) to correct the grotesquely misleading RNS of 26 August in which it claimed that a Lanstead death spiral deal meant that it had secured “ a conditional subscription to raise £2,942,500  through the issue of 535,000,000 new ordinary shares of 0.01 pence each in the Company at a price of 0.55 pence per Ordinary Share.” That was a big fat fecking lie and with the shares collapsing to 0.42p, i.e less than they were before the deal was announced and a couple of subsequent ramptastic bullshit RNS’s. Mr Market is waking up and smelling the coffee even if the bogus Sheriff of AIM, Marcus Stuttard, and his colleagues are asleep at the wheel.

The other day, I served up evidence suggesting that Eurasia Mining (EUA) may not be able to get funds to its loss making Russian operating subsidiaries which could be a terminal event. I have now written to AIM Regulation begging it to force a clarifying RNS

AIM-listed POS Inspirit Energy (INSP) has updated the market on its waste heat recovery system, telling of great things from trials in Poland and plenty of jam tomorrow. It reads so beautifully: shareholders must be thrilled at being updated. So what’s the catch?

Orsu Metals’ quote on AIM was cancelled on 19 August 2016.  But it is still going and the read across from what it is going through looks to be devastating for the pin up girl of the Bulletin Board Moron community, Eurasia Mining (EUA).

These are the most-read articles and most listened-to Bearcasts of the week. The most read non-Tom non Darren article is “The Gold View From The Montana Log-Cabin As The Fed Is In A Jackson’s Hole” by Nigel Somerville at number 5 or number 11 if you include Bearcasts.

Sometimes a share price flags up that something is awry. In the case of Nightcap (NGHT) the bars chain, dripping in red flags with some of the worst corporate governance on the AIM sewer, run by Dragon Sarah Willingham and her husband Michael Toxic, I think that is the case. So La Willingham when are you going to 'fess up?

AIM-listed graphene outfit Haydale (HAYD) triumphantly announced the completion of its latest bailout keep-the-lights-on fundraising this morning. With £5 million in the bag – and an open offer to existing shareholders to raise a bit more at 2p – the company was pleased to announce that this latest fundraise, worth around half of the current market capitalisation, would be used predominantly to fund the general working capital needs of the business. Tosh! It will be used to fund the seemingly unending ongoing losses! What is it about AIM-listed graphene businesses?

Yesterday I flagged up an acquisition made by Alien Metals (UFO) which stinks. Its Nomad, London’s worst Nomad, Roland “Fatty” Cornish clearly does not know how to use google.

I start with a few logistics on Sharestock, the opt in for booking supper with my family and how you have just 60 hours to book a seat HERE. Then onto Parsley Box (MEAL) and the sex pest I exposed last week HERE before contacting the company., Cineworld (CINE), Avacta (AVCT), Zamaz (ZAMZ) and the useless FCA and the related party or not shenanigans at Alien Metals (UFO) and its Nomad (London's worst) Roland "Fatty" Cornish.

On Friday at 10.19am AIM-listed Scirocco Energy (SCIR) – the former Solo Oil (SOLO) – announced that it had received a valid requisition for a General Meeting from a group of shareholders. Details are to be released by 15^th September. In short, it is beer and popcorn time.

AIM-listed Catenae Innovation (CTEA) finally popped its head above the parapet after a more than two month silence, in relation to its suspension which, under AIM Rules, will see the company given the order of the boot if it fails to publish full year results to 30 September 2021 by 1 October. It is twenty-eight days to go, and ticking. The announcement came at 12.09pm yesterday (Friday) – just as the City was tucking into a relaxed lunch at the end of a busy week.

AIM-listed Catenae Innovation (CTEA) was suspended five months ago for failing to offer up its accounts for year-ended September 2021. It now has just one month to post its audited numbers before the AIM Executioner calls and it is surely game over. But we haven’t heard from the company for two months: is there anybody there at Catenae Towers?

I hope this is fairly self-explanatory and that the regulators will launch a swift enquiry if only to show that on the world’s most successful growth market, nothing so tawdry has occurred at that hotbed of scholars and gentlemen that is Tern PLC (TERN) 

At the not-quite-end-of-July update my five slam-dunk sells had registered three wins, one loss and a draw. As the bear market rally cracks in the wake of Jerome Powell’s muscle-flexing at Jackson’s Hole, how are AIM-listed Tern (TERN), Barkby (BARK), URU Metals (URU), Trafalgar Property (TRAF) and Standard-Listed AIQ (AIQ) doing now?

nanosynth (NNN) has today issued a grotesquely misleading press release which tells investors that it has secured access to almost £3 million in death spiral funding. It has not. It has deceived mugs. Two years ago Versarien (VRS) issued an RNS about a deal with the same death spiral provider which I pushed the Oxymorons at AIM Regulation on, and which they forced loathsome Neill Ricketts and hois motley crew to correct. I have now written to the Oxymorons again…

On 23 March 2020 Versarien (VRS) announced a £6 million subscription by death spiral provider Lanstead. Of course, it was nothing of the sort. The proceeds have been a fraction of that and, following pressure from this site, AIM regulation forced Versarien to issue an RNS on April 6 admitting as much. Wind forward to today ands Lanstead and nanosynth (NNN) have engaged in an almost identical deception. Does nobody learn anything?

Yesterday, AIM-listed jam-tomorrow and running out of cash fast investment company Tern plc (TERN) announced that CEO Al Sisto had piled in to buy a whopping 200,000 shares via a subscription at 9.9p on Tuesday. The shares moved up by 6% in response – adding £2 million to the market capitalisation. But this is all a massive spoof.

I start with a reference to this personal podcast about Christmas Day 1914 HERE. Then it is onto Ironveld Resources (IRON), Kefi Gold & Copper (KEFI), Skinbiotherapeutics (SBTX), Advanced Oncotherapy (AVO) and Argo Blockchain (ARB) and it is one of two more reasons give to book your seats at ShareStock on September 10 NOW HERE

One day, I know not when, there will be no sanctions against Russia. And at that point we might be allowed to ask, without being accused of being an apologist for President Putin, who exactly benefits from all of these sanctions. Hat tip to JW for a summary of what happened after AIM listed Petropavlovsk (POG) went bust. This company, once worth £500 million, was largely owned by British shareholders. So, who benefits from its collapse? Yup. It is the Russians.

A spokesman for Ironveld Resources (IRON) denied to me yesterday that sitting on price sensitive information for at least 6 weeks during which time the share price slumped by 30% as some folks “miraculously” knew the bad news, is not doing anything wrong. “The company does not believe that it has done anything wrong”. Neither do 90% of the inmates of Wormwood Scrubs. Whatever you say Giles Clarke and Martin Eales.

We know that investee of AIM-listed jam-tomorrow investment company Tern plc (TERN), FundamentalVR (FVRVS), raised new money via a Series B funding round as announced on 31 May 2022, and again as announced on 11 August 2022 – the second of which cost Tern £1.5 million against the book value of its investment. On 28 July 2022, Tern chairman Ian Ritchie was announced to have bought 560,000 shares in Tern. This raises an interesting question.

There was encouraging news this morning from AIM-listed Gold producer Ariana (AAU) in the form of news from 50%-owned investee Venus Minerals. Venus is supposed to be joining the AIM Casino, and as part of the deal has a conditional 50:50 joint venture ownership agreement with regard to the Apliki copper project in Cyprus, and the Mineral Resource Estimate has been upped to 17 million tonnes of measured, indicated and Inferred Resource at an average grade of 0.34% copper.

AIM-listed jam-tomorrow investment company Tern plc (TERN) has issued a clarification with reference to a fundraise at investee FundamentalVR (FVRVS) which was announced on 11 August 2022. Can anyone explain how this can be correct?

We had news this morning that CPI inflation went through 10% in the UK – bad news, as this surely means further increases to interest rates over here. That won’t help businesses such as online clothing retailer, AIM-listed ASOS (ASC) and I sense that the company’s difficulties don’t end there, for this morning the CFO/COO Mr Mat Dunn is to leave at the end of October. But the statement is, I fear, highly disingenuous.

Yesterday I discussed how Ironveld Resources (IRON) via its PR man Tim Blythe of BlytheRay ands the awful Mail on Sunday was smearing Richard Jennings but ignoring the real issue which were breaches of AIM Rule 10 and 11. But what is sauce for the goose... I today read to you a string of remarks made by Giles Clarke, Ironveld's chairman in whatsapp messages now in my posession. After yesterday's indignation perhaps Mr Clarke wants to consider his position. Then onto Abingdon Health (ABDX), liquidity drying up and what it can mean, Parsley Box (MEAL) and musicMagpie (MMAG). I also discuss Wishbone Gold (WSBN) urging a note of caution on "nearology."

If I have ever suggested that Mr David Lenigas is a shameless penny share promoter and all round spiv prone to grotesque exaggeration whose clumsy ramping has helped to turn AIM into the sewer that it is, I should like to apologise. And I mean that most sincerely. The tweet below, about a stock where I may have a minor interest, although that in no way influences me, shows that Mr Lenigas is a world class mind whose pithy objective analysis of mining stocks makes him a national treasure. Let the record stand corrected.

Look what is crawling out of the grave, maggots emerging from every pus-filled orifice, the smell of death everywhere…it is Media Corp (MDC). It is back

Today's Mail on Sunday carries a nasty hit job on Richard Jennings of Align accusing him of racism. You can read it HERE. The story is clearly manufactured by Ironveld Resources (IRON). I do not know enough SA slang to comment on Jennings' words. However, amazingly the dickhead journalist not only failed to report matters showing Jennings as a supporter of poor blacks in Zim South despite having the evidence, but the whatsapp messages referred to show Ironveld driving a coach and horses through AIM Rule 11 and AIM Rule 10 so misleading its investors. I explain why that may have enabled some smart money to get out at the wrong prioe and why this should be enough to see Martin Eales and Giles Clarke fired at once. Unlike the wretched Mail I bring you the full whatsapp thread.

I was puzzled by the re-announcement of the valuation by AIM-listed Tern (TERN) with regard to its holding in FundamentalVR (FVRVS). After all, this was due to a second issue of B-series shares on the same terms as the first. Surely, then, we knew all that already, and it would not have changed. Silly me - this is Tern, after all!

Ed Croft’s Stockopedia is the stock picking system that ranged the Quindell (QPP) fraud as one of the cheapest companies on AIM and said that Globo (GBO) scored 92/100 as a buy. It was a fraud too and went bust. Then there was Wirecard which Stocko pushed aggressively just 3 days before the balloon went up! Two years after the Woodford blow up, Ed is now and expert saying his system could have predicted it.  Whatever. So how would Ed’s system assess company X which has just filed 2021 accounts

Greg Madison was appointed as CEO of Shield Therapeutics (STX) on June 1 2021. The shares were then 60p. Today they are 8p. In just over a year Greg has presided over a catastrophic 87% destruction of shareholder value. Luckily Greg had no shares himself just a stack of options granted to him two weeks after he joined, to incentivise him.

AIM-listed jam-tomorrow IoT investment company Tern (TERN) announced yesterday afternoon that investee Fundamental VR (FVRVS limited) had raised a further £5 million in a second tranche of the Series B fundraise first announced back in May. That seems positive, so why the immediate share price drop in the market?

I bet Elizabeth Lake is regretting joining Revolution Beauty (REVB) as its CFO on May 12 this year. The previous incumbent Andrew Clark hung around till the end of July for an orderly handover, since when we have had a ghastly profits warning and now, today, an admission of potential accounting “issues.” Ms Lake must feel as if she was parachuted onto the Titanic just before the iceberg. Or maybe she should take some blame and walk the plank?

By my back-of-an-envelope, AIM-listed Haydale (HAYD) is once again almost all out of cash – I reckoned HERE that the coffers could be bare before the end of September. Having burned through £430,000 in June alone, the company had £1.19 million at the close of June. So what will the company do?

I should declare that I am a shareholder in this company. I bought 1 share a few years ago so that I could attend its AGM to quiz the management on the catalogue of lies they had told to investors.  Then covid struck. On a properly regulated market Advanced Oncotherapy (AVO) would have been given the order of the boot years ago, but this is AIM.

Lunch time does seem to be the new no-one-is-watching o’clock and yesterday at 12.54pm, just as the City was tucking in to a nice tasty lunch before settling down to enjoy the action at the Commonwealth Games, AIM-listed Anglesey Mining (AYM) popped out an RNS.

On 23 June 2022 Gerry “the arse” Brandon, a man who broke AIM Rules 10 and 11 before his last bailout placing last summer, served up calendar 2021 results noticeable for their prodigious cashburn but the most bullish of statements about the jam arriving tomorrow, or in fact this year.. How things can change.

Oh dear, it seems as if the self-styled “ world’s most successful growth market” is having something of an annus horribilis. Pay rises all round at AIM Regulation!

We have covered plenty of dogs which have been howling away in recent days, such as Chill Brands (CHLL) and Love Hemp (LIFE) but one AIM-listed Dog has been conspicuously silent. Catenae Innovation (CTEA) is the dog that didn’t bark!

AIM-listed junior Gold producer Ariana Resources (AAU) released its half-year production results this morning, which made for a good read. But the bigger news for me was that construction at Ariana’s second Gold mine at Tavsan has formally started and is expected to be in operation in around 12 months. Hooray!

On 19 July last year Revolution Beauty (REVB) joined the AIM Sewer raising £110.7 million by issuing new shares and with founders dumping £189.3 million of shares at 160p.  After a warning today about dismal trading which is so bad that it begs the question of whether Revolution will go bust, the shares are 26p. This is a new posterboy for the AIM 2021 IPO class of shame and advisers Zeus Capital should be asked some real questions.

The half-year results to April 2022 for AIM-listed holiday resort in Crete outfit Minoan (MIN) were released on Friday, at 1.55pm – just as the City, having tucked into a nice Friday lunch, was settling down to enjoy the Commonwealth Games. In other words it was no-one-is-watching o’clock – the offence compounded by it being deadline day too. Not a great start!

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

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

Gold ended the week at $1728 – up (at last!) from last week’s $1709. It may not be much, but bearing in mind what happened in between times, I wonder if this may be the start of a rebound. Gold has had few friends for weeks and even Tom Winnifrith, a Gold bull (if a bit less madly so than me) was expressing doubts. If even he is having doubts, have we reached capitulation and finally turned the corner?

I commented before that the proposed takeover of AIM-listed Pires Investments (PIRI) by AIM-listed jam-tomorrow investment company Tern (TERN) reminded me of Tom Winnifrith’s image of two drunks trying to prop each other up, as neither had any money. Today we learnt that they had fallen over each other and were lying in a heap on Paternoster Square.

As you sweat in your place of work trying to earn an honest crust, think of the banksters who list so many crap AIM and Standard Listed stocks for you to lose money on. What are they doing today? It seems that at least one has now decided what sort of champagne to swill and as he rests at his luxury Cornish second home, Mr Andrew Monk of VSA Resoiurces has time on his hands and tweets of his arduous day ahead.

AIM-listed member of the Woodford disruptive revolutionary front, Eve Sleep (EVE), has updated the market this morning on its formal sale process and trading. The news is not good and I suggest that anyone holding shares here is truly certifiable.

AIM-listed Yu Group (YU.) released its half-year trading update for the six months to June 2022 yesterday morning. As ever, it made a good impression but does it mean good results are on the way, or will there be a hidden nasty?

When AIM-listed Haydale (HAYD) released a trading update AHEAD of its full year at the end of June, seemingly indicating that all was well, I wondered if that was really the case. Well, this morning we know the answer to that, after a full-year trading update. All most certainly is not well – and the shares are already down by 5.5%.

AIM-listed Barkby Group (BARK) has released a trading update for its year ended 2 July 2022, along with an update on strategy. The former sees an unaudited bottom-line loss of £0.8 million whilst the latter implies there has been a strategic review – uh-oh!

I note that AIM-listed Scirocco Energy (SCIR) now sees its market capitalisation (according to ADVFN) down at just £2.3 million, having deteriorated from £3 million a few days ago. The reason appears to be two after-hours no-one-is-watching o’clock RNS announcements which were released at 6:10 pm on Tuesday and 5:09pm last night. They concern the Ruvuma disposal, which some shareholders are not very happy with.

I have been pulled up over my article covering the deal whereby AIM-listed Scirocco Energy (SCIR) ponied up £1.2 million as a loan to Energy Acquisitions Group (EAG), which EAG then used to acquire Greenan Generation Limited (GGL). The salient point for me is that all the capital seems to have come from Scirocco, but it effectively only gets half of GGL.

My ongoing bearishness towards AIM-listed Pure Gold (PUR) continues to bear fruit. I first wrote about the company in April when the shares were 10.25p, having been technically insolvent as at FY21. The shares were ramped up and then came the inevitable dump as the company had a reset with new management. So all was set fair? Er……yesterday we got a strategic review. Uh-Oh.

AIM-listed online ladies fashionwear purveyor Sosandar (SOS) released its full year numbers to March 2022 this morning and at first impression they look good. The company didn’t quite make it to bottom-line profitability and a state of cashflow positive trading remains some way ahead, but the pre-tax losses (previously £3.1 million) have been pared to just £0.5 million and, with an income tax credit of £0.4 million clocked up, the bottom line was a loss of just £0.1 million. Better still, the company reports profitability for the past nine months, so it would seem to me that a bottom-line profit is just around the corner.

AIM-listed Trafalgar Property (TRAF) has released a statement detailing a debt consolidation which will offer some comfort to shareholders as they consider the negative net asset position of MINUS £3.3 million and negative net current asset position of MINUS £345,000 as at the last results (interims to September 2021). But I fear that it will make little difference.

The latest spat involving Richard "nobody likes me and I don't care" Jennings of Align Research, is with AIM hound, Ironveld Resources (IRON). Inexplicably, Jennings has offered Ironveld money at 1p. Even more inexplicably, Ironveld has said no, forgetting that beggars cannot be choosers. Jennings has fired off the letter below, which is, as you'd expect, forthright and menacing.

I have been peering into the world of AIM-listed Scirocco Energy (SCIR) – formerly Solo Oil (SOLO) – and the fruits of its relationship with Gneiss Energy (run by Jon Fitzpatrick). In part one I looked at the deal to sell off the now non-core asset of Ruvuma in Tanzania and wondered what shareholders had to gain from the deal. But there is another deal which smells all wrong to me.

I have been peering into the world of AIM-listed Scirocco Energy (SCIR) – formerly Solo Oil (SOLO) – following a shareholder revolt which saw 36.56% of voting shareholders reject a deal to sell its interest in the Ruvuma Asset in Tanzania to AIM-listed Wentworth (WEN). 36.56% was not enough to derail the proposed transaction, but looking through the associated Circular is it hard to see what shareholders in Scirocco gain from the deal.

Pass the sick bag. You might think that Sam Smith opted to quit as boss of FinnCap (FCAP) the other day was because in the three and a half years since its IPO the shares have slumped by a third despite City advisers hauling in record fees for the past two years. But as the bear market growls it is a matter of when, not if, FinnCrap serves up a dire profits warning so it is better to walk now before the merde really hits the proverbial. But today's Femail section of the appalling Daily Mail suggests there is a lot more to the story. For starters did you know that the firm Sam started was in the the FTSE 100?

Having reached the halfway point of the year, it is time to look once again at my five slam dunk sells for the year. At the end of May the scores were 3 down and two up. Has there been any improvement? The not-so fabulous five were Tern plc (TERN), URU Metals (URU), Barkby Group (BARK) and Trafalgar Property (TRAF) of the AIM Casino and AIQ (AIQ) of the sub-Standard list.

AIM-listed and now suspended for three months Catenae Innovation (CTEA) has offered up an update on its financial position as the clock ticks down to the arrival of the Fat Lady.

Previously, I identified this minnow as a dog drowning in red flags. Today, Blue Star Capital (BLU) has served up its interims which, as reader A kindly explains, make no sense at all.

How many times will mug punters fall for this?  Last Thursday, Verditek (VDTK) shares traded at 1.3p, before soaring to 1.6p the following day. On Monday, there was a contract announced, and they roofed it to 2.5p. Today…

I shall serve up a more detailed comment on the piss poor full year numbers from Eurasia Mining (EUA) later but it is worth flagging up for Cliff Weight, the laudable ShareSoc supremo, and others the matter of the paid for research published on Eurasia by ACF Research in February 2020.

AIM-listed Ariana Resources (AAU) has released its FY21 numbers this morning – and not a day too late! The highlight for me is the cashpile of £16.4 million at year-end: no funding worries here, then, and the final tranche of the special dividend arising from the part sale of Ariana’s Turkish assets is due on 3 October. But there is much more than that!

AIM-listed Advanced Oncotherapy (AVO) has announced that Odey Asset Management is coughing up another £4.5 million as part of a £6 million fundraise to add to its investment in March of £2 million, again at 25p a pop – the par price. So is this an act of faith by Odey, or a case of if you owe the bank a million quid then it is the bank which has a problem?

Once again, I explain why Gary is wrong on that interview: unless you've been CEO of a challenged PLC - I have - you don't appreciate the bind 4d Pharma (DDDD)'s board was in. Then the expose, another financing blunder, an offer rejected and why that decision caused investors to lose everything.

If I have suggested that Mr David Lenigas was a National Treasure and Britain's most talented objective analyst of small cap shares, rather than a fat Aussie spiv and shameless promoter of penny share dross, I must apologise. Not to Big Dave but to you dear reader.

AIM-listed Inspirit Energy (INSP) has announced the remarkable achievement of over 30kW from a first stage build test for its waste heat recovery system. Woopie-do! But is this all it is cracked up to be, with the shares up 49% on the news?

Last year, AIM sewer poster boy,  Deepverge (DVRG), did a placing at 30p. It had misled investors on trading, and its ghastly CEO, Gerry "the arse" Brandon, slated me as not understanding investment. Today, the shares are 10.5p, after awful finals in which, as I explain in this bonus podcast, the company again - by omission rather than act - materially misleads investors. If you own this stock, lube up; there is more pain coming your way.

This is a disgrace and if the Oxymorons at AIM regulation “led” by the bogus Sheriff of AIM, Mr Marcus Stuttard, were not such pathetic and spineless pond life they would be banning the devout Christian Matt Lofgran and London’s worst Nomad from playing any further part in life on the AIM sewer.

Fonix Mobile (FNX) has announced that “selling shareholders… have successfully sold a total of 6,666,667 placing shares at a price of 150 pence per placing share… in order to satisfy strong institutional demand”. If it says so!...

Full-year results from perennial AIM uber dog, ADM Energy (ADME), are - needless to say - appalling. Huge losses, cash outflows, legal battles, and three bailout placings (one post-period end); but it could get worse. Ooh, yes. The account notes warn explicitly of a hot date with the Fat Lady.

AIM-listed and technically insolvent Barkby Group (BARK) slipped out a director share dealing announcement yesterday afternoon at 3.19pm  - when anyone in the City with any sense would have been trying to get home and beat the railways strike, thus no-one-is-watching o’clock. It announced some director dealing by CFA Douglas Benzie which surely raises a Red Flag or two.

Okay, Sam has a few things to be smug about. She set up FinnCap (FCAP), and 24 years later, it is an AIM-listed Nomad and broker. Furthermore, she has done it all despite - as per hundreds of sycophantic interviews - being a woman in what is largely a male-dominated world. How very ESG, la dee da dee da. But…

After his senior role at disgraced broker, Daniel Stewart - enabling China frauds including Naibu - Paul Shackleton should have been banned from financial services. Instead, he is now earning a six-figure wedge at Peel Hunt. But the morally bankrupt bankster is getting a bit forgetful

I start with why I was up until 2 AM last night, as discussed HERE. Then, it is on to the fraud, Supply@ME Capital (SYME); M & C Saatchi (SAA); Next Fifteen (NFC); and finally, that golden rule and Westminster Group (WSG).

I see that shares in AIM-listed online purveyor of ladies wear Sosandar (SOS) have dropped – down by 0.5p today, to 20p and down from 22p at the start of play yesterday. But there has been no news, so why the shedding of around 10% of its value? The answer is, of course, news from rivals Asos (ASC) and Boohoo (BOO).

I may have told you the story before that I thought I was so smart when I doubled my money in the then As Seen On Screen (and now ASOS) (ASC) shares the thick end of a couple of decades ago…but I sold way too early. However it is better to make money than not…as any ASOS investors over the last five years know, with the stock down a mere 80% since 2017. And as any trendy 15-30 year olds will tell you, there have been plenty of fashion brand changes over recent years way beyond whether clothes should be bought online or not. And on this front, onto today’s noteworthy two updates…

Last time Argo Blockchain (ARB) passed the hat around, its disgraced CEO, Peter Wall, claimed that it had no need to issue equity. I put it to you that – as I revealed on Saturday – Argo is preparing to do just that; otherwise, Wall will be treated to another of the Fat Lady's performances. Moreover...

In an extraordinary announcement this morning, AIM-listed Vela Technologies (VELA) has announced that it has just discovered that – unbeknown to its Board – it had apparently invested £300,000 into Aquis-listed TruSpine (TSP) as part of a subscription announced by TruSpine on 31 May 2022. What???!! And then this afternoon a clarification.

AIM-listed Advanced Oncotherapy (AVO) is certainly keeping its Brokers – SI Capital and Allenby – busy. Only in April the company raised £1.7 million, although the funds weren’t in the bank when the announcement went out. In March the company rattled the tin for £2 million – plus an additional loan of another £1.5 million. Now it has rattled the tin once again – to raise just £800,000 (before expenses) as the company strains to keep its head above water.

It has all gone quiet at AIM-listed Ariana Resources (AAU) but I fancy that things are about to hot up, which may make the shares a short-term buy in advance. Of course, I seem always to find a justification for buying Ariana shares and my target price is not far off double the current mark at 3.75p. But the company is pregnant with news, much of which is due by the end of this month.

Yet again, I write to AIM Regulation with regard to the devout Christian, Matt Lofgran. Praise be the Lord. This time, it is not about his consorting with convicted pump-and-dump fraudster, Ron Bauer, and his known associate, Adrian Beeston. It concerns his misleading investors in Nostra Terra Oil & Gas (NTOG), in collusion with London’s worst Nomad, Roland  “Fatty” Cornish.

Yesterday I flagged up how Nostra Terra Oil & Gas (NTOG), run by disgraced Matt Lofgran (Praise be the Lord) of consorting with convicted fraudsters at Elephant Oil infamy, was hoodwinking its investors by releasing selected highlights of its 2021 annual report via RNS but no actual report.  I suspect that the full report may contain words of warning from the auditors. It damn well should do.

I commented only last week that whilst the receipt of $748,400 on a loan from Argentina was a welcome development, I wasn’t sure it was enough to keep the wolf from the door at AIM-listed Rurelec (RUR) – the carcass left behind after it was run into the ground by Peter Earl. Today, at 2.38pm, the company slipped out its results for calendar 2021. So how’s the cash position?

AIM-listed Haydale (HAYD) has offered up a trading update ahead of its full year to June 2022. Apparently all is well, with revenues ahead of expectations but is that really the case?

How long does it take? In 2021, the annual report came out on 4 June; this year, it will be later. Natch, Eurasia (EUA) has an excuse. Despite claiming sanctions had no effect, it now states:

There may be signs that at last things might start to move at AIM-listed Bowleven’s jointly-owned Etinde prospect off Cameroon. It was announced this morning that chief partner and operator, New Age, has agreed to hand over the reins to Perenco as operator.

How many times have I written to AIM Regulation about Eurasia Mining (EUA)? Here we go again...

AIM-listed Karelian Diamonds (KDR) – the junior part of the Prof. Conroy AIM twosome (the other being Conroy Gold and Natural Resources, CGNR) waited until the last of the Jubilee bunting was being put up at 3pm the day before a double bank holiday (truly no-one-is-watching o’clock) to announced that the final meeting of the Finnish National Land Survey in relation to Karelian’s diamond mine plans at Lahtojoki has been delayed. Fortunately, ShareProphets was watching…..

Only last Sunday I showed that AIM-listed Trafalgar Property (TRAF) was technically insolvent, with MINUS £345,000 in net current assets, net assets of MINUS £3.3 million and cash of just £24,000 all as at last September. With a big ramp in play following the appointment hydroponics specialist of Dr Paul Francis Challinor, it was surely obvious that a discounted placing was on the way and whilst everybody was putting the finishing touches to the Platinum Jubilee bunting at 3.07 pm the day before a double bank holiday – truly no-one-is-watching o’clock - the company duly announced the issue of 133 million new bits of confetti at a massive discount. Nice work – call me Mystic Meg.

AIM-listed jam-tomorrow IoT investment company Tern plc (TERN) has announced a recommended all-share deal to take over AM-listed Pires Investments (PIRI). The fanfare numbers are that Pires investors are getting a 54% premium to the previous closing price, with Tern’s shares priced at 15.5p, but that seems to me to be a spoof. One wonders why Pires' board took the deal…..

AIM-listed jam-tomorrow IoT investment company Tern plc (TERN) has announced a fundraise by investee FVRVS at a 77% premium to the previous book value of Tern’s holding. Well done Tern…..well sort of, because Tern put in no new cash, which raises an awkward question.

AIM-listed John Zorbas vehicle URU Metals (URU) has announced yet another roll-over of the particularly advantageous 85p conversion terms on its $500,000 death spiral funding from Boothbay Absolute Return Strategies LP. With the shares currently at 350p in the middle, this is a licence to print money. The giveaway terms are now open to Boothbay until 31 May 2023.

AIM-listed but suspended Catenae Innovation (CTEA) has updated on its current suspension from trading on AIM, and offered up a rather limp looking trading update.

It is now seven months and two days since the supposedly credible buyer of the assets of Eurasia Mining (EUA) completed its due diligence but still there has been no offer. How long can AIM allow this farce to continue?  A proper bidder makes a bid and formalises it as soon as DD is done! Meanwhile perhaps we might get clarification on M&A head honcho Dmitry Suschov.

As we reach the end of month five – we are almost half way – here is the latest from my small-dunk sells for this year. The biggest feature of the portfolio is that all the companies need to rattle the tin and whilst that has been less of a problem during the everything bubble, market conditions are deteriorating fast. So I expect a few accidents in the coming months.

AIM-listed Rurelec (RUR), the carcass left behind by Peter Earl after he ran it into the ground, reported last week that it had received a partial debt repayment from Patagonia Energy Group after it received a payment of $1 million from Energia del Sur in Argentina. Rurelec got $758,400, but is still owed over $13 million. So is this good news?

These are the most-read articles and most listened-to Bearcasts of the week. The actual most-read non Tom article is by me, last week’s pub quiz. The most read non-Tom, non-quiz article is Busy Thursday – BT Group, Johnson Matthey and Auto Trader by Chris Bailey at a non-leaderboard Number 17 or Number 23 if you include Bearcasts.

I have been bearish on AIM-listed Yu Group (YU.) almost since the dawn of time. Well, since the company ‘fessed up that it had effectively been making up its numbers and that there was a black hole in the accounts. So is it time to reconsider, in the light of yesterday’s apparently bullish AGM trading update? Not so fast…..

Yesterday, I revealed how, as CEO of Elephant Oil, Matt Lofgran had handed out 30% of its equity, gratis - most notably to a convicted pump-and-dump operator, currently facing 85 years in jail. Lofgran would happily sup with the devil, so as to get away an IPO, which would have netted him an immediate $500,000 and a 100% pay rise. I have thus written to the Oxymorons at AIM Regulation.

This is a major scandal - one that will create massive embarrassment for those operating in the depths of the AIM, Aquis and Standard List sewers. And for Matt Lofgran of Nostra Terra (NTOG), his buddy, Gavin Burnell of the Globo (GBO) fraud, and Novum infamy, it poses a major question of what they knew and when.

I’ve been taking a look through the annual report from Wyld, AIM-listed Tern’s second largest investment, for calendar 2021. Needless to say, there was no announcement form Tern over this…..

If I were a shareholder in corporate advisor, Arden (ARDN), and had, in late April, swapped my stock for shares in legal and accounting firm, Ince Group (INCE), I would be calling my lawyer right now; Ince has only just released a profit warning for the year ended 31 March 2022.

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 17^th  (today) came that announcement. Eurasia “confirms it has no material new developments to notify” and so trading will resume on Wednesday 18^th. 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 ????