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
I start with the Earl of Shrewsbury (not Shaftsbury a podcast mis-speak) who should be kicked out of the House of Lords after my latest cash for questions expose HERE. Of course he won’t be. Airstrip One is a rotten and corrupt place these days where folks like him are above the law. Then I look at Cineworld (CINE), Big Sofa (BST), MyHealthchecked (MHC) and Horizonte Minerals (HZM) before looking at the peripheral issues raised by IQE’s (IQE) disastrous news and also at what is the real valuation, from someone who has called it 100% correctly.
I should have mentioned this in bearcast yesterday, the maths is clear and unchallengeable. Abingdon Health (ABDX), a company I warned you about at IPO as it was insolvent and the valuation absurd, is pumping its stock via the yellow journalists on the Daily Mail and the Telegraph ahead of a bailout placing. You know the score: mug punters overpay in the secondary market ahead of a placing at a vast discount to fund managers.
First up, after I nudged Paul Staines (Guido), we did get that hat tip as you can see HERE. Cheers Paul. I then look at Babcock (BAB), Boatman Capital and the corrupt deadwood press, Minoan (MIN), the fraud Zoetic (ZOE) and its missing results, Kefi (KEFI), Supply@ME Capital (SYME) and the missing shares and then at MyHealthChecked (MHC) where I expect the shares to zoom within weeks but which is causing me to spit nails.
I start with bad news from Olaf, then consider football before – at length – answering the question in the title.
Nigel Somerville agonised at the weekend about who to vote for on May 6. In answer to his questions, various of our writers will, over the coming days, suggest who is worthy of your support. Last up is myself explaining why, here in Wales, we should vote for the cottage burning lunatics of Plaid Cymru.
For 20 years Jeff PressTrip built his name at the Mail on Sunday with his exclusive chats and scoops from Neil Woodford. The quid pro quo was that he blew the man off in print once a fortnight and he ensured that Mail on Sunday Readers ALL owned shares in the doomed Woodford funds. Even a day before Equity Income was gated, the Mail on Sunday urged its readers to show faith. But the corrupt old bastard (PressTrip not Woodford) wishes us to forget that and today again rails against his ex-mate saying how disgraceful is his planned comeback.
The most read non-Tom article this week is Ariana – Ozaltin deal completes. Now, what to do with £25 million (that’s alot of Ouzo…) by Nigel Somerville at number three, or number ten including Bearcasts and Tom’s new shareshow. Which one is the best of the week? Tell me in the comments.
This is for Cliff Weight of ShareSoc. I discuss incidents in my life on Fleet Street showing the corrupt nexus between financial PRs and the press in action. I hope you all find it amusing as informative and relates to this fight I got into earlier today. Then it is onto Brokerman Dan who is a visionary analyst of health stocks, notably MyHealthChecked (MHC) as PL and I are agreed. Finally Zoetic (ZOE) has been exposed by an RNS today from Path Investments (PATH) which is damning. Its implications are clear, Zoetic is now mortally wounded; however, its evil PR spinners tried turd polishing earlier today.
Lucy Burton of the Sunday Telegraph will this morning be celebrating her scoop of the year. It may win her prizes such is the corruption of modern journalism. In a faustian deal she gets to break the news that disgraced and crooked fund manager Neil Woodford is planning a comeback. In return she publishes a blow off interview in which Woodford paints himself as the victim of what happened, tells blatent lies and those lies go unchallenged. This is not journalism it is revolting PR ands Ms Burton should be drummed out of the industry. She won’t. She will be praised and promoted. And the deadwood press wonders why it is ever less trusted and its reader numbers slide?
On Thursday 4th February at 7 AM a CBD company Cellular Goods announced its plans to raise £8 million on a £20 million valuation and join the (sub) Standard List, home to so many frauds and dogs. The night before, Sky News came up with the “scoop” that this news could be revealed as soon as the following morning and that David Beckham had invested and would soon sign a deal to promote the CBD skin product. Oooooooh a nice photo of Becks and blow off comment with no questions asked, this is the corrupt MSM and a PR drop all over again as I noted with the other listed company where Becks has “invested”, Guild Esports (GILD) the other day HERE.
I have flagged up the corrupt nature of the deadwood press, and the Sunday Times in particular, numerous times on this website. The way it blew off Neil Woodford in return for “scoops" and again and again backs boards, who by dint of underperformance, are quite rightly under fire with dirty attacks on their critics is shameful. Babcock (BAB) is a case in point. Today the paper shows its true colours again with its coverage of NMC Health (NMC) and more especially, and shamefully, of EasyJet (EZJ).
Liam Kelly of The Sunday Times spins for Watchstone (WTG) in a terribly dishonest way becuase it has been shown an email relating to the Quindell (QPP) era and Slater & Gordon. I will have a real Quindell scoop in a couple of hours not dropped by a PR but coming on the back of real hard work. That is my 6th Wedding annoversary present to myself. All is discussed in today's podcast.
My series of exposes on Anglo Africa Oil & Gas (AAOG) have revealed a raft of corrupt deals by boss David Sefton. Most shareholders appeared to respond by attacking me. Today he 'fessed on the deals in full, admitting that I was right. He then reversed and changed them which will save his shareholders £1.3 million. They should be thanking me and singing my praises. They will not be. Meanwhile I expose Sefton's life of first class air travel - how long can this company afford to employ this shamed man?
In today's bearcast I look at FinnCrap (FCAP and two of its rotten clients: Telit (TCM) and Anglo African Oil & Gas (AAOG), at vile greed at Attis Oil & Gas (AOGL) , formerly Mayan/Northcote and at the latest FRC sanctions for shoddy audit work by Delotte and audit partner Helen George. I look at Weald Basin news from IGAS (IGAS) and what it means for Uk Oil 7 Gas (UKOG) et al and at daft Sound Energy (SOU) rumours.
In today's bearcast I look at the 5.6 million questions Mark Dampier has to answer in the wake of the collapse of the Neil Woodford empire. I also look at how the contagion could swamp one of Hargreaves Lansdown's (HL.) own fund of funds unit trusts and at the massive COIs at Hargreaves which the Woodfiord scandal reveals. I look at Redde (REDD), Surgical Innovations (SUN) and give a direct answer to Roger Lawson as to why I will continue to call out the corrupt and useless deadwood press even if it means no coverage of the achievements of this website. It is called feeling comfortable with yourself, Roger, for telling it as it is. Postscript: Late tonight it has been announced that shamed Dampier is to "retire".
Neil Woodford, Britain's best known fund manager has seen his empire start to crash and crumble today with a suspension of dealings in his flagship fund. Some in the corrupt deadwood press, like the Mail on Sunday, were still praising Woodford yesterday. Others have turned bearish over the past few months having previoously drunk the cool aid. But for almost two years we have been calling this out as a debacle waiting to happen, you can see our full, and incredibly detailed, coverage HERE. Site Editor Tom Winnifrith gave a keynote address at UK Investor 2018 predicting exactly what would happen and highlighting numerous red flags. You can see that video, now shown to be UK Investor at its finest, below
The Mail on Sunday and its freebie loving Personal Finance Editor Jeff Prestridge are promoting a new innovative company in telematics and insurance where the virtue signalling crisp salesman Gary Lineker is a brand ambassador and shareholder. Among Ticker’s named clients is Ingenie.. hang on does that ring a bell?
It has now been exactly a year and two days since VSA completed its “due diligence” on AIQ (AIQ) and brought this cash shell to the Standard List. And what a year of shame it has been.
In today's podcast I look at FastJet (FJET) - you were warned - Mercantile Ports & Logistics (MPL) - ditto - and Babcock (BAB) where the corrupt deadwood press do their best turd polishing today.
This is not a story about Milestone (MSG) now known as Catenae (CTAE) or even its former CEO Deborah White who should have been sent to prison for what she did there. Instead it is about a corrupt City broker which deserves to be brought to task.
The PR machine of Neil Woodford got its pliant servants at the Daily Mail and elsewhere in the corrupt deadwood press to make great play about how the Woodford Patient Capital Trust (WPCT) was about to go into the FTSE 250 Index so meaning that Index funds would have to buy the shares so the share price would go up. Uh Oh! Late last night came an announcement from the LSE:
And so at 9 AM GMT the court in Malta opened its third attempt to try Julie Meyer on criminal charges. And for a third time Julie Meyer failed to appear. What is the devout Christian afraid of? This court will reconvene on 20th June. But my sources tell me that there is more bad news from the Maltese Courts on the way for Ms lingerie on expenses MBE.
There are two matters under discussion in this podcast. First the merger between Aberdeen Asset Management (ADN) and Standard Life (SL.). I am bored by it. It is not what will drive the share price. Second the corrupt way the news was leaked via a corrupt Fleet Street in a way that can only harm private investors. As an "insider" in days gone by I explain exactly how this corrupt and rotten system works.
I recall a couple of episodes from my time on Fleet Street demonstrating the corrupt relationship between PR firms and the press you mistakenly think you should trust. I then move on today's article by Peter Evans in the Sunday Times on the fraud Eden Research (EDEN) which, from headline to conclusion, is misleading, strewn with factual errors and omits the real story of wholesale fraud. It was clearly spoon fed by the PR man, Paul "Queenie" McManus of Walbrook and shows the press in the worst possible light. No wonder so many of us despise my profession, or at least the established dead wood press part of it, so much.
Social media has had a huge impact on the AIM market, but unfortunately often not in a good way!
I start with a few admin matters. Is Britain corrupt? I have recorded a postcard on that matter on my personal site which you may find interesting HERE. Secondly a couple of corrections on Synety but my stance is unchanged. Then I look at why folks appoint join brokers and then at Patagonia Gold, West African Minerals, China Chaintek and have an explicit warning of bad news to come this afternoon for Big Ray Zimmerman at ZAI Corporate Finance
In today's podcast I look at the PR/Financial Press corrupt deal. I then move into Quindell, Robinson, Cambria Africa, Frontier Mining, what timber prices tell us about general earnings visibility, Gowin New, a new China POS that had been flagged up to me called JQW (target price 0p), the Wandisco pump and dump and Jiasen International.
