2021 was not a good year for bears. Markets were in a rip-roaring bull phase and in my view all common sense went out of the window, so even the most ridiculous speculative plays went up. But my strong view is that 2022 will be different: QE is being tapered away, interest rates are rising, inflation is soaring and government helicopter money is no longer there (at least for now). In 2021, bears had to hide behind the sofa and short positions could be attacked by an army of pitch-fork armed private investors. That is not the case now and I expect some hefty declines as a result.
My slam-dunk sells for 2021 were, at one point, looking like a barometer for how mad the market was as complete rubbish was bid up and up on the back of just hot air. But as the year drew to a close, this madness started to abate.
After a bumper crop of dodgy RNS announcements on Christmas Eve there was more fun and games yesterday with another slew of dreadful results and other dodgy announcements as more companies joined the craze of slipping out bad news when no-one was watching. But ShareProphets was watching and here is a summary – enjoy!
Entirely predictably, AIM-listed John Zorbas vehicle URU Metals (URU) has slipped out its interim results on deadline day (never a good sign) in no-one-is-watching week, the few trading days between Christmas and New Year. As such it is a fabulous day to bury bad news……and there is, of course, plenty of bad news.
I hope you have a Happy New Year’s Eve. I aim to be in bed by 8 PM. Bah Humbug. In today’s podcast I look at URU Metals (URU), Lansdowne Oil & Gas (LOGP), Path Investments (PATH), Kore Potash (K2P) and the fraud Supply@ME Capital (SYME) and today’s red flag dripping trading statement. I also explain why I expect the oil price to go higher over the coming year.
Last night at 5.11pm – no-one-is-watching o’clock – AIM-listed URU Metals (URU) ‘fessed up that it had taken a C$950,000 loan from CEO John Zorbas last June. That, of course, is a related party transaction which therefore should have been disclosed but rules are for little people…
Having posted my five slam-dunk sells for 2021 at the start of the year and watched in amazement as the market bid up complete rubbish, it is time to take stock as the year draws to a close. My sells were Tern (TERN), Catenae Innovation (CTEA), URU Metals (URU) and Yu Group (YU.) – all roll-overs from 2020 – and Trafalgar Property (TRAF), which came in as a replacement for the defunct ShareProphets AIM-China Filthy Forty play Walcom (WALG).
I cannot help but notice that shares in AIM-listed John Zorbas vehicle URU Metals (URU) have crashed by 19% thus far today, on no news. Having called it a sell at 405p in August, a sell at 320p in September and a sell at 270p earlier this month, the stock is now down to 190p. Of course, it is still a sell but perhaps it is time for an early Ouzo as the shares have now more than halved.
Tom Winnifrith has plenty more, but here are three shares you just don’t want to own. All look like they should be toast.
When I commented on AIM-listed URU Metals (URU) at the end of August, following the “disposal” of its Zebediela nickel asset to TSX-V listed cash shell (with no cash) Blue Rhino, now Zeb Nickel (TSX-V:ZBNI) the shares were 405p and I said sell as it was an accident waiting to happen. By mid-September they were down to 320p and I still said sell. Now, following after-hours full year results to March, slipped out at no-one-is-watching o’clock on deadline day (never a good sign) – and showing it had net current assets of MINUS $1.5 million – the shares are down again, to 270p – and in my view they are still monstrously overvalued and a sell.
AIM-listed URU Metals (URU) – the firm which prefers to mine its own shareholders rather than anything in the ground, according to Cynical Bear – slipped out its full year results to March last night at 5.35pm on deadline day. Truly, this is no-one-is-watching o’clock, but ShareProphets was watching and the numbers are – again – horrendous.
I cannot help notice that John Zorbas’ AIM-listed URU Metals (URU) continues to slide. At the end of July I noted that the shares, then at 405p, seemed to represent over-valuation to the point of madness. By the end of August the shine had started to come off with the stock at 390p. Now they are 320p – and still monstrously overvalued.
The markets are utterly bonkers. They have been all year. And that brings me to my 5 slam-dunk sells for this year, which I have previously suggested the performance of which underlines my feelings that the market is completely unhinged.
I noted the other day that AIM-listed John Zorbas vehicle URU Metals (URU) seemed to be an accident waiting to happen. With a boat-load of death spiral shares and warrants to come at 85p against a then share price of 405p, that was surely enough of a Red Flag, but with its main asset now held in TSXV-listed ZEB Nickel (ZBNI) following a “disposal” which was not really a disposal, whose shares (of which URU holds 41 million of, but mostly held in escrow) and ZEB’s shares sliding alarmingly since the suspension was lifted, the Red Flags were certainly fluttering wildly in the wind.
It has been a busy few weeks for AIM-listed John Zorbas vehicle URU Metals (URU). The “sale” of its Zebediela nickel project in South Africa to Toronto Venture Exchange listed (lack-of) cash shell Blue Rhino (RHNO), now renamed ZEB Nickel (ZBNI) has completed, with Zeb having raised some cash along the way. But it seems that the Toronto market is less than impressed.
AIM-listed John Zorbas outfit URU Metals (URU) had a good day in the market yesterday as its shares shot up by 8% to 405p on news of developments regarding its “disposal” of the Zebediela nickel project in South Africa to Toronto Venture Exchange listed Blue Rhino (RHNO). Except as far as I can see it is not really a disposal as one might normally understand the word.
I end with another appeal for brave Ian Westbrook. We are now just over £7,000 from making Neill Ricketts of Versarien (VRS) sweat like the loathsome pig he is. Please do donate HERE. I start with a comment on Kefi (KEFI) from the horse’s mouth, and a look at the fraud Zoetic (ZOE), Deepverge (DVRG), Moonpig (MOON), Uru Metals (URU) and the Zak Mir top of the market call.
My five AIM anti-tips for the year continue to defy gravity. I suggested in my last column on this that perhaps it should perhaps be renamed the Market Madness Index. Anyway, for what it is worth, here is how things stand.
Last night, at 6.02pm – no-one-is-watching o’clock – AIM-listed URU Metals (URU) announced it has increased the death spiral facility with an outfit called Boothbay Absolute Return Strategies from $250,000 to $500,000 – and the bargain giveaway conversion terms which were originally due to expire within 90 days of the original loan have again been extended so that Boothbay can convert at just 85p……with the stock trading at 325p!
Perhaps I should rename this column the Market Madness Index! My five anti-tips from the AIM Casino for this year are going up but the fundamentals are as weak as ever. I may look stupid now, but I think it should be taken as a warning to all. This won’t end well.
I commented back in January on AIM-listed URU Metals (URU) and its proposed sale of the Zebediela project in South Africa to Canadian-listed cash (-less) shell Blue Rhino Capital. Suffice to say I wasn’t impressed. Yesterday the company called its AGM and on the agenda is this “disposal”.
It seems to me that the less substance there is to an investment on AIM or the sub-Standard List the better it is doing. If you have no cash and no revenue your shares will soar! It is so 1999-2000. All we need is for Alan Greenspan Jerome Powell to warn of irrational exuberance and we will be all set for another big crash.
Last night, at 5.32pm on a Friday – no-one-is-watching o’clock – AIM-listed John Zorbas outfit URU Metals (URU) issued an RNS related to its death spiral financing package first announced in May last year. It is good news for the loan sharks, but surely shareholders deserve better.
One of Tom Winnifrith’s more memorable descriptions in the stock market is one of two hopeless companies deciding to merge as being like two drunks trying to prop each other up. On Wednesday night, at no-one-is-watching o’clock (5.21 pm) – except ShareProphets was watching – AIM-listed John Zorbas vehicle URU Metals (URU) announced the potential disposal of its Zebediela project in South Africa to Canadian-listed (on the Toronto Venture Exchange) Blue Rhino Capital (RHNO). The shares shot up by 27% and are a little higher today at 290p, but I wonder whether anyone has actually considered what is going on here.
Tom Winnifrith ate his hat over Red Rock Resources (RRR), so it is only fair I ‘fess up – my list of five slam dunk sells for 2020 was, ahem, less than successful – mainly down to the performance of AIM-listed Catenae Innovation CTEA) which put on a whopping 140%, and AIM-listed URU Metals (URU) rubbed my nose in it further with a rise of 54%. So was I wrong?
The good news is that we did not have to wait until after-hours on New Year’s Eve for the latest set of Interim Results to September from AIM-listed John Zorbas POS URU Metals (URU). But the numbers are, as predicted, truly awful – it is Red Flags ahoy from this technically insolvent joke company.
And so we head for the end of the year – another traditional time to bury bad news by announcing it when nobody is paying any attention, ie on New Year’s Eve. Top of my list for awful results is AIM-listed URU Metals (URU) headed by John Zorbas, which offered up a dreadful half-year report the day before New Year’s Eve last year which demonstrated it was technically insolvent by a big margin. It will surely be no different this year.
My five slam-dunk sells for 2020 have been all over the place. One headed for the exit as expected but as things stand two are still at bonkers valuations which will surely not last. Will gravity be defied to the end of the year?
AIM-listed John Zorbas POS URU Metals (URU) has announced the issue of a stack of shares to settle directors’ fees and those of an adviser this morning. That to add to yesterday’s paltry subscription shares raising just £280,000 (before expenses). I would suggest that this latest splurge of confetti shows just how badly screwed the company is.
Well blow me down: AIM-listed John Zorbas POS URU Metals (URU) has rattled the tin and got someone to fork up at 230p per share. Apparently that is around a 10% discount, but given the paltry return for the company it says nothing that is good about the company. A few coins for the electricity meter and, er…..that’s about it.
Shares in John Zorbas AIM outfit URU Metals (URU) are up today on the news of an advisory board appointment. The company announced the hiring of Mr Justin Cocharne to URU’s advisory board and the shares have motored by 6.4% to 250p but I just have one question: how will URU pay for his services, given that the company is quite clearly technically insolvent?
I start with news on daughter to be Priti – the arrival is delayed. So that is more time for Bearcasts then. Then I discuss Advent calendars and recommend this website. Hat tip Malcolm Stacey. Then it is onto Curzon Energy (CZN), Netscientific (NSCI), Novacyt (NCYT), Uru (URU) and to Bluebird Merchant Ventures (BMV).
AIM-listed technically insolvent John Zorbas POS URU Metals (URU) announced yesterday that it has for the second time extended the initial 90-day initial notice period on its convertible death-spiral loan by a further 90 days. With the shares at 260p, the initial deal to convert the loan is massively more attractive for the loan shark than the 35% discount that would otherwise apply – so why is URU doing this?
AIM-listed John Zorbas vehicle URU Metals (URU) – the one described by Cynical Bear as being happier mining its own shareholders than anything in the ground – has updated on its Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) at the Zebediela Project in South Africa. Bear in mind that it announced in April that it planned to spend £250,000 it hadn’t got on this back in April.
Tom Winnifrith hinted at a perceived problem in the last placing by technically insolvent POS AIM-listed URU Metals (URU) and I fear history is about to repeat. Back at the beginning of May the shares raced ahead to 200p and then a placing at 85p was announced. Now the shares have raced ahead again to 285p on minimal volume…..are shareholders about to be plundered again?…
AIM-listed URU Metals (URU) – the company which drills shareholders as opposed to anything in the ground, according to Cynical Bear – has launched a new Corporate Presentation. That means its next confetti-fest is now under starters orders…
AIM-listed John Zorbas vehicle URU Metals (URU) has today released its FY20 results. It is “pleased to announce” them, as is Chairman Jay Vieira, but there is absolutely nothing here for shareholders to be pleased about. It is massively technically insolvent and the Going Concern statement is a hoot. And call me old-fashioned, but where has the Nomad signed off on this announcement? Maybe I am going blind, but I can’t see the Nomad mentioned anywhere: surely that it a breach of AIM Rules? Has the Nomad resigned? Should the shares be suspended?
In August I noted that my list of five slam-dunk sells for 2020 was up, rather than down, by an amazing 41% – even though one is now a zero. Earlier this month the gains had been pared back to 25.5% but now, just two weeks later it seems that gravity is finally reasserting itself.
As the saying goes, these are unprecedented times. But I’m not talking so much about Covid-19 as the manic state of the markets, with special reference to the AIM Casino. And that brings me to my list of five slam-dunk sells for 2020.
AIM-listed but BVI-registered URU Metals (URU), which as Cynical Bear put it, seems more interested in drilling shareholders’ pockets than the ground, has announced a ramptastic pre-placing RNS this morning. Of course, we all knew it was coming as by my maths this John Zorbas POS is still technically insolvent and the clue is hidden in today’s announcement.
Tom Winnifrith has already laid out his concerns over the state of play with too many stocks being quite obviously overvalued to a massive extent. One such play I have been following is John Zorbas’ BVI-registered (and therefore not subject to the Takeover Panel’s 30% rule) and AIM-listed URU Metals (URU).
My curate’s egg of slam-dunk sells for 2020 continues its strange performance. On the one hand, Walcom (WALG) has disappeared from view – a zero – and on the other we have two total POS at silly prices because the market is, in my view, just totally mad.
My five slam-dunk sells for 2020 have been a wild ride in the face of the Covid-19 bandwagon, but this week saw the first casualty as ShareProphets AIM-China Filthy Forty play Walcom (WALG) suddenly found itself on AIM’s Death Row when its erstwhile Nomad Allenby suddenly upped sticks and resigned. As discussed HERE there is surely no prospect of a replacement stepping forward and thus I have marked this one down to zero. As for the remaining four plays…….
I see that shares in URU Metals (URU), a company run by John Zorbas which Cynical Bear observed seemed to be more interested in mining its shareholders than digging anything of value out of the ground, have dropped to just 80p to sell. This is in the wake of the disgraceful fundraise at a massive 57.5% discount (which was advertised as a 24% discount) to its previous 200p share price. That is bad enough, but there are implications of far worse to come.
Markets in general have had an amazing upswing since reaching the bottom of the Coronavirus sell-off. I don’t think it will last, but there is one area where the market seems to have gone utterly bonkers – and that is where a company puts out news of anything to do with Coronavirus, whether it is a test, a potential cure, tracking technology or some other spurious news and my slam-dunk sells have been at it too, with two of the five riding on the back of speculation that they will suddenly make the big time.
I start with the ShareProphets shares Conference on Saturday. Darren should have sent the tickets last night. He will send today so need to email me. I have just recorded Vin Murria's main stage show and really you must not miss the Queen of Tech. Get your ticket HERE. On today's podcast I look at BT (BT.A), Filta (FLTA), Uru Metals (URU) and the madness at Anglo African Oil & Gas (AAOG).
What a complete and total POS. As I pointed out (yet again) yesterday, AIM-listed URU Metals (URU) was technically insolvent and for no apparent reason the shares had marched up to 200p, overvaluing this outfit by…..er….200p. Needless to say, the directors had a duty to raise money and at no-one-is-watching o’clock last night (4.56pm) we learnt that they had. But the company misleads over the massive 57.5% discount – and that is a best case scenario – and the company is STILL technically insolvent.
Tom Winnifrith has already added to my comments yesterday about the ridiculous aluation of AIM-listed Tern plc (TERN), which even after yesterday’s 25% crash and a further 10% drop today is still monstrously overvalued. Tern is not alone, which brings me on to AIM-listed URU Metals (URU) which has been rising steadily from a low point of 90p on 27th April to the current 200p. So what has been the catalyst for this meteoric rise? After all, URU is – as I have pointed out before – technically insolvent!...
AIM-listed URU Metals (URU) has announced an update on its mining right application as announced on 11 December 2019. Except it was first announced not in December just gone but at least as far back as May last year. Still, never let the truth get in the way of a good story with which to ramp the shares. We are told that...
It is almost the end of March: time for a run-down of my list of five slam-dunk sells for this year. With the everything bubble well and truly popped by the pin that is Coronavirus the market backdrop has been inclement for cash-guzzling loss-making shares and the portfolio of Tern (TERN), Catenae (CTEA), Yu Group (YU.), URU Metals (URU) and Walcom (WALG) has reacted accordingly.
Yes folks, it is time for an update on my five slam-dunk sells for 2020 – and the writing is on the wall as the anti-portfolio slides. At the end of January the score was an overall drop of 9.8% on a bid to bid basis. One month on the slippage has accelerated amongst my five picks from the AIM Casino, namely Tern (TERN), URU Metals (URU), AIM-China Filthy Forty play Walcom (WALG), Catenae Innovation (CTEA) and Yu Group (YU.)
My little list of slam-dunk sells for 2020 from the aim Casino has got off to a good start. One month in to the year, Tern (TERN), URU Metals (URU), Walcom (WALG) of the ShareProphets AIM-China Filthy Forty, Yu Group (YU.) and Catenae (CTEA) have already posted a collective 9.8% loss on a bid to-bid basis and at least two are already scraping the barrel to keep the lights on.
Peter Brailey has already offered his list of sells for 2020 in the form of his Vomit List of useless oilers, so here is my 2020 list of Slam-Dunk sells. I doubt there will be much borrow available on any of them so shorting may not be possible (although two might offer up some) but the main message is stay away!
Last week AIM-listed Inspirit Energy (INSP) released results at no-one-is-watching o'clock, on Christmas Eve Eve. It seems the trick of avoiding ShareProphets scrutiny by releasing bad results the day before good days to bury bad news is spreading, for yesterday – New Year’s Eve Eve - at 4.23pm came interims from AIM-listed URU Metals (URU). Except ShareProphets was watching, always keen to highlight news that companies don’t want you to see. And oh dear, oh dear…..
This series has gone on long enough so I’m bringing it to close this month with the biggest news relating to the ongoing moving of the goalposts at Kibo Energy (KIBO) which makes one wonder whether the flagship project in Tanzania is ever going to see the light of day.
It’s that time of the month again and with two of the seven mythical creatures proving their existence so far, I was hoping for some more progress this month from the remaining five. Alas no, just more prevarication, distraction and fund raising – how disappointing.
As Cornelius Nepos said: “After the darkness comes the light” and having been in despair last month writing June’s update, I am back to my bouncy best as Optibiotix (OPTI) has become the second Mythical Wonder to become real and in some style…..although I hope it now performs better than the first!
When I started this series in January, I didn’t realise how dispiriting it would be as, yet again, my seven wannabe Loch Ness Monsters have proven to be just another set of blurry photographs of tree branches. At this rate I’m going to struggle to make it to the end of the year but at least I’m not a shareholder in any of them I guess.
A time for celebration as one of the Seven Mythical Creatures has become a reality this month with the long awaited launch of the Melody VR app from EVR Holdings (EVRH). We may never see such events again or at least not the share price anyway.
It’s time for my monthly look at this motley selection of AIM wannabes. Not much to say for most of them so want to focus on the contrasting progress reports from Xtract Resources (XTR) and EVR Holdings (EVRH).
It’s time for my monthly look at this motley selection of AIM wannabes. A few positive pointers but they all remain resolutely out of reach for the time being; although after a false start at Vast Resources, I sense the wonder VR app at EVR Holdings is taking the lead.
I started the year with a light-hearted look at a few value-generating AIM yarns that appear to have a lot in common with the Loch Ness Monster as there is some doubt as to whether they are ever going to be seen. It feels like monthly updates are appropriate and it’s been a busy start of the year for some of these AIM yetis.
I’ve been a bit preoccupied in recent weeks with a certain fund manager so thought I should catch up with a few old friends on AIM this weekend but it transpires that not a lot has actually happened. It made me realise more than ever that AIM is much more about the travelling I hope than the arriving. Accordingly, I thought it was more appropriate to write a piece heralding the 7 Mythical Wonders of the AIM Casino instead.
And there we have it. Today’s announcement of the placing at Altona Energy (ANR) to raise £735,000 at 0.5p completes a very successful, oft–repeated, operation at the lower end of AIM, namely the placing, followed by the industrial-sized ramp, followed by the placing – the “PRP”. It is worth looking at in closer detail.
I laughed at last week’s announcement from URU Metals (URU) concerning the acid leaching results but I wasn’t necessarily going to comment on the meaningless tripe. However, I feel I almost have a moral duty to counter the “Speculative Buy” nonsense from its corporate broker, Beaufort Securities, so here goes.
I start with Starcom (STAR) whose statement as it announces a placing is pure unadulterated bullshit. Do the crony capitalists who put this shite out take us all for morons? Then it is onto Altitude (ALT) whose shares are up by 19% today valuing the company at £32 million. Maybe I am thick ( don't comment on that!) but I just cannot get my head around that valuation and explain why. Finally onto Altona Energy (ANR) and related ramp Uru Metals (URU). This is the latest POS to get the full ramp treatment and I explain why its share price is absurd.
Anyone who follows the lower end of AIM will have spotted the recent excitement and massive share price increase at Altona Energy (ANR) following a heavily discounted keep the lights on placing at 0.05p on 13 October. I couldn’t help but notice the name of John Zorbas cropping up and suspect that he has found something new and shiny to get excited about.
As expected the full year results for URU Metals (URU) came out on the last possible day yesterday and, also as expected, they didn’t provide any answers to the questions I raised in my preview piece (HERE). However, that didn’t stop John Zorbas finding something new to get excited about and distract investors about the pitiful lack of progress here.
I’m expecting URU Metals (URU) to issue its end of year results on the last possible day on 29 September, next Friday week, and am also expecting a sleight of hand masterpiece from the CEO, John Zorbas, who loves to distract from the real issue here, namely an uneconomic mine. Here’s a contrast of what I would like to see in the results and what I expect to see.
I won’t claim to be a mining expert and will leave the technical analysis to Gary Newman who is much better at that sort of thing (see HERE); however, with the odd looking share movements and the Zorbas connection, I couldn’t resist digging through past RNS’s to find something ridiculous and what was clear is that this isn’t really a mining company at all, unless you think rinsing shareholders of cash counts, of course.
I think we are in a crazy market for resource juniors and I am expressly NOT recommending you buy any of the shares below. But such is the madness that prevails, all sorts of mining and oil junors are seeing their shares fly. Worthless assets, crap management, no cash. Who cares? Just say you are looking at Lithium and off we go. So this is an experiment. Steve Moore will track the 12 stocks below, largely suggested by you and report back after 1 week, 1 month, 3 months, 6 months and on December 31 comparing this portfolio with the FTSE AIM Index and the FTSE 100. Just for fun, the dirty dozen are:
In today's bearcast brought to you despite having a heavy cold, such is my dedication to you my listeners, I cover: Reach4Entertainment (R4E), Wishbone Gold (WSBN), writing to the FCA, T Clarke (CTO), Northern Petroleum (NOP), Andalas (ADL), Uru Metals (URU), Bilby (BILB) and Windar Photo (WPHO)
It may be the case that there is not much to go on in terms of the charting configuration of Uru Metals, especially for a stock which is clearly not the most liquid on the London market, but there is certainly enough for a chartist to make a call of value here.
