Minding the London Stock Exchange’s Business
Independent and Fearless Financial Journalism Funded by Readers
Even a few of our detractors have now come around
In today's podcast, I suggest 3 questions you should ask of a certain speaker at UK Investor, and I shall be very proud of anyone who has the nerve to do so! I look at Eurasia Mining (EUA); Kavango Resources (KAV), run by flip-flop, Ben Turney; Strip Tinning (STG); Deepverge (DVRG); Audioboom (BOOM); and Nanosynth (NNN), where I slash my target price to 0.1p. 95% of you have yet to donate to Rogue Bloggers for Woodlarks. Come on, I am sure you can spare a tenner - please do give HERE.
In the old days of editing this website, flip flop Ben Turney would skewer penny share promoters for deceiving investors. These days, flip flop runs Sub Standard Listed Kavango Resources (KAV), which today raised £750,000 at 3p, Friday’s closing offer price. The RNS is bure bunkum, but there is worse.
I start with the dire customer service from Scottish Power which is scamming me here at the Welsh Hovel. What to do? Then I am disppointed that none of you could Sherlock ADM Energy (ADME) and its latest fake sheikh. Then, sorry Gary, back to Advance Energy (ADV) and its history with this fine website as Andalas and as CEB Resources, the pumpers (Zak Mir, flip flop Ben Turney, and Justin the Clown), the villains (Dave Whitby) and the lessons. Finally I explain why those predicting financial armageddon are, all of a sudden so plausible, but are wrong, or at least are over-egging the pudding.
On April Fool’s day there was an upbeat statement from Nostra Terra (NTOG) promising all sorts of good things. What it neglected to mention was that trade creditors had risen to £230,000 as the cash burning enterprise had no cash and so imply could not afford to pay its bills. One of those owed cash (£60,000) was Nomad Strand Hanson, boy how it must have been hoping for a placing….
Don’t get me wrong, I think that Nostra Terra Oil & Gas (NTOG) is a basket case but at least flip flip Ben Turney has engineered a boardroom revolution which gives it a slim chance of not going bust. Well done to Ben who, you may remember, discussed Nostra Terra in a recent ShareProphets Radio free podcast HERE.
My guest in this week's show which is sponsored by Open Orphan PLC (ORPH) is a former editor of this website Flip Flop Ben Turney. We discuss the problems with AIM, New World Oil & Gas, Nostra Terra (NTOG), touching on the mud being slung at Ben by some folks but on the real issues that company faces, on Touchstone Exploration, Big Sofa (BST) and many other matters, notably AIM PLC director expenses. I also discuss companies who switch Nomads too often. Yes that includes Versarien (VRS) and its forced change of today. If you like this podcast and can't wait seven days for more of the same and are tired of being a cheapskate you should listen to my Bearcast every day.
In this podcast from the Welsh Hovel as it is battered by Storm Dennis I discuss Nostra Terra (NTOG) ahead of a podcast with former site editor Flip Flop Ben Turney on Monday, Gervais Williams and his rile in this sorry tale and his problems and the fate of Sirius Minerals (SXX) and why certain tedious establishment suits need to start being honest with folks who have lost millions.
Yesterday another dog cursed by the hex that is a Gervais Williams investment, that is to say Nostra Terra Oil & Gas (NTOG), published details of a sack the board EGM and the management’s case for staying on. What, in a cowardly fashion, it refused to do, as I believe it should have done is publish the letter that the requisitioner, Eridge Capital run by flip flop Ben Turney, wanted to send to shareholders. Fear not… the letter, outside of all paywalls, is below. Nostra Terra shareholders should read it and vote to sack chairman Ewan Ainsworth - in light of the scandalous pay revelations below - and hapless Lofgran after this bombshell. Sack the board!
All we need now is for Julie "Lingerie on expenses" Meyer to enter the bust up at Nostra Terra Oil & Gas (NTOG) and the holy row would be complete. This will be entertaining if, I suspect, utterly pointless. I also comment on Versarien (VRS) correcting a BB loon - and flag up that I have a major AIM expose of a high profile, shortable, stock going live tomorrow morning. I explain why it is so interesting. Now I am off to do a Woodlarks training walk. So far we have £6600 raised or pledged - don't be mean donate today HERE
Oh dear, Oh dear. On the principle that Good News travels fast and vice versa I rather worry for flip flop Ben Turney, the former editor of this website and the rescuer of formerly AIM listed Teathers Financial. How is the rescue going? Er... As you can see below...
As you may have gathered yesterday, Malcolm’s long-suffering wife reckons that he has been spending too much time in The Punter’s Return and so has organised a holiday in Denmark, Sweden and Russia where Mr Stacey hopes to discover the magic money tree and a theme for his next novel. We left him at Heathrow, but our senior reporter has now updated us on his progress…
I look at why taking part in the Premaitha (NIPT) placing did not constitute insider dealing but make a suggestion as to how to change the way AIM placings take part. I look at what the Countrywide (CWD) statement means for Purplebricks (PURP) and at UK housing activity, at MySquar (FRAUD) where SP Angel continues to turn a blind eye to crime, at Avanti Communications (AVN), R4E (R4E) and at a new NEX float Tectonic Gold (TTAU) formerly Stratmin and why AIM turned it down and what message that sends to flip flop Ben Turney and Teathers (TEA). Read about my extreme weekend suffering and be generous HERE
Flip Flop Ben Turney, formerly of this Parish, insists that this email to shareholders in Teathers Financial is private and confidential. I can see why, as it is bollocks he would not want subjected to outside scrutiny. Naturally it has found its way to Winnileaks so I publish it in full.
In this bearcast I cover Sosandar (SOS) as Cynical Bear pretends to be Ben Turney on steroids and then turn my fire to all the bad news that UK Oil & Gas (UKOG) is sitting on and may release well after hours tomorrow. Then I look at Gloo Networks (GLOO) which is linked to BCA Marketplace (BCA). Gloo is at every level a total fecking scandal of greed and well everything. I should warn you that there is a bad language alert as Gloo is everything that is wrong about the AIM Casino. If you like bearcasts then remember that at UK Investor on April 21 one of many highlights will be a live bearcast with myself and Paul Scott. Make sure you book a free ticket HERE using the promotional code WINNIFRITH
Some folks appear to think that New World Oil & Gas (NEW) has been a failure for Adam Reynolds. Sure it got booted off AIM for failing to do an RTO but you still have a company and news is imminent.
I wrote earlier today that Flip Flop Ben Turney who now finds himself running failed ex AIM investment vehicle Teathers really MUST go to the Old Bill demanding a full investigation into the ATM withdrawals by ex FD Nilesh Jagatia. A reader points out that Flip Flop has another civic duty to perform on this matter, he must go to the taxman. Ever keen to help...
Yesterday I revealed a series of 74 "interesting" transactions on the Teathers Financial (TEA) company credit card and some curious payments on the Teathers pre-payment card belonging to Nilesh Jagatia the company's former FD. There is now a very real suspicion that Teather's poor shareholders were paying for Jagatia's domestic shopping at his local Sainsbury's in South Woodford and that he was making withdrawals from the company's account for personal use. I have thus written to the new CEO flip flop Ben Turney who, of course arrived in the coup that saw Jagatia fired. The letter is below.
This morning came a TR-1 announcement from AIM-listed Bowleven (BLVN): Crown Ocean, which has requisitioned a sack-the-board EGM upped its stake by about 5 million shares to 47.6 million shares, or 14.87% of the company, last Wednesday...
Oil and gas company Bowleven (BLVN) is the latest in the sights of shareholder activist ‘flip flop’ Ben Turney – who, is organising small shareholders. But Flip Flop is the Monkey, the Organ grinder - we believe - is an activist hedge fund and this will unlock value. With the shares at a current 24.5p offer price, there is cash, asset (and currently wider industry sentiment) support, whilst we reckon success for the hedge fund in ousting a hated management would see the shares rise smartly in short order.
He is at it again, flip flop Ben Turney has another company in his sights and this time it is rather larger than before. It is Bowleven (BLVN). And in his attenpts to push for management change, we can reveal that Turney has the support of bear raider Waseem Shakoor who is not part of Turney's group but has a material stake.
African Potash stated in its annual report that on the ISDX (now called NEX) lobster pot it might be more difficult to raise money than on the AIM casino. I should cocoa. The last trade was on December 29. Liquidity is just nil and the 0.05p offer prize only applies if you want to sell peanuts amounts. If you invested in this fraud just accept that your shares are now worthless as it cannot get awaqy the £600,000 placing it dsays that it needs to survive. So Potash is going to go bust soon. But your cash might not be lost. There is a small chance.
The word on the street is that the AGM of Sefton Resources (SER) is to be held today at the Essex offices of ADVFN PLC (AFN) - the head honchos at both company's being the same. Flip flop Ben Turney, who now owns almost 13% of the stock says that ADVFN boss Clem Chambers has slammed the phone down on him as he tried to confirm this.
I rather like the ADVFN service, and having met its CEO briefly a few times I rather liked him too. And as a house matter, there was much to commend about the staunch resistance to pressure being applied on ADVFN to put clear water between it and ShareProphets was over the way in which, for example, the Quindell fraud was being systematically unpicked in these parts. That was not just an issue of free speech, it was a matter of exposing bad people and trying to save the shirts of our readers. So I have an awful lot of time for Clem Chambers, the CEO of ADVFN.
As we revealed yesterday, ADVFN (AFN) bosses Clem Chambers & Mike Hodges who also run now delisted Sefton Resources (SER) have stated that flip flop Ben Turney has not submitted an EGM request to oust them. Flip Flop has denied this and accused the Sefton board of lying to their investors. Now Turney has parked his tank on the ADVFN lawn.
Flip Flop Ben Turney who is endeavouring to oust Clem Chambers and Mike Hodges of ADVFN (AFN) from the board of now de-listed Sefton Resources (SER) has accused the two men of "telling blatant and demonstrable lies to investors in Sefton."
A slight tweak in the ShareProphets business model means that as of November 1st nearly all, of the e-books that I have penned will no longer be available for free on this website - you will have to buy them on Amazon. So you have just TODAY to get free copies of titles such as "The 49 Golden Rules of making Money from Shares" as well as the 49 Red Flags book and the book Ben Flip Flop Turney and I produced on how to value oil, gas and mining shares. The same applies to Zak Mir's crap e-book on charting.
The board of Sefton (SER) was informed eight days ago that Flip Flop Ben Turney owned 13% of the issued share capital and was demanding an EGM to oust the current directors, ADVFN (AFN) bosses Clem Chambers and Mike Hodges with Ben taking control. The resolution arrived in the BVI yesterday by snail mail but after eight days Flip Flop has not had a response. But he seems to have growing support and there are other developments.
Cry aceeed! Over the weekend Nigel published the proposals made by flip flop Ben Turney for Sefton Resources (SER) and Teathers (TEA). Yup the longest running pantomime on the AIM Casino is back in town. Some of the ideas suggested are just plain crackers. Truly when you thought this farce could not get any more surreal it just did. Others are actually very sensible. I try to cut through the farce to suggest what should happen.
Dear reader, it's one of the most important holidays on the calendar today, Thanksgiving. The real one. The Canadian one. Oh sure, next month we'll hear all about the US holiday and where to buy turkey and it's related treats, but remember who did it first.
The ex-AIM-listed Sefton Resources (SER) disaster story looks set to take an extraordinary new turn. ShareProphets hears that Ben Turney has now amassed enough of a holding to requisition an EGM proposing sack-the-board resolutions, appointing himself and one of his Teathers Action Group colleagues instead. Oooh, er. But the most bizarre twist of this is that we hear that the source of Ben Turney’s holding of 585.1 million shares (out of 4.7 billion) is none other than a certain Mr Chris Oil, via a private sale. Aceeeeeeeed!!
I am happy to congratulate flip flop Ben Turney. Of course he remains a clown capable of bollocksing up much in life but yesterday he claimed notable scalps as three disgraced, discredited and utterly shite directors of New World Oil & Gas (NEW) walked the plank with immediate effect and that is down to Flip Flop.
I am not writing much today as I am 100% fecked off with everyone especially Ben Turney, Jason Drummond and lyin' George Osborne. Instead I finished my olive pruning. I think I am going to quit writing and become a full time olive pruner. I discuss Teathers Financial (TEA), the Brexit vote, Photo-Me (PHTM), Chemring (CHG), Churchill Mining (CHL), xCite Energy (XEL) and dog spreadbetting waste of space London Capital (LCG)
Embattled Teathers Financial (TEA) boss Jason Drummond has admitted that the late filing of accounts was a mistake but, in a long conversation last night, he said that people who assume he is hiding something will have a big shock.
There are five directors at New World Oil & Gas (NEW), two new regime (Adam Reynolds and Nick Lee) and three of the utterly loathed and discredited old guard who spunked £33 million of other folks cash on deals that were either fraudulent (the fake Sheikh) or just crap. How Messrs Einchcomb, Polakoff and Sztyk have the brass neck to hang around like a lingering mega fart defies belief. But not for much longer.
If anyone sees Chris Cleverley about town make sure he reads this. The "spin" from supporters of African Potash (AFPO) is that the events of yesterday are just a matter of bad PR, nothing unusual on the AIM casino and we should just move on. Ben "flip flop" Turney tweets such nonsense. Boy has flip flop lost the plot. African has been seen to have made statements via RNS, as it worked a placing away that were just, by its own admission, untrue. It raised cash on a false prospectus. That is fraud. Its shares must be suspended and its CEO Chris Cleverley deserves to go to prison. And he might just do that. Flip Flop sent out two tweets on this matter yesterday:
In today's St David's Day podcast I wish my Welsh listeners a happy national day and - especially for you - discuss why sheep porn matters. I then move onto Horse Hill and today's news and why Ben Turney and the other silly rampers are talking shit. To make it simple, I use the analogy of Ms Cheryl Cole and Mr Wayne Rooney. I discuss African Potash (AFPO), letters of credit and thus Environmental Recycling (ENRT) and its fellow FRAUD Eden Research (EDEN). Its PR man Queenie McManus is - I assume - still smearing me as he chats to his pals the Bulletin Board Morons - but the company refuses to meet for an interview. What - other than fraud - is it hiding? I discuss Greka Drilling (GDL) as it heads down the pan and - after today's results from Barclays (BARC) - banks in general and why Old Getafix is wrong to be such a bull.
In the past seven days, 42,201 unique readers read 76,973 pages on ShareProphets. The circulation of the Investors Chronicle is c30,000. Shares is less than half of that. To our critics who think we do not count, we say think again.
ShareProphets Press' NEW book of 2015 is by Tom Winnifrith, Ben Turney, Chris Bailey and the whole ShareProphets team. In it, the writers on the UK's most compelling financial website look for the eight shares to take advantage of by buying ahead of the 'Santa Rally'.
I had not planned to be back in charge until January 1 2016 but events, events. As of the week before Gold & Bears I am again editing this website.
The November edition of UK Investor magazine is now live featuring 4 buy share tips, 3 sells (from TW), company profiles on Inspirit Energy and Prime People, Ben Turney on Irish oil plays, Malcolm Stacey on investing with ethics, and Tom Winnifrith's 'See You In Court, Bitchez' policy. You can download your free copy below
I’ve had an interesting discussion with our stalwart reader Wildrides on my recent 88 Energy piece (88E). Cut a long story short Wildrides has made a number of comments on pieces I’ve written pointing out the obvious flaws in the businesses I’ve covered. Wildrides and I swap the odd email, so I do know his real name. He is an experienced investor and someone whose opinion I respect, but our recent exchange has left me wondering; does AIM make thieves of us all?
Today is Sefton Resources’ (SER) last day as a publicly traded company. In a shock email to one aggrieved shareholder, recently installed CEO Clem Chambers has admitted that the EGM requisitioners did not have a replacement nominated advisor to take over from Allenby Capital. This is despite all the public claims and propaganda to the contrary. Shame on all involved. Their reckless actions have destroyed Sefton and it’s the company’s innocent shareholders who have been made to pay.
News has just crossed the wires to remind us how abysmally “New Old” Range Resources’ (RRL) board of directors handled the transition after last November’s Abraham coup. The Western Australian Supreme Court has dismissed Range’s appeal to reverse the judgement made against it in paying the balance of the money it owes to Lind Asset Management. Range remains on the hook for at least $2.2million. Those Rangeologists that still exist might shrug their shoulders and say what after this summer’s Chinese refinancing of the company, but anyone considering buying this stock needs a timely reminder what they are getting themselves into.
Will private investors on AIM ever learn? This morning 88 Energy (88E) raised A$3million at 0.47p, a mere 24% discount to where the stock opened on Monday. The company also announced a first come first serve Share Purchase Plan (SPP) to raise up to €4,999,999 from existing eligible shareholders. Under the terms of this, retail holders of 88 Energy are allowed to purchase parcels of up to A$15,000 worth of stock on the same terms as the placement participants. No doubt people will fall over themselves to take up this deal, but if the company has such great prospects why the steep discount?
So there we have it. Adam Reynolds and Nick Lee have received an overwhelming mandate to transform New World Oil & Gas (NEW). Both men got elected to the board with over 99% of votes cast. This represents a great victory for shareholders and goes to show that positive, organised shareholder activism on AIM can work.
On Monday Premier Oil (PMO) announced the sale of its Norwegian assets for $120million cash. The company will use the money to help pay down some of its sizeable debts. According to its half yearly report, Premier had net debts of just over $2billion versus cash and undrawn debt facilities of $1.5billion. The business is clearly struggling, as reflected by its share price performance over the last eighteen months. On the verge of tumbling out of the FTSE250, Premier trades at 74p (last seen) and has a market cap of £376million. If things don’t improve for Premier in the near’ish term, this could have a nasty effect on Rockhopper (RKH) and, more specifically, commercialisation of the Sea Lion discovery in the North Falklands Basin.
After my Gulf Keystone (GKP) piece last week (HERE) drew the predictable furious response from Winnifrith (HERE), I’ve been looking into the company’s numbers in a bit more detail. There’s no denying that Gulf is teetering on the edge. However, it is not dead yet. Although it has little to no room for error, so long as the Kurds keep up their regular payments, it is possible that Gulf will be able to pay down its debt and refinance its balance sheet by April 2017. A broker note found its way into my inbox today, broadly supporting this view. It contained some interesting observations on Gulf’s debt position worth sharing.
Tomorrow I am off to Jersey for New World Oil & Gas’ (NEW) Annual General Meeting. If all goes to plan, Adam Reynolds and Nick Lee will be elected to the board, while Peter Sztyk will be deservedly kicked off. Although this should prove to be the watershed moment in New World’s transformation, it will not necessarily trigger an immediate rally in the share price. The hard work begins, once the result is known. However, if Reynolds and Lee remain true to form then 2016 could be incredibly exciting year for this company.
The laughter keeps on rolling at Carry On Up The Sefton (SER). It seems that the company’s new management team has managed to spend £950 on the AGM it cancelled because it needed to “reconstruct necessary access and information” (whatever the hell that means). It appears that confidence in Sefton’s new board is at an all time low, which is a most impressive achievement when you think about it. Not trusting that the AGM was truly cancelled, one plucky shareholder turned up to the Novotel at London Bridge this lunchtime and has sent us some photos. Apparently Novotel’s catering manager repeatedly attempted to contact Sefton to confirm the booking, but no one replied. Quelle surprise!
Red warning flags have been billowing over 88 Energy (88E) ever since it changed its name from Tangiers Petroleum (TPET). Tangiers was an unmitigated disaster for shareholders, but it seems that a simple name and ticker symbol change is all that is needed to induce an acute case of market amnesia. Having bet the farm and lost in Morocco, it is incredible that managing director David Wall survived. A little over a year later and he is now running one of the most heavily promoted oil exploration campaigns on AIM. People never learn, but this morning’s announcement from Tangiers, sorry I mean 88 Energy, fired a warning shot across the bow of anyone planning to hold this stock as a buy and hold.
Over the last few days I took a gamble that Atlas Developments (ADSS) is going to deliver some positive news before the end of the month. This is a punt on a stock which is widely loathed and as Gary Newman would have us believe is meant to be a “massive bargepole stock, with dilution coming”. I agree with a lot of what Gary has to say about Atlas, but I think he has overlooked the possibility the company could release a surprise RNS before the end of the month. Here’s why.
A few minutes ago flip flop Ben Turney - who has called this stock disastrously wrong - once again put the bull case for shares in Gulf Keystone (GKP) at 27p. I've been a bear from 180p all the way down. I remain a bear. My initial target is sub 10p but this could be a zero. I explain all in another mini podcast.
In the next week we should find out whether or not the Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) is going to make good on its summer pledges. In August and September it promised to establish a regular payment cycle to the various oil producing companies active in the country for crude exports. Share prices of Gulf Keystone (GKP), Genel (GENL) and Norwegian firm DNO (DNO) leapt on the news. Two months and two payments later, the third should be due on or around 15 November. If Gulf receives another $15million, might this help restore some faith in the company’s future?
Shares in Xcite Energy (XEL) are up 6.25% this morning on news of the company’s farm-in with Azinor Catalyst Limited. Under the terms of the deal, Azinor has the opportunity to earn into the UK Continental Shelf (UKCS) Licence P.1979, held by Xcite’s subsidiary Xcite Energy Resources. In return for completing a technical evaluation and then possibly an Induced Polarization survey of P.1979, Azinor could receive as much as 50% of the licence’s equity. On the face of it this looks like decent enough news for Xcite. The deal should enable progress at this non-core asset, allowing the company to focus on its flagship Bentley project. However, Xcite is giving up a significant proportion of P.1979 in return. The question now is, can this deal deliver value to shareholders?
This morning International Mining & Infrastructure (IMIC) quietly left the Casino. Following the resignation of Strand Hanson as the company’s Nomad on 8 October, IMIC was unable to find a replacement. Under the AIM Rules for companies, the requirement to have a Nomad is one of the few rules AIM Regulation bothers to enforce. We are none the wiser as to why Strand Hanson resigned nor do we know why IMIC could not find a new Nomad. As far as transparency goes this is not acceptable. If the company is so toxic that even Beaumont Cornish won’t represent it, shouldn’t shareholders have the right to know why?
This morning Bowleven (BLVN) announced its full year results. The company has made excellent operational progress and its balance sheet remains strong. On 30 June Bowleven was debt free, had a cash balance of $145.3million (£96million) and the expectation of the equivalent of up to a further $80million investment under the terms of the Etinde farm out ($40million free carry in two appraisal wells and $40million in cash payments, subject to certain milestones). Although the cash balance will have been eaten into over the last 4 months, during which two exploration wells were drilled at Bomono, Bowleven is in rude financial health. So why does the market continue to punish its share price?
Over the weekend I’ve been sent a couple of interesting screenshots. It seems that market abuser Chris Oil is up to his usual tricks and attempting to rewrite the history of his disastrous intervention at Sefton Resources (SER). At the heart of Oil’s dismal coup was his claim that he had a Nominated Advisor (Nomad) lined up to replace Allenby Capital. As we repeatedly warned at ShareProphets this was not true and Oil now appears to have attempted to backtrack on his false promise. Unfortunately for him he has simply managed to reopen the wound. With Sefton’s inevitable delisting imminent, will shareholders pursue Oil for causing their losses?
Pantheon Resources (PANR) has been AIM’s success story of the autumn, but the market’s reaction to this morning’s reaction looks overblown. The VOS#1 well, in which the company holds a 50% stake, has encountered natural gas and oil in an unexpected zone at 12,600ft. On the face of it this is good news, but there are some cautionary warnings that investors should not get too excited just yet. Despite these the market has reacted joyously and Pantheon’s share price is up 16.2% at 86p last seen.
When I last wrote about Red Rock Resources (RRR) three months ago I said it looked like a “binary gamble”. So far the gamble has not paid off. Red Rock’s share price fell from 0.03p to 0.02p. However, the last two announcements from the company look surprisingly positive. In this morning’s trade, I’ve watched Red Rock’s Offer move from 0.025p to 0.03p on higher than average volume. Given that we are less than halfway through the session, this suggests that some in the market are starting to pay attention.
On Tuesday Metal Tiger (MTR) issued 36.25million new shares at 0.8p to raise £290,000. According to the company this placement was in response to an unsolicited approach by a group of investors. Metal Tiger has a growing number of fans and it seems there are plenty of people in the market who want to get behind this business in anticipation of a recovery in the mining sector.
Yesterday in his BearCast, Tom Winnifrith offered subscribers to Leni Gas Cuba’s (CUBA) controversial 2p placement some excellent advice. He suggested that if the placement participants were not made aware that the company’s founders were about to or had just issued themselves 250,000,000 shares at 0.01p (for just £25,000) they could stand a very good chance of getting their money back. To do so they would need to complain to the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS). Below I provide more information about how to go about this.
An explosive email has emerged, sent by David Lenigas on Friday to various brokers ahead of the disastrous Leni Gas Cuba (CUBA) IPO. Over the weekend false rumours spread across social media that there was a serious stock shortage ahead of the company’s calamitous market debut. The word was that conditions were primed for another potential New World Oil & Gas-style (NEW) short squeeze. If there were any doubt that this was all nonsense, yesterday’s crushing collapse in Leni Gas Cuba’s share price obliterated this. The rumours were completely untrue and it now seems that Lenigas himself forwarded the email below to a number of online stock rampers. Unsurprisingly this email is now doing the rounds.
The clocking is ticking down on Sefton Resources (SER) being booted off the Casino. Despite not having a Nomad, the company is still subject to the disclosure rules. So why, therefore, has Sefton’s new board not told shareholders that it has decided to cancel/postpone this month’s AGM?
Dual-listed iron-ore play Ferrum Crescent (FCR) released its latest quarterly figures this morning and they contain an ominous warning for shareholders. A placement is coming, almost certainly before Christmas.
Disastrous news overnight from Noble Energy, the operator of the Humpback exploration well off the Falkland Islands, has sent shares in Falkland Oil & Gas (FOGL) crashing. Having hit target depth of 5,136meters, Noble’s drill encountered oil and gas, but in non-commercial quantities. This included the primary APX-200 target. Noble is now plugging and abandoning Humpback, leaving shareholders in Falkland Oil to lick their wounds. At 12.07p (last seen), the company’s share price is off 40.5% on the day. Is this a buying opportunity or should investors rush for the exit, salvaging what they can?
On 23 October Sefton Resources (SER) announced its AGM to be held on 13 November. As a shareholder I should have received the circular for this by now, but I haven’t. Others seem to be in the same boat. I spoke with my broker TD Direct Investing today and it isn’t aware of the AGM. There is nothing in TD’s system signalling a corporate action. Even more confusingly it appears that Sefton has taken the proxy forms down from its website, which it previously had published. So what is going on?
Victoria Oil & Gas (VOG) delivered a fairly upbeat set of results this morning. Although the company recorded a $50.8million loss, $49.8million of this stemmed from an impairment charge relating to the company’s West Medvezhye project in Russia. The much more positive news was that operations in Cameroon delivered a profit after tax of $5.4million. Even so, the market appears to have been fairly underwhelmed by this and Victoria Oil & Gas’ share price is off 2.5% at 58p, last seen. This values the company at £64.6million. The question now is might there be a value case for buying this stock with a medium outlook?
New World Oil & Gas (NEW) has finally announced the date of the AGM. This marks the culmination of months of hard work behind the scenes, ensuring an orderly transition for the company from being one of AIM’s most despised stocks to one with an extremely bright future. As expected, Adam Reynolds is on the ticket for election to the board, but in a surprise twist he is joined by Nick Lee of Paternoster Resources (PRS). Lee will have the full support of NWOGaction, so his appointment is almost a foregone conclusion. Fred Hodder is retiring and Peter Sztyk now deservedly faces the wrath of his shareholders. This is all fantastic news.
Last night Doc Holiday (@dds_doc_holiday) had his Twitter account suspended for the umpteenth time. It seems that certain free speech deniers have taken exception to Doc’s social media prowess at exposing crooks and cheats for what they are. Never afraid to deliver a 140-character broadside, Doc’s popularity on Twitter stems from his determination to speak the truth. It is shameful that Twitter repeatedly bans Doc at the behest of liars and market abusers. If you care about free speech and defending what is right, then help us support Doc now!
Brilliant RNS from Sefton Resources (SER) this morning, simply brilliant. Just when you thought this story couldn’t deliver any more bizarre twists it turns out that Chris Oil has put his mum’s money where his mouth is and massively increased his stake. Not only did he buy £25,000 more stock on the open market immediately before Sefton went into suspension, for good measure he also kindly relieved convicted armed robber Daniel Levi of his holding. Oil now directly owns 13% of the suspended Sefton, while Levi apparently owns 0%. We wonder who dodged a bullet here…
Sareum Holdings (SAR) released its latest set of full year figures this morning. Shareholders might take some comfort from the company’s reported £1.65million net current asset position, but the reality is the placement clock is now ticking. Careful examination of Sareum’s numbers reveals this dog is getting ready to bark.
It was a photo finish between the Globo (GBO) bear report and Tom's victory at the High Court for most-read story this week, but, ultimately, the Greeks win out. Possibly not so much for their shareholders.
CEB Resources (CEB) has just put itself into suspension pending an announcement on Monday at 0700. No doubt the news is going to be positive, but the trading pattern in this stock since 14:50 yesterday afternoon is deeply troubling. I am a supporter of CEB Resources and would like to see this company do extremely well, but I fear now it is a victim of serious market abuse. Just look at the 5-day chart below.
“A big deal is on the way”, “heads of terms being agreed right now”, “contract to be signed in a week”, “the news will be massive”; these are just some of the rumours currently ricocheting round about AIM tiddler Armstrong Ventures (AVP). Priced at 0.0169p and with a modest 23billion shares in issue, Armstrong Ventures’ market cap is £3.9million. Putting money into a stock like this is the investment equivalent of playing with fire, but that doesn’t mean you can’t make a turn on it - so long as you dive for the exit at the right moment.
“Markets affect everyone. But they can go wrong. Left unattended they can be prone to excess, instability and abuse. In order for markets to regain their social license, it is vital that public authorities and private market participants work together to reverse the tide of ethical drift. This cannot be a one-off exercise and needs continuous engagement so that market infrastructure keeps pace with market innovation.” Describing the rationale for its Open Forum at the Guildhall on 11 November, the Bank of England perfectly sums up the general argument for reform of AIM.
When I heard that CEB Resources (CEB) CEO Dave Whitby was coming to the UK for a meet and greet with investors I thought, “here we go”. As much as I like the story and can see the opportunity in the Indonesian gas market, Whitby’s visit looked like a par for the course placement run. So confident was I that this was just another foreign executive coming over to tap into the seemingly inexhaustible British desire for resource-based pipe dreams, I bet cynically bet Doc Holiday a fiver that the company would place within a month of Whitby leaving. I was wrong. Serve me right for taking on the market mechanics maestro.
This morning ISDX Growth Market-listed Chapel Down Group (CDG) announced an innovative crowdfunding initiative to raise £1million for its subsidiary Curious Drinks. Launched through Seedrs.com, Curious Drinks’ EIS-qualifying offer has all manner of incentives packed into it, not least the 25% discount on purchases of Curious beer and cider for all those who subscribe for £500 worth of A Shares. This means that all those who qualify for EIS relief might only have to drink as few as 800 cans of Curious Brew to earn a free investment in the company. As enticing as this sounds for the drunken bloggers at ShareProphets (who between us have had all of 7 units in the past week), it’s the investment proposition that has caught our eye. There are a few clues that this could result in a significant pay-off.
This morning Sirius Minerals (SXX) finally received the long awaited planning permission for its York Potash Project. Shareholders in the company have had to be extremely patient to get to this point, but now the real work begins. Sirius has to complete its Definitive Feasibility Study for the proposed mine and then secure funding to build it. At 17.75p Sirius is valued at £393.7million. There is certainly a lot of value built into this share price, but does that make it a buy?
On Friday Lenigas Cuba released its pathfinder document, prior to its forthcoming IPO - Tom has already savaged it HERE, but it is in fact worse than even he explained. Unlike previous Lenigas debuts, this one has a number of significant cautionary indicators that all might not be well. At 5p most of Lenigas’ adoring legion of fans will ask what can go wrong? The answer is possibly quite a lot, not least because so many of them have already bought in at 2p. We will soon see whether or not the market has exhausted itself of greater fools, but those that ignore the early warning signs could find themselves caught up in a fierce stock market hurricane from 02 November.
In this podcast I explain why flip flop Ben Turney is wrong about cleaning up AIM. You dont need new rules or protections just the draconian implementation of existing rules against individuals (natch including Chris Oil). Then it is onto the court case next week and finally a demolition of CIC Gold (CICG)
Has the London Stock Exchange finally woken up to the fact its AIM Augean Stables is in dire need of a very late spring clean? Over recent months a few clues have started to emerge that the LSE is covertly trying to regain control of its growth market and repair its battered reputation. The latest hint that something is afoot came via this morning’s piece in the Financial Times, with news that the LSE is going to tighten up the rules concerning cash shells. If this is an indicator of a wider initiative to sort out AIM it is something to celebrate. However if the LSE genuinely wants to restore confidence in the “world’s most successful growth market” it is also going to have to take some actions publicly, no matter how difficult they might be.
On 21 September I received an incredibly snotty letter from New World Oil & Gas (NEW). The letter was marked strictly private and confidential, so I won’t publish it. However, now that New World has decided to smear NWOGaction in our latest TR1, I will publish my response to Peter Sztyk. What’s the Ukrainian for “piss off”?
This morning, Sula Iron & Gold (SULA) delivered one of the limpest imaginable excuses for a deeply discounted placement. Apparently the company has signed an NDA with a Tier 1 international gold producer, which is going to send one of its staff monkeys to observe drilling at Sula’s Ferensola gold project in November. This is why Sula has slaughtered its shareholders this morning, to raise £500,000 before expenses at 0.3p (an all time low for the share price, 40% below yesterday’s close). It is most definitely not to keep the PLC lights on and cover its c.£1.65million in annual admin costs.
I worry if I am losing my mind, but Tower Resources (TRP) is fast becoming a conviction buy for me. Yesterday the company announced the appointment of two relatively heavyweight technical directors to the board. Following on from recent institutional support, successful acquisition of the Thali Production Sharing Contract (PSC) offshore Cameroon and a flurry of insider purchase, the signs are all there that some significant is happening for this shock.
At 32p Gulf Keystone (GKP) is worth £313million. This morning, the company announced its updated Competent Persons Report (CPR) for its oil & gas interests in Kurdistan. The numbers are impressive, but the market reaction has been muted, with Gulf now trading flat on the day. When a company increases its 1P Reserves by a better than expected 55% this would normally be cause for celebration, even in today’s oil price environment. However, as we all know, Gulf’s main challenge isn’t getting oil out of the ground. It is ensuring it gets paid.
Anyone would think Goldstone Resources (GRL) Non-Executive Chairman Christopher Hall didn’t want anyone to buy his company’s stock. After his glum statement in today’s interims, it’s no wonder the company’s share price has tanked 20% to settle at 1.99p. Shareholders in Goldstone would do well now to ask the company two questions. First, how does the gloomy Hall manage to get out of bed every morning? Second, what the bloody hell is he doing as the company’s Non-Executive Chairman if all he can promise shareholders is that “little more progress can be expected”?
This morning’s interim report from Sefton Resources (SER) does not make for happy reading for shareholders. After yesterday’s news that the company has run up the white flag to Team Shotgun, today’s numbers pour a bucket of ice water over the Clem Chambers/Mike Hodges fantasy. Sefton had limited resources. It had a plan. Ex-CFO Raylene Whitford was making headway in incredibly difficult circumstances and should have been supported, not attacked. Now, thanks to the interference of the market abuser and the bank robber, it will be lights out by Christmas, unless the company can issue more confetti. Oh, and convince Ray Zimmerman to take on this basket case.
Shares in Xtract Resources (XTR) have fallen 20% to 0.24p today on the company’s disappointing interim results. Xtract has been one of the most hyped stocks of 2015, rising from a low of 0.07p to a high of 0.45p on 1 June. Following the inevitable pullback in advance of 29 June’s placement, the share price settled in a range of 0f 0.215p to 0.3p, only to start rallying again last week. Cynics might wonder whether this was a pre-results pump ahead of today’s dump. Certainly anyone who bought in at yesterday’s high of 0.324p is now nursing a hefty loss, within half a trading session. The question now is can Xtract regain its momentum?
Dave Whitby, CEO of CEB Resources (CEB) is in a tight spot. His share price is motoring and there is a lot of buzz surrounding his stock. Excited British private investors have been eagerly buying into Whitby’s vision, but as Tom Winnifrith pointed out in his Bearcast on Saturday, they might have overextended themselves. The question now is how can Whitby do what is best for his company and shareholders, without letting the market down?
This morning, African Potash (AFPO) announced the $500 sales price per metric tonne of the fertiliser it is contracted to deliver to a distributor in Zambia. Under the terms of this contract, African Potash must deliver 50,000 metric tonnes (MT) of fertiliser by 24 August next year. The company expects a pre-tax profit margin of 6%, equalling $1.5million, assuming all goes to plan. African Potash’s share price is up 9.47% to 3.12p, last seen. If the company can agree similar terms across in its other deals, it could carve out for itself a very profitable niche in Africa’s burgeoning agricultural sector.
This morning Lansdowne Oil & Gas (LOGP) was “pleased to announce its interim results”. Looking through the numbers and it is unclear quite what the company is pleased about. With its balance sheet in poor health and cash position a little on the precarious side, Lansdowne looks like it is going to need to raise money and soon. Not that the market seems to care, however. Lansdowne shares were up 6.25%, last seen, to 2.13p. So what might be behind this seemingly misplaced optimism?
I asked yesterday whether or not there is a short squeeze in Orsu Metals (OSU)? I don’t own any Orsu stock, so have no way of personally confirming whether or not there are any settlement issues in the market. However, if you bought stock on Monday on a T+2 settlement, it should be straightforward to find out. (And when I say, “should” that does come with a few caveats…)
Shares in Orsu Metals (OSU) have jumped over 200% in the last 24 hours on word that there is another short squeeze in the market. The facts are now this. A regulated market maker has failed to deliver stock to a private investor, this is now public knowledge, 30 times average daily volume has poured into Orsu today (up from 15 times yesterday) and yet still this share continues to trade. This is yet again highlighting once more the structural faults running through AIM.
This morning, Mosman Oil & Gas (MSMN) announced yet another deeply discounted placement. If this caught you out, you probably have no one but yourself to blame, as this was always going to happen. Mosman is a dire business, run by consummate stock promoters, who seem to have have serious difficulty in making full disclosures to the market (HERE and HERE). Despite all this, Mosman’s share price surged from just under 3p to an intraday high of 9.4p within the last month. Today it placed at 4.5p. Does any of this matter so long as some are making money?
This morning, Paternoster Resources (PRS) announced it has bought an 8% stake in New World Oil & Gas (NEW). In yet another unexpected twist in the unfolding New World story, Paternoster’s motives are unclear. With New World’s AGM looming, shareholders in the company will be faced with a clear choice. Support the existing failed management and plan, or vote in Adam Reynolds and his team. Given this situation, there will be speculation why Paternoster has chosen to buy into New World at this particular point. However, judging by the manner and method of its announcement today, there could be some interesting clues that might help answer at least some of the questions.
As you know I have gained a real understanding of how folks live in the grim Northern Welfare safari by becoming an avid viewer of Coronation Street. As such I note comments from the world’s number one mining analyst Roger Bade of Whitman Howard today and begin to think that the man’s judgement may be seriously suspect. Bade notes on the comedy that is Minera (MIRL):
There are strange goings on over at Red Emperor Resources (RMP). Since the company announced the failure of the Hawkeye-1 exploration well, it has issued half a dozen holdings RNSs in which three organisations, including its UK broker, Brandon Hill Capital, have been steadily increasing their notifiable holdings on the open market. Yesterday, the J&J Bandy Super Fund joined the party, declaring its 3.66% stake. Today the company’s share price has risen 8.37% to 1.27p, last seen. Does the market sniff that something is afoot?
A month ago, Gary Newman wrote that LGO Energy (LGO) “looks overvalued and in trouble”. His analysis drew quite a lot of criticism, but this morning it looks like his view has been vindicated, as the company announced an unimpressive set of interim figures. For good measure, hidden away in these, is a significant downgrade of the company’s production outlook.
There is still an opportunity to settle the future of New World Oil & Gas (NEW) like gentlemen. That is unless current Chief Executive Peter Sztyk gets his way. Having just lost an hour of my life to the company’s futile shareholder call, it is quite clear that Sztyk is the only man in the room who cannot see the game is up. To his credit he fielded some of the more difficult questions he was sent, though ducked the most challenging ones. Despite this, his answers were highly unsatisfactory. Sztyk claims he has a mandate from his shareholders to pursue the company’s interests in Belize. That is complete balderdash, as he knows full well.
Whenever I mention Tower Resources (TRP) to anyone it’s as if I’ve asked him or her if they enjoy incest and Morris dancing. At the same time (because surely you cannot have one without the other). Tower appears to be as loathed a stock on AIM as one could imagine. With its miserable history, 6.7billion shares in issue and 0.16p share price it’s no wonder this oil & gas exploration company seems to feature at the top of most people’s bargepole lists. What could there possibly be to love?
After last year’s highly selective reporting of its New Zealand oil “discoveries” (which didn’t turn out to be commercial), the board of Mosman Oil & Gas (MSMN) is back up to its old tricks. If you don’t read today’s RNS carefully enough, you’d be forgiven for thinking that the STEP Royalty is a cracking bit of business. The market has clearly fallen for the spin, with Mosman’s share price up 21% at 7.875p, last seen. Once again sentiment traders have blindly piled into a stock, which stands little to no chance of ever delivering shareholders a fundamental return. Here’s why.
This morning, UK Oil & Gas (UKOG) issued a far more realistic vision of what this company can realistically hope to achieve. Forget the Horse Hill pipedream of billions of (unextractable) barrels for a moment and pay close attention to the numbers in today’s announcement. No one has ever doubted that UK Oil & Gas could be a viable business. However, the reality is that it is most unlikely ever to live up to the blue (pie in the) sky fantasy many appear to have bought into.
Why won’t convicted armed robber Daniel Levi and market abuser Chris Oil name the Nomad, willing to back their bid to seize control of Sefton Resources (SER)? Levi has form in failing to disclose crucial information, but in this instance his deliberate clouding of the truth has incredibly serious implications for Sefton and its shareholders. If Oil and Levi are successful in their bid to commandeer the company, Sefton will be forced to delist within 28 days, unless they can find a Nomad prepared to commit professional suicide. Only naïve fools are downplaying the severity of this problem and the strong likelihood it is going to happen.
The spiciest story this week, as spicy as a calabrese pizza with diabola sauce, is Ben Turney's response to Brokerman Dan's allegations that Ben has been a very naughty boy. Compare that to the cheesiest, as cheesy as a Quattro Formaggi with extra gorganzola, is Chris Oil's demand for an EGM at Sefton Resources.
In this podcast I answer yesterday's quiz question and then celebrate the election of Comrade Jeremy Corbyn to the leadership of the Labour party. The Tories are in thrall to big business and crony capitalists and Comrade Corbyn at least ensures real questions are asked as we sleep walk over the abyss on so many fronts. I then put Comrade Dan Levi straight on insider dealing laws with relation to his latest spurious allegations about flip flop Ben Turney. Then there is a wider look at the markets.
This morning NWOGaction, the shareholder action group for New World Oil & Gas (NEW), announced its support for Adam Reynolds and his team’s bid for election to the board, at the forthcoming AGM. This is an exciting turn of events for New World’s long-suffering shareholders. It promises to set this stricken company on a much more positive path, led by the value creating force behind the recent flyaway successes of Optibiotix (OPTI) and Premaitha Health (NIPT). Reynolds and his experienced team of turnaround specialists have identified a project and new executive management for New World, in the booming Med Tech space. Now all shareholders have to do is vote in favour of this radical change in direction.
Earlier this week I reported how market abuser Chris Oil had wasted Police time by reporting me to the Old Bill with West Mercia Police dismissing his compliant after just one email. But it seems, in this latest episode of Carry on Up The Sefton, that Kenneth Williams is nothing if not persistent and has now reported flip flop Ben Turney as well complaining “Oooh Officer, he is awful.”
What a total waste of a day, dealing with Dan Levi (the bank robber, reformed) vs Ben Turney (the legal drug dealer, reformed). Dan's expose is HERE. Ben's response is HERE. What a total waste of my day, I am so tempted to just give up altogether. But isntead I outline why the prohibition never works and how I am responding to the allegations: by wasting money on bringing in a barrister to investigate them in full for a report we will publish here. Then I turm to Audioboom (BOOM) and NorthWest Investment Group (NWIG). If the world was different I'd be booking a one way ticket to Greece and throwing my laptop in the sea. Surely both Dan and Ben can go after real villains and just leave me in peace.
As soon as a company starts pumping the propaganda on Director’s Talk you know what’s coming. This morning, AIM pig dog Golden Saint Resources (GSR) published an entertainingly inept corporate video. If you have eight minutes to kill this lunchtime it is worth a watch. You will quickly become a pointless trivia expert on the climate of Sierra Leone and Executive Chairman Cyril D’Silva’s bizarre way of describing years by using each individual number. You will learn next to nothing about the company or its projects. A cynic might suggest this is because there isn’t much worthwhile to say about either…
Yesterday it was the turn of the Office for National Statistics (ONS) to prove how little official bodies understand about the parlous state of AIM. According to its Statistical Bulletin private investors own a mere 30.6% of the companies listed on “the world’s most successful growth market”. This estimate is just plain embarrassing. At the end of July AIM was worth £74.8billion. It isn’t an inconsequential aspect of the economy, which should be ignored. AIM plays an important role in influencing the wealth and pensions of a large segment of the nation. Policy makers should take it far more seriously, but how can they when the ONS trots out such pap?
I’ve got to admit I like the MX Oil (MXO) story. There is plenty of reason for me not to like it, but despite this the fact remains that this is a company that has seized its opportunities. When CEO Stefan Olivier bellowed at me that he wanted me to buy into his MX Oil vision it provoked a wry smile. “Who the bloody hell does this man think he’s talking to?” I quietly wondered to myself, as I received a barrage of an elevator pitch down the phone. We haven’t spoken since, but the brash confidence of that first contact has left its mark. The question now is can MX Oil deliver on Olivier’s bullishness?
The CEB Resources (CEB) story has won over a lot of supporters in the market. This is unsurprising given the five-fold increase in the company’s share price since the start of the year. At 0.75p (last seen) CEB is worth £5.4million, but the question for investors is having put in such a strong performance in the year to date, how much upside is left for the shares?
This morning, New World Oil & Gas’ (NEW) board of directors was true to its word and published the company’s unaudited interim figures nearly a month early. The numbers are encouraging. The company had £2.9million cash on Friday, the executive directors have been offsetting all fees since March against their outstanding loans and the board continues not to draw salary or accrue benefits. The company is not yet out of the woods, but today represents a tangible step forward. Next up is the AGM…
Over the weekend, I identified BHP Billiton (BLT) and Rio Tinto (RIO) as two of the top dividend payers in the FTSE100. Based on Friday’s close BHP’s yield was 7.28% and Rio’s 6.19%. Following on from analysis last week about the fundamental reasons for buying BHP (HERE and HERE), this morning both companies announced director purchases. Taken in isolation these purchases might not seem like much to write home about, but in the context of investment planets aligning they could be significant.
Over the last six weeks the New World Oil & Gas (NEW) shareholder action group, NWOGaction, has been quietly laying the foundation for a most surprising turn of events. Where the market has given up hope, thirty-seven private shareholders have continued fighting for their company’s future. Their efforts are about to bear fruit.
Following yesterday's table of the top dividend payers among resource stocks in the FTSE100, below are the top five dividend paying shares whose share prices closed within 1% of a 52-week low on Friday. Qualifying stocks have a yield of >5%.
Last night, Gulfsands Petroleum (GPX) announced details of its long awaited $22million open offer. For long-term shareholders there wasn’t much to cheer about. At 4p, the best they can now hope for is to average down by taking up their 3.01 open offer shares and pray for a turnaround. But what chance is there of this?
On Tuesday, Chris Bailey offered some excellent analysis of BHP Billiton’s (BLT) results. I won’t attempt to steal Chris’ thunder, but one point he made has stuck with me. In its own words BHP Billiton’s board is “resolute” to pay what is now a 7.9% dividend. This is an enormous yield for such a large stock and if the directors follow through with this pledge, the current £10.55p share price is surely a gimme. The question is will the company pay this generous sum?
As AIM falters, we hear that more and more companies are considering a Standard Listing on the London Stock Exchange. This is a story we will inevitably pick up over the coming months, but this morning there was an interesting comment from Anglo Pacific’s (APF) CEO, Julian Tregger, about his company’s proposed transfer from a Premium Listing to a Standard Listing. It seems that Tregger felt it necessary to highlight his firm’s commitment to “high standards of corporate governance”. Has he inadvertently suggested that such standards among other Standard Listings are not so high?
I suppose a downgrade of fantasy oil estimates is about as worthwhile as an upgrade of fantasy oil estimates, but nevertheless this morning’s announcement from UK Oil & Gas (UKOG) represents a significant reduction in the embarrassing hype surrounding Horse Hill. Schlumberger’s last “independent report” about this absurd project estimated that total oil in place, across the three so-called target areas, was 255million barrels of oil per square mile (bopsm). This morning, Schlumberger slashed this figure to 199.9million bopsm. And yet there are still some out there hailing this as brilliant news…
.png)
Much has been made in the media that US equity markets have had their worst period since late summer 2011. This morning, the burgeoning crisis has abated in response to the People’s Bank of China’s 0.25% interest rate cut. China’s baseline rate is now 4.6% and global markets have rallied strongly in response. However, it would be a surprise if this were anything other than a temporary reprieve, not least because of the spike in the CBOE Volatility Index (the VIX). The VIX tracks the volatility in the constituent stocks of the S&P500 and its latest reading is clear warning of a bumpy ride to come. Even so, if played correctly, this could prove to be extremely profitable.
With Rob Terry’s Quob Park Estate now owning 9.06% of Daniel Stewart (DAN), questions remain whether or not this investment can ever generate a return. Daniel Stewart has long been a favourite topic of ShareProphets and judging by one of its latest clients, Wheelsure Holdings PLC (WHLP), there is little sign that this discredited broker will ever break free from its bottom fishing reputation.
Followers of convicted armed robber David John Hopkins, commonly known as Daniel Levi, have attempted to make light of his criminal background. Levi’s Lemmings seem unconcerned that he lied on official documentation about his former identity and unspent convictions, when he joined the board of Sefton Resources (SER). It will be interesting to see the reaction once Levi’s apologists learn that “Daniel Levi” was refused bail as David John Hopkins in March 2014. This was six months after he last appeared in front of a judge as “Daniel Levi” in connection with the infamous Sefton libel trial.
Yesterday I reported the story of an AIM CEO, who shared his first hand experience of the City corruption that enables the illegal forward selling of placements. Today I publish a second account, from a separate CEO, who also spoke on the condition of anonymity. Over the years, a number of companies on AIM have suffered illicit coordinated market attacks against their share prices. There has long been a suspicion of direct City complicity in these abusive assaults, involving regulated brokerage firms and market makers. Thanks to the vagaries of libel law and the City’s conspiracy of silence this is a story nearly impossible to report on, but the comments of CEO 2 serve as a warning to private investors in this utterly bent market.
AIM Regulation and the FCA’s inability or unwillingness to tackle rampant market abuse involving the illegal forward selling of placements on AIM has cost companies and shareholders hundreds of millions of pounds. The problem has become so widespread that it is widely seen as the cost of doing business in the lower reaches of the market. This is unacceptable and two current CEOs of AIM-listed businesses have spoken out about the parlous state of play. Below I share the first testimonial, given on the condition of anonymity.
This morning, the FCA announced it had discontinued its investigation into Quindell (QPP) with “immediate effect”. Quindell’s shares have rallied slightly on the news to settle at 97p, last seen, but how significant is this move for the company’s embattled shareholders?
This morning, Red Emperor Resources (RMP) announced that the Hawkeye-1 exploration well, offshore in the Philippines, has failed. The company’s share price is down 60%, as of writing. Once again private investors on AIM have suffered horrific losses at the hands of a pure play oil exploration company. This further calls into question the appropriateness of listing such shares on the market.
Elephant Oil is a privately held oil exploration company, whose managing director is Matt Lofgran of AIM-listed Nostra Terra Oil & Gas (NTOG). Elephant Oil secured the Block B onshore coastal exploration licence in Bénin, West Africa, in October 2013. It counts Red Rock Resources (RRR) and Paternoster Resources (PRS) among its cornerstone investors and could be one to watch over the coming years, as it attempts to open up a new oil producing province.
What a huge shock to see Armadale Capital (ACP) conduct a placing yesterday. Of the biggest surprises on AIM this year, Armadale’s fund raising has to be in the top three. There is no way anyone saw this coming. It wasn’t clearly sign-posted across social media at all. The recent 50% rally in Armadale’s share price over a week was definitely driven by fundamentals. The increased liquidity in the stock simply reflected enthusiastic investor demand for a prospective gold miner in the lower reaches of the market…
Of all the escapades we’ve covered over the years from Pete “The Pirate” Landau, his latest caper with Australian-listed Black Mountain Resources (BMZ) is off the scale on the guff-ometer. Pirate Pete and his motley Black Mountain crew claim to have secured the right to a 20% stake in an undersea salvage operation to recover a supposed >$1billion worth of gold from two wrecks, torpedoed during the First World War. Regular readers will not be stunned to learn that Landau now plans to raise AU$6.87million in pursuit of this fool’s errand.
What can the London Stock Exchange do to restore confidence to AIM? The “world’s most successful growth market” is ailing and no amount of spin can cover up its decay. According to the latest statistics, at the end of July AIM hosted 1,066 companies, the lowest number since the end of 2004. There have been a mere thirty-seven new issues so far this year, of which one was a transfer from the main market and eight were re-admissions. Having failed so miserably to police its market, the London Stock Exchange now faces an immense challenge proving to the investment community that it has the wherewithal to arrest AIM’s increasingly terminal decline.
It’s great to see a mining company on AIM doing exactly what it said it would do, especially in the current climate. This morning, Kibo Mining (KIBO) delivered its latest important milestone, on schedule. The company has released the findings of Phase 2 Stage 1 of its development plan for the Mbeya Coal to Power Project in Tanzania. Based on exploiting the 109.39mt inferred and indicated resource at the Rukwa coal deposit, this represents another significant step forward for Kibo. It’s now something of a surprise to see the company’s share price trading at 4.75p. Up only 0.63p on the day, it seems likely that Kibo’s shares are held back by the general headwinds blowing a gale against the resource sector. Unperturbed, the company continues to push forward.
Official court documents we have gained access to show that the gloves are off as far as Sefton Resources (SER) is concerned in dealing with ex-CEO Jim Ellerton’s delusional action against the company. Just when you thought Ellerton’s reputation couldn’t sink any lower he is now accused of having used his consultancy company, C & J Resources, as an “alter-ego” to pay for all manner of personal expenditure, from his daughter’s wedding to “treating” himself to private massages. Better yet, Sefton has accused Ellerton of racketeering, in a series of explosive allegations. This must have come as a shock to dear old Jim, who suddenly now finds himself facing possible criminal investigation. Read the full details below.
The Quindell (QPP) scandal keeps raining blows on AIM’s reputation, further calling into question how much longer this market can limp on in its current guise. At the heart of many long-standing complaints about AIM’s viability are concerns that the Nomad system of self-regulation is inherently flawed. AIM has never been able satisfactorily to answer how poachers can be expected to act as effective gamekeepers. The next revelations about the £5.4million worth of share payments Quindell made in early 2014 to its Nomad, Cenkos Securities, are hardly going to help.
Yesterday Greatland Gold (GGP) delivered a surprisingly positive RNS. The clue was in the title “Exciting drilling results in the Carenegie area”. Unfortunately, such are the cynical times we live in no one paid the slightest bit of attention. It seems that cramming the word “exciting” seven times into an announcement isn’t the way to catch the eye of private investors in this climate. Whoever would have guessed that?
Golden Saint Resources (GSR) has been a dreadful stock on AIM and now I know why. The entire squad behind it could not give a damn about the company’s investors. From the its “PR agency” Cassiopeia Services, through its “Nomad” Beaumont Cornish (what a shock this firm is involved) to the company’s executives this “dream team” has to be one of the worst in the market. There is currently a sophisticated attack being made against Golden Saint, of which it is fully aware and cannot be bothered to deal with it. This is an appalling story of arrogance and laziness.
At the start of last September, Quindell (QPP) proudly trumpeted its court “victory” over Gotham City Research. As Tom Winnifrith repeatedly warned the company’s shareholders, this “victory” was a hollow sham. By taking proceedings out against US-based Gotham there was no chance any judgement could ever be enforced. This is why Gotham didn’t try to defend itself. Of course, what Quindell was far less keen to talk about was why it didn’t launch similar proceedings against a certain vitriolic (and now entirely vindicated) blogger…
Someone at the London Stock Exchange has clearly broken out the cattle prod today and abruptly woken the AIM Regulation Team from its deep slumber. Wonders will apparently never cease, as AIM Regulation has actually bothered release an announcement concerning its miserable failure to regulate Quindell (QPP). Those in a more charitable mood might say “better late than never”, but we strongly doubt there will be many long-term shareholders in this group. ShareProphets’ handy translation service now fills in the gaps of what should have been an apology to all those caught out by this fraud.
Tower Resources (TRP) has become surprisingly interesting over the last few weeks. With a number of high profile oil exploration failures under its belt and 6.7billion shares in issue, Tower bears most of the hallmarks of your typical common or garden AIM cesspit stock. The 0.19p share price hardly inspires confidence. So, when the company came to raise £5.2million net on 15 July the market’s collective shrug of the shoulders was hardly a surprise. However, closer examination of the fundraising reveals a more intriguing story to the usual “keeping the lights on” package that has become all too familiar for small resource stocks in this market.
Shares in Gulf Keystone (GKP) surged yesterday from a low of 26p to a high of 36p, triggered by news of a pledge by the Kurdistan Regional Government (“KRG”) that it will start making monthly payments to its oil producers from September. This morning, Gulf’s stock has settled back to 33.5p (last seen), valuing the business at £327.6million. This is towards the bottom of the company’s trading range since the start of the year and after yesterday’s excitement the question is, is Gulf a buy?
The 35% drop in Petroceltic International’s (PCI) share price over the last three weeks has been one of the most predictable events of the year. Once the company’s major shareholder, Worldview, fired the first shots in the latest civil war to engulf the company, there really was only one direction the stock could take. Against the backdrop of a persistently low oil price, lingering concerns about the health of Petroceltic’s balance sheet were bound to have a depressing effect. This morning the company issued its latest response to this unfolding disaster. And it doesn’t exactly inspire one with much confidence, even at 58p per share.
Tom has just laid the boot into his favourite old whipping boy, Sefton Resources (SER). I am meant to be banned from writing about Sefton and I’ve got to admit the subject is a little tired, but somebody has to speak up for the current management team. Under assault from all sides, including from supposed friends, the current board has not received the credit it deserves for simply not just walking away and letting the company collapse.
It’s no secret that by early 2010 I had failed at what I was doing. Miserably. Facing up to that realisation was incredibly tough. A hair’s breadth from bankruptcy, the following couple of years were a surprisingly liberating experience. There is nothing like a period of enforced penury to help one reassess what matters in life and redefine one’s course. At some point, in the not too distant future, the directors of Mosman Oil & Gas (MSMN) are likely going to share this experience, as they finally come to terms with the fact their business has no serious future on AIM.
The disclosure standards at Range Resources (RRL) are truly abysmal. As a mere blogger (certainly not a financial journalist!), this is clear to me. Under previous CEO, Rory Scott Russell, it looked like the company was turning the corner and adopting a more candid approach towards investor relations. Then came last November’s coup and the rise to prominence of Peter Landau’s close business associate, David Chen. All progress was immediately abandoned and old Range was back. Buried in today’s quarterly report there is a crucial bit of information, not previously announced. Range has voluntarily paid Lind $5million.
As a former online poker player, I learned two things from that excruciatingly dull game. First, life is too short. Second, how important it is to play the averages. I’ve probably gained the most from the first lesson, but the second has proven to be surprisingly valuable on a daily basis. It taught me that consistent success often requires making counter-intuitive calls based purely on the long-term mathematical probability of success of repeating the same decision. This technique can often be applied to trading AIM stocks and at current levels Red Rock Resources (RRR) might present just such a set up.
Since publishing “7 Gold Stocks to Buy Now” the price of gold has fallen further, under pressure from a heavy bear raid. With gold now trading at critical long-term technical support, the precious metal is now at a crucial point. If the price breaks below technical support, it could fall much further. However, if it finds its footing at current levels then a strong rally is on the cards. Such binary eventualities can be extremely profitable for investors on the right side of the move. Gold Bugs have taken yet another beating in the recent move lower, but if you remain bullish about the prospects for gold, now might be the time to consider some specific stock ideas. Below I share my contribution to our e-book - Eldorado Gold’s (TSX:ELD & NYSE:EGO).
With an apology to Twitter member @hardy682 for stealing his copyright, we now invite readers to submit captions to this most amusing and topical picture. A bottle of champagne to the winner, to be paid for by Ben Turney out of his fee from The Times for exposing “Bank Robber David” the former chairman of Sefton Resources. Entries will close at midnight on Sunday. Over to you.
This morning The Times published another challenging piece concerning the current business relationships of convicted armed robber Daniel Levi, aka David John Hopkins, aka Brokerman dan. After his “voluntary” confession on Saturday night, it looks like Levi engaged in a little digital spring-cleaning over the weekend. Below I can exclusively reveal the evidence that exposes the latest attempt by Levi to airbrush awkward relationships from his public life.
Oh dear, a man who backed Jimmyliar Ellerton versus Levi & Winnifrith and now backs Dan Levi/ armed bank robber David John Hopkins against all comers is purile fantasist/blogger California Joe a man who attracts fake twitter followers like shit attracts flies. His outpourings today are such piffle (printing inconvenient truths described as gutter journalism) they merit a wider audience. We offer no comment other than “up the medication pal.”
It is well known that ShareProphets has a long-standing business relationship with ADVFN (AFN). Not withstanding this, the Daniel Levi affair has raised a number of questions regarding his relationship with ADVFN, which do require answering. The easy thing for us to do would be to ignore these questions, but it is our responsibility to report on this story thoroughly and comprehensively.
We should be grateful to convicted armed robber Daniel Levi. Really we should, for he has proven, in the most graphic manner possible, so much of what is wrong with AIM. Formerly known as David John Hopkins, Levi has spent sixteen years in jail for two separate convictions involving firearms. There is no indication that either conviction is spent. It will now be a source of major embarrassment both to the London Stock Exchange and the Financial Conduct Authority that a man with Levi’s background was able to become Executive Chairman of Sefton Resources (SER), without anyone picking up on his criminal past.
After Tom’s revelation yesterday about LeniGas Cuba’s… how to put this… “mysterious” leap in popularity on Twitter, we’ve been wondering at ShareProphets who else out there likes to pretend they are more popular than they actually are? As it turns out, this is a fun game and here’s how you can play along too.
This morning, Bowleven (BLVN) delivered its latest in a string of positive RNSs and yet again the company’s share price has barely moved. Today’s encouraging news came from the oil encountered in the targeted reservoirs at the Zingana exploration well, in the Bomono exploration permit. Although Bowleven still needs to complete its evaluation of the wireline logs, the fact that it has suspended Zingana “pending further re-entry” is suggestive it is happy with what it has seen so far. Of course, this being Bowleven a degree of circumspection is definitely required, but how much more does the company have to do to prove its worth? Oh, how the market must hate this stock.
Last night, NWOGaction set the date for relaunching itself as the formal New World Oil & Gas (NEW) shareholder action group; tomorrow. Early indications are that the new action group will receive confirmed support from 4.11% of New World’s shareholders. This number is expected to grow in the coming weeks. The full statement can be read below.
A month ago I wrote Goldplat (GDP) was “playing with fire” with its sneaky profits warning. I suggested a fundraising was on the way. My article drew a fair amount of criticism from some long-term holders, but events since suggest that the company is gearing up to dilute its shareholders.
This morning’s RNS from New World Oil & Gas (NEW) proved once again what a fork-tongued liar Chris Oil is. At some point we will probably get bored of running pieces about our favourite market abuser, but the latest cack-handed deception is worth a quick mention.
ShareProphets Press' fourth book of 2015 is by the writers of ShareProphets. Why now is the right time to buy gold and the seven stocks you should buy. With tips from Amanda Van Dyke, Gary Newman, Ben Turney, Zak Mir and other ShareProphets writers order your free copy TODAY
It’s not fashionable to say this, but there are times when it is impossible not to feel intense pride at being British. I experienced one such occasion last Thursday night. It is deeply woven into our national spirit never to give up; a characteristic which New World Oil & Gas’ (NEW) ordinary shareholders are increasingly demonstrating in spades. While the naysayers and market abusers crowed that the desire for shareholder action would be broken by the heavily dilutive, mispriced open offer, New World’s shareholders rallied to the call for positive change in their company. As of writing, as much as 4.8% of the company has indicated its intention to join the reformed NWOGaction (www.nwogaction.co.uk).
New World Oil & Gas (NEW) shares were suspended at 0.24p because of the inability of shareholders to get trades settled. Following a £3.5 million fund raise at 0.09p that seems to have been settled and the shares have restarted trading today, duly crashing to 0.08p -0.1p. Questions, questions.
Since the Dax, peaked at 12,390 on 10 April, Germany’s major index of 30 blue chip stocks has been dragged lower by the troubles in Greece. Having started the first quarter of the year in such spectacular form, thanks to the generosity of the European Central Bank’s (ECB) Quantitative Easing (QE) programme, the Dax has since become a victim of the spiralling Greek Tragedy. July has been an extremely volatile month for German stocks and the Dax’s near-term prospects appear very much pinned to the outcome in Greece. On Wednesday 15 July the Dax closed at 11,539, right above a crucial level of MIDAS resistance. A retest of this level in the coming weeks could open up a highly attractive shorting opportunity, as it would suggest a worsening in macro conditions.
We’ve just heard that New World Oil & Gas (NEW) returns to trading tomorrow. Denzil Jenkins, the Head of UK Compliance and Regulatory Policy for the London Stock Exchange, is now going to have to prove that his job isn’t just a pointless paper pushing exercise. Having failed utterly to enforce its three rulebooks (“Rules of the London Stock Exchange”, “AIM Rules for Nominated Advisers” and “AIM Rules for Companies”), the embarrassment the New World forward selling fiasco has caused to the London Stock Exchange is acute. There are now serious questions about the integrity of the exchange and the viability of the AIM model of self-regulation. Private investors have lost millions of pounds to the regulated City perpetrators of this mess. And so far nothing has been done.
This lunchtime, Worldview released details of the subject matter of the EGM it has called for at Petroceltic International (PCI). In response to the “past history of very poor financial management and false claims”, Worldview now seeks to place restrictions on the board and to stop it pledging the company’s “crown jewel, namely its participation in the Ain Tsila asset, as a security for a contemplated $175 million bond issuance”. Reading through Worldview’s full announcement and it looks like things are about to get bloody over at Petroceltic.
What constitutes a “fair and reasonable” related transaction? This is the question shareholders in MX Oil (MXO) should be asking themselves after discovering on Monday that their company has agreed to pay Cornhill Asset Management a $1.8million bonus for sourcing the 5% stake in the OML 113 licence, offshore Nigeria. The $1.8million, contingent on two relatively minor conditions, is an extremely generous reward to Cornhill and its shareholders for an investment made less than six weeks ago. There are further difficult questions to answer about this transaction so I contacted Andrew Frangos, CEO of Cornhill Asset Management and Chairman of MX Oil, to see what he had to say.
Ever keen to help people understand what is really being said, we have run today’s RNS from Afren (AFR) which announced a suspension of the shares pending clarification of the company’s financial position through our trusty ShareProphets RNS Translation Service. Here is what it said (original in bold):
This morning, Metal Tiger (MTR) announced that its outstanding unsettled position in New World Oil & Gas (NEW) has been settled. Two months late, the failure of regulated market participants to fulfil their contractual terms has materially and detrimentally impacted the fortunes of hundreds, if not several thousand, private shareholders up and down the country. The shareholder action group could not reach the 10% threshold to requisition a general meeting directly because of this. While the London Stock Exchange failed miserably to enforce its own rulebooks, the FCA stood idly by and did nothing. This whole episode is dreadful for the reputation of AIM and calls into question how trustworthy or viable is this market?
For “the world’s most successful growth market” the mortality rate of companies that list on AIM is shocking. Since the start of 2001, an estimated 1,937 companies have delisted from AIM, seeing shareholders in most cases lose everything. Whether taken private or simply bankrupted, it is a terrible indictment of this market that c.54% of all the businesses that have floated on it in the past 14 years have just disappeared. Curiously, Grant Thornton chose not to mention this when it compiled its report to celebrate AIM’s 20th Birthday.
We’ve received a lot of reader comments over the last week about Red Rock Resources (RRR) and our “refusal” to tackle Andrew Bell. For the most part, the accusations we (and Bell) have faced are nonsense. Red Rock has lost 99% of its value, but as Tom amusingly pointed out in his BearCast this morning that actually puts Red Rock in the top 30% of performers in the history of AIM! This won’t be much comfort to most holders of Red Rock and there are legitimate questions to ask Bell. Unlike the majority of executive directors in a similar position Bell has not shrunk into the shadows. Instead he has chosen to face publicly his critics. On Monday he will be appearing in person at Zak’s Trader’s Café, at the Free Speech and Liberty Pizza House, and today he’s just given me an interview.
The price action in gold this week has been most counter-intuitive. As Chinese markets go into meltdown and Greece does its best to get kicked out of the eurozone, the last thing many would have expected would have been for the precious metal to fall in value. The uncertainty in the market is palpable. Equities have been extremely volatile, the VIX has shot up to 19.97 and pressure is clearly growing on global bond prices. But gold has remained immune to the growing panic; that is so far, at least.
Once again IT issues in Greece delay this podcast. I start by explianing why the reaction of Paul Scott and the craven deadwood press to the new national living wage proposed by George Osborne displays 100% economic illiteracy. It is simply a transfer of wealth from business to the State, the poor will gain nothing. Then onto defending David Lenigas and Andrew Bell from some of the sillier comments made by some folk and to explian why flip flop Ben Turney is again wrong on New World Oil & Gas. hats off to Paul Curtis for the silliest remark of the day as I stck the boot into Gulf Keystone and then also to the prep, pump and dump at Beowulf Mining. And finally I have another go at biotech dog ValiRx.
This morning’s announcement from Gulf Keystone (GKP) had the decided whiff of a profits’ warning about it. It is extremely frustrating when companies dress bad news up. I appreciate the importance shoring up sentiment has, but if a company has to warn shareholders that it is going to miss its financial targets it surely must be an inviolable principle of transparent markets that it explicitly says so. Today’s example from Gulf could prove to be a perfect case in point and doesn’t bode well for new CEO Jón Ferrier’s attitude towards investor relations.
News just crossed the wires that stock-promoter extraordinaire David Lenigas is going to stand down as Executive Chairman of UK Oil & Gas (UKOG). The company’s shares fell sharply in an immediate reaction to this, only to recover quickly. Last seen, UK Oil & Gas was trading at 2.18p and the question on all shareholders’ minds must be who is going ramp the stock now?
The New World Oil & Gas (NEW) forward selling fiasco has been a disaster for the credibility of AIM. So far, every single safeguard that is meant to be in place to protect private investors has failed. Predatory regulated City firms are on the cusp of making millions of pounds of profit from the chaos they have caused, while hundreds of private investors stand to suffer unacceptable and unjust losses. Had the authorities been doing their jobs properly in the first place none of this would have happened, but such is the paucity of regulatory oversight on AIM that the conditions have been primed for this shambolic situation for a long time. Nevertheless, the London Stock Exchange has one last chance to prove itself deserving of its licence for self-regulation of “the world’s most successful growth market”.
This morning, Barclays (BARC) sacked its Chief Executive Antony Jenkins. In a ruthless move, spearheaded by Deputy Chairman Sir Michael Rake, it seems that Jenkins’ vision for the bank did not match the ambitions of the rest of the board. Jenkins wanted to scale back the company’s global investment banking arm, while the board wants to grow this arm aggressively in the pursuit of “profit improvement”. Barclays shares are up 3%, as of writing, at 259p. The market welcomes this move, but should investors follow suit?
As the long-awaited Grexit looms ever larger, the price of gold could well be priming itself for a strong summer rally. Currently at $1,167/oz., the precious metal is trading at the bottom of its annual range and sentiment towards it is decidedly bearish. These are prime conditions for a contrarian reversal and if the Greek crisis intensifies over the coming weeks, gold should benefit greatly from any flight to safety. Such a move higher in gold will be positive for the battered gold miners and chief among these Randgold Resources (RRS) looks an appealing buy.
Has the oil market genuinely bottomed? This is the crucial question facing investors in the oil & gas sector, this summer. The Saudi-led price war on the United States’ “Fracking Boom” has been most disruptive. The collapse in the price of oil has played havoc across the industry. Globally, billions of dollars worth of projects and planned capital expenditure have been shelved or pulled entirely. Sentiment has been badly affected and worries persist about the long-term structural challenges still facing oil & gas companies. This is especially true for those listed on AIM, but if I had to pick one from the bunch my choice would be Bowleven (BLVN).
Yesterday morning, Provexis (PXS) announced it had raised £280,000 through Primarybid.com. I won’t pretend to know the first thing about Provexis, but this looks like a positive step forward in the evolution of AIM. Primarybid.com is a crowdfunding service, designed to end the tyranny of bucket shop placements on AIM.
Evidence started to emerge four weeks ago of a major problem with the nominee service used by clients of Barclays Stockbrokers, Barclayshare Nominees. There is now a strong suggestion that Barclayshare Nominees and Barclays Stockbrokers have disposed of clients’ physical stock without their permission. This is a shocking turn of events in the New World Oil & Gas (NEW) forward selling fiasco and points to an even graver flaw in the mechanics of the London Stock Exchange’s Alternative Investment Market. Something like this should just not be possible, but the numbers appear telling.
After eight years, tens of millions of dollars spent, the building of an “airport”, a failed two well drill campaign, an oil to water controversy, an absurd contemplated plan to drill in pirate infested waters and one of the most hyped stock promotions in recent years Range Resources (RRL) has announced this morning that it is pulling out of Puntland. Shareholders are left with nothing, other than a greatly overvalued stock price.
In one week New World Oil & Gas’ (NEW) highly controversial placing and open offer closes. The company expects to announce the result the following day. It then hopes that the London Stock Exchange will admit the new shares to trading on 10 July. This will present an acid test for AIM’s integrity and credibility. Few seem to appreciate the dilemma now facing the London Stock Exchange.
This morning, ADVFN (AFN) confirmed speculation that it has entered into a heads of agreement with the directors of London South East about a possible takeover. Although this deal is still subject to “certain conditions” being met, it has piqued our interest - why would anyone wish to buy the LSE Asylum, a website noted for publishing duff reports of broker notes and for providng a platform for the countrys looniest Bulletin Board morons?
I am not sure about you but I am getting 150% bored with two companies with a combined market cap of c£5million, viz Sefton Resources and New World Oil & Gas. But your esteemed editor flip flop Ben Turney does not share that sense of ennui. And so to this week's competition.
This evening's ShareProphets Translation Service helps readers appreciate the subtle nuances of Broken Man Dan's Twitter feed. Broken Man Dan has a habit of regularly spring cleaning his Tweets, so we've had to move fast as lightening. While Dan, Dan the Broker's Man has been spreading the love for Sefton, we've been keeping an eye on Sefton's price and volume action. Sefton closed down 16% on the day, on 741,907,136 volume. This was after the company announced a great leap forward on its road to recovery. We are certain this is just a very odd coincidence.
At long last clear daylight is now shining on Sefton Resources’ (SER) much anticipated deal to bring in a new CEO and asset to the business. Although yet to complete, with hurdles still to overcome, this is genuinely starting to look like a recovery story people can believe in and get behind. That is so long as the various pantomime characters pursuing the company don’t foul things up with their tomfoolery.
When I returned as editor of ShareProphets at the start of the month a lot of people questioned why I would want to associate myself with this corrupt nest of shorters (or words to that effect). Today’s RNS from Quindell (QPP) has more than answered those doubters. This website does excellent work. No-one else ventures into the darker recesses of AIM in the way our intrepid contributors do. This market is in desperate need of reform and if a move towards that end ever gains momentum I fully expect us to be at its vanguard.
I love Mosman Oil & Gas (MSMN). I really do. Taking a step back from the daily outrages on AIM and Mosman has to be one of the funniest stocks around. That is, unless you are a shareholder. After the controversy of last year’s oil “discoveries” that weren’t commercial, Mosman’s board has been on a bizarre trip of nonsensical deal making. Whatever is being slipped into the directors’ tea every morning is having a marvellous effect. I am not sure how I would best characterise their behaviour, but someone less kind than I might call them utterly bonkers.
Doc Holiday has just published a phone message left to him by our favourite flavour of the month, market abuser (HERE, HERE and HERE) Chris Oil. It seems like dear old Chris got wind of Sefton’s placement before it happened and called Doc to let him know the good news. We provide an exclusive transcript of the message below.
Unfortunately there were some technical issues with this morning’s bullish conference call from Savannah Resources (SAV). Fortunately, I was listening so am able to provide an update. CEO David Archer was in ebullient mood and there is little wonder why. This morning, Savannah surprised the market with news of an exciting joint venture in Mozambique with none other than mining behemoth Rio Tinto (RIO). The joyous response has seen the company’s share price rocket to 3.68p, up 77% on the day. This values the business at £8.37million and the ever-impressive Archer suggested there is more to come in a “very active year ahead”.
I took a temporary vow of silence last week concerning New World Oil & Gas (NEW). We should learn soon enough whether my faith in the regulatory authorities was misplaced, but there is one issue I am compelled to speak out on; the sickening and unconscionable fees New World has agreed to pay Cornhill Capital in relation to the highly controversial open offer.
Just in case anyone is bonkers enough to believe that Daniel Levi Associates is genuinely able to fill in the paperwork properly to call an EGM at Sefton Resources (SER), we now present a helpful translation of this self-styled corporate raider’s highly entertaining last attempt at requisitioning a meeting. (Spoiler alert -- It didn’t go too well).
My podcast starts with Ben Turney, naked Swedish virgins, Britt Ekland, Christopher Lee and pagan festivals. Then I move into Auhua Clean, Sefton, Monitise, Tungsten, Urals Energy, Sareum and the world's worst investor.
Just before the close, Sefton Resources (SER) announced that Daniel Levi and market abuser Chris Oil had bought back into the company. This has provoked a furious reaction and it will be very interesting to see how the market responds today. After the first time Mr Levi “saved” Sefton, the company’s share price went up nearly seven times, to an eye-watering 0.39p. Oblivious to the fact that Mr Levi failed to deliver his operational promises and sold a massive chunk of his stock near the unsustainable and over-promoted top, Seftonologists still saw good value in this cash shell with little cash, no assets and an £11.3million market cap. Will this bunch fall for the shenanigans again or will it finally learn its lesson and pay heed to the obvious toxic danger signals now slapped all over this stock?
Another day, another stupidity test from UK Oil & Gas (UKOG). Unfortunately for David Lenigas and the Horse Hill stock promoters it looks like the message is finally settling in on the British investing public, as it suffers an acute attack of souped-up report fatigue. UK Oil & Gas’ share price surged to 2.75p at the open, only to retreat instantly. As of writing UK Oil & Gas is trading at 2.3, down slightly on the day. This clearly isn’t part of the plan and we will no doubt hear more about the wonders of Horse Hill from Schlumberger any day now…
As the self-congratulatory celebration of AIM’s twentieth birthday reaches a crescendo, the odd share trades (just coincidence we are sure) continue unabated. This morning, in a perfectly timed manner, we found out why StratMin Global Resources’ (STGR) share price mysteriously jumped 19% in the last hour and a half of trading yesterday. This morning, the company announced a strategic partnership with India’s Tirupati Carbons & Chemicals Group. What is brilliant about this example is that we’ve been here before with StratMin. Better yet, I reported the last time well-timed traders got their hands on StratMin’s price sensitive information to the FCA.
This morning Goldplat (GDP) issued a profits warning, though not that you can immediately tell this from reading the RNS. I’ve got to put my hands up here and admit I initially fell for the PR spin, when I was doing the regular cycle through the RNS roll call. Goldplat’s update strikes a very positive tone and there are no figures included in it. The company also avoids direct acknowledgement of what this announcement truly is. However, on careful inspection, it is clear that this is a warning of trouble to come.
Coming to you today from Shipston in Warwickshire I start with a wander down memory lane. That is Mr nice guy. Then it is back to my true self as I plunge the knife into Sefton Resources and Goldplat and sit on the fence on Ten Alps now that Luke Johnson is on board. That flip flop Ben Turney is just too charitable.
This morning the inevitable happened. Sefton Resources (SER) placed at 0.065p. Shareholder anger is entirely understandable, but whose fault is this mess?
Eclectic Bar Group (BAR) yesterday delivered a master class in how to deliver bad news. At 7 a.m. the company announced its latest dire trading update. For about thirteen minutes shareholders must have been pulling their hair out. Faced with the third overnight cliff dive in seven months, this ill-fated bunch would have been forgiven for wondering which stock market gods it had wronged to deserve such poor fortune. Then at 7:13 a.m., like a divine bolt from the blue, came the second RNS. None other than serial leisure entrepreneur Luke Johnson (primarily of Pizza Express fame) was buying into the company and joining the board as Executive Chairman.
By Friday afternoon it looked like New World Oil & Gas’ (NEW) board and its hapless regulated advisors had made yet another catastrophic error. Even by this group’s sheer rank incompetence over the last seven weeks, the latest blunder could be the worst. Not content to forward sell an unconfirmed placement, trample over shareholders’ lawful rights, ignore market rules, waste the company’s dwindling cash on an unjustifiable battle to save its advisors to the detriment of shareholders and try to force through an abysmally mispriced open offer, New World and its grossly inept advisors appear now to have broken the law.
If New World Oil & Gas’ (NEW) board of directors gets its way and saves the skin of the naked shorters, then this group could stand to make at least £5million from this fiasco. As disgusting as this figure it, what is most troubling about it is that the group of naked shorters must include a number of regulated firms, who have acted incredibly recklessly and irresponsibly. Will the London Stock Exchange and Financial Conduct Authority stand by and allow this to happen?
Thursday’s announcement from New World Oil & Gas (NEW) made one thing crystal clear. New World’s board is determined to do whatever it can to let the naked shorts off the hook.
