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Even a few of our detractors have now come around
I am a bit of a fan of DCC plc (DCC), the “leading international sales, marketing and support services group with a clear focus on performance and growth…operate through three divisions: Energy, Healthcare and Technology”. Back in late December I called it one of my tips of the year for 2022. So how is it getting on?
As I observed back in January I am “not a global fashionista nor a chav...but still a Burberry (BRBY) shares fan”. With events since, unsurprisingly the share is down but I can live with that as - at various points over the last few years - I have bought the stock at an average price below the current sub 16 quid share price level. But what do today’s full year numbers to the start of April tell me about both recent and upcoming trading realities?
Some good news and some less good news for easyJet (EZJ) today. Call me radical but I have booked an easyJet flight for later this year, which is a tiny bit of positive news for its finance team. The less good financial news is that the company is going to have to “offer new and existing cabin crew a £1,000 bonus at the end of the summer holiday season, as airlines battle to retain and recruit staff”. Frankly though, a bit like any company, if it doesn’t have happy and motivated staff it will ultimately struggle. I remain a fan despite a lower share price this morning. And what about Greggs (GRG), which published a trading update this morning? After all a couple of months ago I asked the question “At what share price will I want more than just a vegan sausage roll from Greggs?”...
You probably saw that, late last week, Rolls-Royce (RR.) held its AGM, giving a year-to-date update. How exciting for shareholders! But how did they get on?
Hello Share Mates. One of the seven deadly sins is sloth. And while it doesn't necessarily lose shareholders a lot of money, it stops them making it. The major manifestation of laziness in Shareland is allowing companies which have been going nowhere for a long time to rot in your portfolio.
Back in January, I believed that my shares in Sage Group (SGE) - the “British multinational-enterprise software company, based in Newcastle upon Tyne” - had hit my 800 pence target, and thus that it was time to take my profits. A few days later, I did. But what do I think today, after a fall to around 670 pence?
I recently covered Serinus Energy (SENX) as a speculative buy based on the likelihood that the results for the first quarter would be good and the company would have benefitted from high commodity prices and fairly low Capex.
Hello Share Wranglers. Like most infrastructure jumbos, Balfour Beatty (BBY) is making a strong recovery after the setbacks of Covid. So confident is the company that in the first quarter of 2022, it has re-bought nearly £20 million's worth of its own shares. And that's not all. It expects to have repurchased £150 million's of its stock by the year's end. The outfit happily boasts that it will continue to make higher profits for the rest of 2022.
Packaging group Macfarlane (MACF) has announced “a solid start to 2022, with first quarter sales and profits from continuing operations ahead of the same period in 2021… expectations for the full year are unchanged”. So what of a current 120.5p share price?
Lift Global Ventures (LFT) - a cash shell that buys assets in the financial media world - was listed at 3p on 29 April, after a fund raise which brought in £1.73 million. That, we are told, was “oversubscribed”, which is obviously a testimony to the brilliance of its CEO, the Sith Lord Zak Mir. Every bandit in town is on the shareholder list, as well as upstanding blue-chip investors like David Lenigas and ex ADVFN boss, Clem “a legend in his own expenses lunchtime” Chambers.
You all know how to think about Rightmove (RMV). As noted here in February, the average person seems to love checking out what the latest property price in their village or town might be. Even I have checked it out once or twice year-to-date (obviously purely for educational reasons). But I am not surprised that Rightmove’s shares are down 30% year-to-date and neither am I surprised that the stock is down 4% today…
It isn’t really surprising that any companies operating in the region where the current conflict between Russia and Ukraine is going on have taken a big hit to their share price since it all kicked off, but that can also present opportunities as long as you are prepared to take on the risks associated with that.
It is no surprise to see Mondi (MNDI) shares up over 6% today after its positive trading update out after the close yesterday. I am a bit of a fan of both Mondi and its rough peer DS Smith (SMDS) as mentioned about both of them back in March, but a FTSE 350 name I’ve not been a fan of is Trainline (TRN). So why has its full year numbers today pushed the shares up by nearly 5%?
Fresnillo (FRES) has announced first quarter of the year production including attributable silver production of 13.28 million ounces and gold production of 0.15 million ounces and that, despite challenges, “2022 guidance remains unchanged”.
I’ve previously written here about the attempts by some to manipulate the share price of Oilex (OEX), and particularly with regards to an upcoming placing, but that will come to an end now that the company has released the actual details.
Whilst Aston Martin Lagonda (AML) shareholders may be pleased that their shares are up over 6% today, it still remains a comedy investment. I am sure the cars are very nice but despite all the chat about 2022 guidance maintained and a “successfully launched DBX707 ahead of Q2 deliveries”, the reality is still centred on losses and higher net debt levels. It remains a car company controlled largely by the rich for the rich. Despite the wealth of its Chairman and the 92% share price fall since its most recent IPO in 2018, it remains an avoid for me (at many levels). So if fast and flashy cars are not really my thing, what about the “premium lifestyle brand and group with an authentic heritage and values of family, fun and joy in the countryside” offering of Joules Group (JOUL)?.
Serinus Energy (SENX) shares have performed pretty badly, considering that oil and gas is currently in a bull market, but I believe that the next set of operational and financial results could be a turning point for investors.
GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) has announced its first quarter of the year results and that it reconfirms its full-year 2022 guidance. We are well ahead on this share tip where we are also drinking our own medicine so what to do now?
Cybersecurity group Shearwater (SWG) has emphasised a “set of market-beating numbers… we remain excited for what the future holds”. What of a share price response up to 140p?
A couple of weeks back I wrote a piece here about how I was excited about the prospects of a small AIM oil company, Afentra (AET), where I hold a stake myself and which had just announced that it had potentially secured a stake in two blocks, subject to final due diligence. The company has now announced that it has entered into a sale and purchase agreement with the vendor, Sonangol, and has released a lot more information on the finer details of the proposed transaction – including the fact that it is expected to be funded from existing cash balances plus debt, and with no equity dilution to existing holders in order to complete the deal.
At one time I quite liked the look of Hummingbird Resources (HUM) and its gold mining operations, but unfortunately, like so many AIM listed resource stocks, its potential looked better than what it hasactually turned out to be!
As folks guzzled on the covid testing hype, one man grew very rich. Graham Mullis was CEO of Novacyt (NCYT), a nothing biotech perennial dog, which just happened to have a test. Mullis was to be awarded a cash bonus, the size of which was dependent on the share price as of October 17 2020.
I record looking up at the mountains behind the Greek Hovel. Why on earth are we heading back to Wales? I shall miss this place badly. Then, onto Netflix. Finally, I explain why Malcolm is wrong on shares generally, but also on Gear4Music (GFM), where the only unknown is the scale of the share price collapse, a process far from complete.
A couple of weeks back I wrote a piece here about how the share price of Oilex (OEX) was being manipulated, with all sorts of claims being made from some people about being told information that wasn’t in the public domain.
On 12th April 2022 AIM-listed Advanced Oncotherapy (AVO) announced an equity fundraise of £1.735 million at 25p a pop – a premium to market, but only at par price. We were told that the fundraise has been conducted through a direct subscription with the Company (the "Subscription") for a total of 6,940,000 new ordinary shares. So the money was in the bank, right? Wrong….
Centamin (CEY) has announced a quarterly update including “as planned, Q1 2022 production reflected the successful transition to owner mining in the underground… reiterates its 2022 full-year guidance”, so what of a share price response currently down closer to 90p?
Shares in Flowtech Fluidpower (FLO) remain below levels of earlier this year despite recent results showing encouraging recovery and noting an encouraging start to this year, with there looking to be scope for further recovery in profitability and for the share price.
There was not too much to be excited about for Rio Tinto (RIO) shareholders today on the publication of its first quarter production results. I remain a big fan of the mining name as I noted a couple of months ago, and whilst its core iron ore business had negative growth this was largely expected and should improve as the year progresses. Apart from very firm metals prices versus historically, the other opportunity for the company over the 2020s remains everything else it is doing – or, as it put it in the update, “we made notable progress during the quarter with the commencement of underground mining at Oyu Tolgoi following a comprehensive agreement reached with the Government of Mongolia, completed the acquisition of the Rincon lithium project in Argentina, and signed a framework agreement at the Simandou iron ore project in Guinea”.
The share price of 888 Holdings (888) has remained pretty weak during the completion of its acquisition of William Hill, and as a result of revenue in the final quarter of 2021 showing a substantial fall.
It is about eight hundred days since I last wrote about Dunelm Group (DNLM), “the UK's leading homewares retailer”. Back in mid-February 2020 I observed that “I am still not shopping there let alone buying the shares (1000p round number new support level?)”, which is kind of fascinating as the share price today is close to being at the aforementioned 1000p share price level. So what is going on?
The sequence that started on January 12, at 1.57, can again be extended: 1.24, 0.86, 0.77,0.59, and now, 0.48. Ouch! That is the price at which death spiral provider, Atlas, has converted loan notes onto Vast Resources (VAST) shares, the latest being $300,000 worth. The bad news? Atlas has another $5.2 million to go. Luckily, there was a spoof RNS on Monday, which must have helped with the forward selling
Over the weekend reports emerged in the Angolan press that its national oil company, Sonangol, had finally completed the bidding process for the licences that it was selling its stakes in, and that a small AIM company, Afentra (AET), had been successful in being selected for two of these blocks. I’ve been invested in Afentra for some time – as well as having covered it positively several times here going back to the days when it was called Sterling Energy, and like many others have been patiently waiting for some news whilst the shares remained suspended. Due to the size of any transaction resulting from its bids, it will constitute a reverse takeover and the shares were suspended accordingly, and will remain so until either a prospectus is published or it terminates its bids for the Sonangol assets.
I am a bit of an easyJet (EZJ) fan even if it is over two years since I last was on one of its planes. Tom may be more of an expert on actually getting on its planes more recently given his regular trips to the Hellenic Republic. As for today’s announcement of its reduced H1 losses to a “range of £535-565m for the 6 months ended 31 March 2022", believe me it could have been a lot worse and the key remains the number of trips over the next six to eighteen months. The shares are little changed today at just shy of 550p but I am still hopeful of a run at 800p, which keeps it a Buy for me. By contrast, I see Deliveroo (ROO) goes from one shocker to another…
There are very few stock markets around the world open this Friday, so that makes it a four day investment week. But it is far from dull out there given a bunch of the world’s biggest American banks are out with quarterly numbers on Wednesday and Thursday. Plus there are set to be a bunch of interesting updates from FTSE and other UK market names - I may have commented on once or two before - starting tomorrow. In short, I look forward to an Easter egg (or three) to help rebuild a bit of energy. However I thought today might be a bit quiet…until I saw news from John Wood Group (WG.)...
The performance of CMC Markets (CMCX) has been pretty disappointing in recent times, but now there are some signs of its financial performance improving and a potential demerging of the business on the horizon.
As I noted here a couple of months ago, BT Group (BT.A) is not an expensive share; it is just you will make better returns from other FTSE names (let alone elsewhere in the global markets). That’s why, on a good day - that is to say, above a 200 pence share price - I will be selling my stock, after more than doubling my shareholding back in 2020. And now, I read more hopes about sector deals…
i3 Energy (I3E) has announced that production from Canada is exceeding expectations, and it looks forward to updating the market with results from its active drilling program.
You may remember I wrote in February about Johnson Matthey (JMAT) that, whilst it “is 204 years old and out of the FTSE 100”, it is also “far from boring”. So what did I make of today’s pre-close full year trading update?
AIM-listed Gold (and Silver) producer in Turkey, Ariana Resources (AAU) has at last updated the market over its second Gold mine at Tavsan. It seems that things are indeed progressing and we are now given to expect mine construction to commence this quarter.
Maybe I will or maybe I won’t go on a plane this year as there are always plenty of other things to do in life. Based on number of historic trips, my favourite carrier remains easyJet (EZJ) but it is a good job I am not travelling with it today as “EasyJet cancels 100 flights due to Covid absences” – something I am sure all Easter travellers, across all airlines, are fully aware of. And this brings us to observations by its great peer and competitor Ryanair, which observed this morning that it “expects to report a pre-exceptional FY22 net loss of between -€350 million and -€400 million (previously guided range of -€250 million to -€450 million)”.
I have today been disinvited from the Woodford TTF event, so if you paid £75 to hear me, ask for your money back. I’m sure the FT’s happy, and I discuss what you will NOT now hear. I also discuss today’s April Fool on ShareProphets - which some of you fell for! Finally, I look at 4D Pharma (DDDD); Verditek (VDTK) – is that the Fat Lady I see?; Eden Research (EDEN), and the issue its auditors will have; and musicMagpie (MMAG), with today’s share price lurch in mind.
The RNS merely states that all resolutions passed at today’s AGM. But, given the speculation regarding CEO Andrew Bell’s future, after the piss-poor share price performance of late, Mr Bell is being unduly, and uncharacteristically, modest and not giving the actual results. Luckily, I can assist…
Central Asia Metals (CAML) is one of those companies which I think is consistently undervalued by the market, and although it carries some degree of geo-political risk, I believe that too large a discount is applied for that.
Toople (TOOP), the sub-standard listed company, today issued an RNS about “debt financing”. And in that RNS, the CEO lies. Never buy shares in companies where the CEO is shown to tell a lie, as there are bound to be others you are unaware of.
EnQuest (ENQ) has just released its results for 2021 and the market didn’t seem to like them, judging by the reaction of the share price, which I find surprising as I think they actually made pretty good reading.
musicMagpie (MMAG) clearly needs a bailout placing to survive. There is only selling ( apart from spoof boardroom trades) so the shares should be heading lower. But one market maker is holding the price up. Others clearly would not touch this with a bargepole given what we have exposed here this week. So which market maker is holding the price up? Hint….
Six months ago I observed that the British multinational diversified engineering business Smiths Group (SMIN) was worth sixteen to seventeen quid a share. The share price has risen about 10% since then, meaning a just shy of a fifteen quid share price this morning. After all its first half numbers showed a 3.4% rise in organic revenue growth and an 11.1% rise in operating profits given it saw “strong demand across most end markets”. And it also sold its Medical business in recent months too allowing it to focus on other parts of its business and buying back some shares too.
I am sure many of you have shopped at a Next (NXT) store, from one of its catalogues or online over the years. Next may not be super-fashionable or super-cheap but it is super solid, hence why over the last five years the shares have not embarrassed themselves like M&S (MKS), boohoo (BOO) or Debenhams have. But I need to have a think about Next shares because since I last wrote about the company in early January the stock is down over 20%. So whilst I did title my article ten weeks ago “Good job Next, but your positive Christmas trading is factored in”, is the share price now cheap?
A year ago I wrote “what a strange company is Pendragon (PDG)”, even if it is the second largest motor retailer in the United Kingdom. Of course if you purchased the stock, despite today’s c. 4% share price fall after the publication of its FY21 numbers, you would still be up over 40%. So well done if you ignored my scepticism (although my personal sector preference Vertu Motors (VTU) has almost risen 80% since then). But, as I noted with the latter here earlier on this month, it is getting tougher in the sector, which brings us back to Pendragon shares…
Kosmos Energy (KOS) is one of those companies that has never seemed to be very popular on the London market but it has performed extremely well as oil and gas prices have risen.
Hello Share Shufflers. Uncle Tom and Steve write appreciably about the touch sensor king Zytronic (ZYT). And I thought I’d like to support their enthusiasm. In an age when many more of us rely on digital gizmos, there can be little doubt that touch screens are more and more essential to those folks seeking an easier life
On January 31 Vast Resources (VAST) announced that it had almost replaced its Atlas death spiral with alternative funding, a refinancing. Natch that was grossly misleading! This is Vast after all.
OptiBiotix Health (OPTI) has announced that it intends to seek admission of its ProBiotix Health business onto the AQSE Growth Market with an associated fund raise of approximately £2.5 million at an indicative premoney valuation of £22.5 million and a distribution in specie. With, at a 35.5p share price, OptiBiotix as a whole currently capitalised at £31.3 million, is this good news? You bet!
Cybersecurity group Shearwater (SWG) has announced a three-year contract with a global financial organisation, totalling $4.1 million, to provide the customer with security software across the breadth of its operations.
Hello Share Magnates. There’s nothing holds back share prices more than uncertainty. And boy, are the world’s economic affairs uncertain now. But let’s take a look at some of the issues and see how we as smart share traders, both active and not so active, can make money in the near future.
I have been a big fan of shares in Essentra (ESNT) – whicvh hopes to be “the world’s leading responsible hassle-free supplier of essential industrial components” – for about nine months now. And whilst my average purchase price of below 275p is very pleasant compared to today’s c. 315p share price, the share has been pretty volatile year-to-date after I discussed its continued good progress back in January . So am I still hoping for a 400p+ share price target or not?
Capital Metals (CMET) has been covered in the past on ShareProphets, both positively and negatively, and, on behalf of a reader, Tom Winnifrith asked me to take a look and give my latest thoughts on this Sri Lankan focussed miner. You see, we do read your emails.
I discuss those threats and at a company level I add commentary on Nightcap (NGHT), Cake Box (CBOX) Chill Brands (CHLL), Cellular Goods (CBX) and Supply@ME Capital (SYME)
Capricorn Energy (CNE) has seen its share price weaken since it announced a tender offer as opposed to a special dividend, which many investors had been expecting, but remains one to hold.
Fresnillo (FRES) has announced 2021 results and on-going challenges but also confidence in its prospects. Really?
H&T Group (HAT) has announced results for the 2021 calendar year and that looking ahead it “is well positioned”. Is it?
Have you enjoyed the last week in the financial markets? It certainly has been volatile but such is life in the stock market world and – as I have observed before – if you see volatility as more of a threat than an opportunity, get somebody else to manage your investment portfolio as it will make you a lot less stressed and a lot wealthier. Meanwhile for us obsessed with the world of the financial markets the key always remains how you react. And that brings me this morning to the just announced FY21 numbers of SIG (SHI).
Supply@ME Capital (SYME) shares are up by more than 50% at time of writing this article at 0.1025p with the rumour mill implying huge revenues were just around the corner at Tradeflow Capital. The announcement that Tradeflow had cumulatively financed over $1 billion of commodity trade up from $750 million the previous quarter was what seems to have promoted the buying frenzy.
Nomad and broker Finncap (FCAP) led by smug Sam Smith the City’s fave female entrepreneur, so we cannot say anything bad about her company, floated on the AIM Sewer on December 5 2018 at 28p per share. Today, after a ramptastic, but odd, trading statement, the shares are …. 28p to sell, 29p to buy if you are nutso.
After the excitement of Wednesday’s market moves comes Thursday…which unsurprisingly after the down and up volatility of the last few days is a bit more boring. We could all probably do with it, although a regular bout of volatility is the markets for you (and I would have it no other way). As for today’s corporate updates, two strike me as being particularly noteworthy, Capita (CPI) and DS Smith (SMDS)…
Currently the conflict in Ukraine is a huge risk for any companies operating there or in Russia, and even more so with further sanctions being put in place and proposed.
That is Nigel’s problem. He is just too much of a nice guy as he showed with his piece earlier on the Tern/Wyld cash crisis. I am not so charitable. I am not a nice guy. The crisis is far worse than even Nigel suggests.
The FCA has today indicated that it will not object to the proposed recapitalization and customer redress package proposed by loan shark Amigo (AMGO) but there are a few horrid caveats and a doubling of the share price to 6p is quite literally insane making this a slam dunk short. Here’s why.
For most of the last year, AIM-listed jam-tomorrow IoT investment company Tern plc (TERN) has survived because its supporters were truly sold on Tern’s portfolio being worth a multiple of the official NAV per share which allowed Tern to issue more and more shares like there is no tomorrow at a huge premium to NAV per share, even if at massive discounts to the prevailing share price. Until now.
Asiamet Resources (ARS) has announced a further update on the proposed investment from PT Delta Dunia Makmur Tbk. (DOID), one of the largest mining services company in Indonesia, admitting that the process is taking longer than it hoped but with DOID re-emphasising that it “is working as quickly as possible to finalise its due diligence… remain the largest shareholder in Asiamet and are supportive of the advancement of the company”.
Pantheon Resources (PANR) has a market cap of close to £1 billion but isn’t yet producing oil, which begs the question as to whether or not it is worth the current valuation and how much risk is attached to buying it at this level.
Early stage financial services businesses investor B.P. Marsh & Partners (BPM) has announced it has completed a sale of its 77.25% shareholding in Summa Insurance Brokerage for £8.1 million after all associated costs, with also a further £1.5 million in full for its loan, emphasising this “once again demonstrates the success of our investment approach over a number of years”.
This has certainly been an interesting first four days of March for global investment markets. And – in a way – being a bit too busy with meetings and travel over Thursday and Friday to do anything much with investment market choices is no bad thing.
IGas Energy (IGAS) has been performing well recently in terms of the share price, but following the latest trading and reserves update it has taken a bit of a hit and pulled back more than 14%.
Developer and manufacturer of touch sensors for use with electronic displays in industrial, self-service and public access equipment, Zytronic (ZYT) was a September tip here and a share price fall in the last month has looked harsh to us. The company now clearly seems to think the same.
Eurasia Mining (EUA) which was only recently being touted for sale by Russia’s VFB Bank, now facing Western sanctions, has insisted that the new Western sanctions will have no impact on its operations. Whatever you say comrade Schaffalitzky.
Online fashion retailer Boohoo (BOO) has performed terribly for anyone who has been invested over the past year or so and has seen its share price drop by around 75% during that time.
Earlier this month HERE, I observed that the ‘Methodist Church threatens to pull stake from Rio Tinto (RIO) over damning sexual harassment report’. I am not sure if its investment committee listened to the mining sector giant’s conference call earlier today but – if it did – it will be pleased with the huge amounts of ESG mentions in the first few minutes of the call. Most investors though will be more excited by the news of ‘record financial results and total dividend of 1,040 US cents per share for 2021, a 79% payout’, equivalent to over a 10% dividend yield. Whilst some of this was a special dividend reflecting remarkable metals sector prices during 2021, how should investors feel now about the FTSE-100 giant with a market cap of just shy of £94 billion?
Neill Ricketts of Versarien (VRS) will today be boasting of how he has settled his libel claim against Bulletin Board poster Ian Westbrook and that it is a triumph for him. Au contraire! Only now can I reveal what Ricketts really wanted out of this case.
I have shared my views before on the ‘development and marketing of veterinary products’ company Dechra Pharmaceuticals (DPH), including noting in early September that ‘maybe it is just me finding it easier to appraise future human (than animal) demand scope, but I am going to keep on avoiding this one despite the recent share price falls’. And whilst the shares have romped hugely since their IPO early this century, the stock is down almost 30% during the last six months. So is today’s c. 38 quid share price – after the publication of first half numbers – now cheap or still expensive?
I see that shares in AIM-listed Advanced Oncotherapy (AVO) are down to just 26.5p – only a penny and a half above the nominal price. Normally that might not be an issue, but Advanced is a serial non-deliverer of promises and has had to place at regular intervals until now. So what chance a bucket-shop placing to keep the lights on whilst we await the ever-delayed first LIGHT system to even offer a sprinkling of hope for some revenue?
For the first time in a couple of years I might be visiting London in just under a couple of weeks time. Such excitement (not!) to see the Big Smoke. I read the other day that “house hunters wanting to buy a property in London this year are likely to face more competitive market conditions than in 2021…Since January, 51% more buyers have entered the market and 35% more property viewings took place”. Such is the excitement (not!) for property market thoughts for 2022, because we all know that it is easy to extrapolate any generally positive move over the last 40 years for another few years.
Kazera Global (KZG) has announced that December/January production cycle diamond production has achieved a record of over 1,000 carats, the largest of which is a high value stone of 13ct, and that the Tantalite Valley mine in Namibia is expected to become operational shortly, after which the company will begin exporting commercial quantities of tantalum to its Chinese offtake partner.
Of course this is good news for UK Oil & Gas (UKOG) though it does not change the elephant in the room, that is to say the looming cash crisis. Already this company has insufficiet cash to meet its liabilities and commitments and each day it burns another £5,000 to £10,000. The share price reaction today, a gain of 29% to 0.1475p is, thus, wholly unwarranted. The news is a positive but not that much of a positive.
There was good news this morning for shareholders in AIM-listed Ariana Resources (AAU) as it confirmed dates for the second tranche of its special dividend. As a loyal shareholder, I am looking forward to topping up my supplies of Ouzo o the proceeds.
It’s been a while since I commented on PetroTal Corp (PTAL) – a Peruvian based oiler. My views on this investment case turned negative back in late 2019, and I came in for some slagging on social media for even suggesting it was not the best investment since sliced bread. My last substantive comment was in June 2020, after the company placed to manage the working capital position, as I suggested was required. A cornerstone Institutional Investor is now engaging with PI’s and other II’s to see the best outcome for shareholders. I find this very interesting on several levels.
OptiBiotix Health (OPTI) has made what it describes as a “Commercial and strategy update”, including arguing “look forward with confidence to further commercial progress of the group in the current year and beyond”. What does that though mean tangibly?
Jubilee Metals (JLP) states that it “is pleased to announce its unaudited operational results for the six months to 31 December 2021” and that it looks forward to “the next six months with the full impact of the Inyoni facility being felt, as well as the targeted ramp-up at Roan enabling us to take another major step in our commitment to achieve annual copper production of 25 000 tonnes”. So what of a current 16.3p share price, £396 million market capitalisation?
The 1980s was a great decade in many ways with the best music, best prime minister, massive new excitement about capitalism and much, much more. It was a great decade to be a teenager and learn about shares through reading the Daily Mail.
Since I observed in mid-December that “I like Ocado (OCDO) delivery but I am keeping on avoiding the shares”, I have personally used the company twice and remain completely unsurprised to see the share price down over 10% today and nearly 20% year-to-date. Life is always tough when you have a market cap of nearly £9.5 billion, revenue of just shy of £2.5 billion (up 7.2% year-on-year) and – despite some clever software and robots technology – still make a loss. Striking a deal here with M&S (MKS) was smart here in the UK and ‘unveiled the next leap of game-changing technology underpinning the unique and proprietary Ocado Smart Platform’ may be very exciting, but my top tip would be to make some actual proper profit. I guess that means (1) I will put another food and related order in later this month and (2) I will keep on avoiding the shares. Meanwhile, how is one of my ‘tips of the year’ plays DCC plc (DCC) getting along?
One year and one month after Wildcat Petroleum (WCAT) lied about having raised £600,000 and took its place among the worthless joke companies on the Standard List, its long promised RTO of an E&P asset is still nowhere to be seen. However, nearly all of the money which did come in after spiv investors flipped the shares they had been issued without paying for, has now been spunked. Cash is now well under £200,000 so serious spoofing is needed.
UK North Sea and Malaysia hydrocarbon producer EnQuest (ENQ) has published an Operations update, noting that it delivered free cash flow of around $395 million in 2021 with a realised price of c.$69/bbl, resulting in a stronger balance sheet with net debt reduced to $1,222 million and that net production averaged 50,810 Boepd last month. Good news? You bet.
Sports, leisure and mobility equipment group Tandem (TND) has announced “FY21 profit before tax expected to be well ahead of the prior year and slightly ahead of the current market expectations” and that its order book “remains materially ahead of the comparative position in the prior year”.
This has been a very good share tip for our readers but there is more to come. Jadestone Energy (JSE) has announced that “2021 production averaged 12,545 boe/d, in line with expectations” and “cash balances at the end of the year are estimated at US$117.4 million, representing an increase of 30% year-on-year, even after the largest spending programme in the company’s history”. This sounds encouraging.
Over a month has passed since the fraud Supply@ME Capital (SYME) issued its 31 December 2021 trading update promising inventory monetisation revenue was due shortly. In January 2022 the sole RNS was the notification of the issue of 594 million shares in respect of the December loan note repayment. I suppose it all depends on what you mean by “shortly.”
It is some time since I last commented on SDX Energy (SDX), in fact it was over 2 ½ years ago when I last hammered the keyboard to record my views on this company. How time flies when Covid lockdowns stop one going to parties. Regardless, yesterdays RNS really was an ouzo moment when one looks at some of the detail.
Another month starts and – no doubt – more corporate share price excitement will be apparent. As a boring active investor with over five years (at least!) before I can access my pension fund, I am genuinely excited about prospects as it is clearly far from being a boring passive investment world nowadays. Here is the less good news though, I doubt if even a third of stocks are even moderately interesting. Clearly we are shifting closer to the world of Japan with ageing populations, high debt levels, boring economic growth progress…and only one in ten of the stocks that you appraise being interesting. And that brings me to today’s updates from James Halstead (JHD) and Joules Group (JOUL).
It is going to be a busy week. Even beyond the world of US tech giants, there are loads of UK stocks reporting including Shell, BT Group (BT.A) and Vodafone (VOD), with the latter having a bunch of (overly) excitable new active investor chat. Who said the FTSE 100 was boring…(although for various reasons it has been a shabby performer for the last decade or so, but obviously what always really matters is tomorrow and not yesterday). Later in the week the Bank of England will be giving an update where a further interest rate increase is surely highly likely. And of course that makes the importance of corporate analysis even more important, which brings me today to Porvair (PRV).
I start with the Carrie Antoinette “victory party” a few weeks after my dad’s funeral.This is the final straw at so many levels. Then I move onto news that the FCA staff are balloting on strike action over plans to scrap their bonuses. Then to lessons learned from the Novacyt (NCYT) scandal – where I did warn you! The chief lesson is that poor corporate governance often goes hand in hand with poor share price performance. I discuss ADVFN (AFN) in this vein.
I think that I once went to a Grosvenor Casino (spent nothing hence lost nothing) but I certainly have not been to any of the other bingo and gaming opportunities offered by Rank Group (RNK). Still, back in August, I observed I’d be having another look at the company’s shares when they are ‘back to a share price in the 150s pence level again’. You can guess where the 8% share price fall over the last six months have taken us…
It has been a little while since I last commented on Simec Atlantis Energy (SAE) and highlighted all the red flags of the investment case. Today’s news that the Uskmouth Planning application has been withdrawn is perhaps surprising at first glance, but in my view, it is fully explainable using a single word – cash. Are we final reaching the death throes of this dreadful company?
Tomorrow will be a day of domestic childcare hell so I flag up now that my copy may be limited. Today I discuss Novacyt (NCYT) vs IG Design (IGR) where I think young Steve is wrong to be so bearish after today’s 53% share price fall. Then I look at two potential zeros Chill Brands (FRAUD) and Verditek (LIARS).
In yesterday’s RNS Tintra (TNT) has indicated that the first subscription at the equivalent of 504 pence per share has arrived which is obviously very good news and sees 148,511 new ordinary shares in issue.
Some folks are pissed off at the share price and ask me why Open Orphan (ORPH) does not use some of its cash to buy back shares? I put this to Orphan’s boss Cathal Friel who says:
Have you been enjoying the volatile financial markets year-to-date? I have not looked but I guess the value of my pension fund has fallen slightly, even if my #1 position is my beloved Barrick Gold which unsurprisingly is up so far in 2022. I have added one new holding this week though as I did say here a couple of weeks ago about Currys (CURY) that ‘if you see the share price at or below 100p then you should buy’. We will see whether Monday’s buy was smart or not over time. Meanwhile, a couple of months ago I observed about the British multinational enterprise software company Sage Group (SGE) that I had an 800p+ share price target.
When Covid arrived I penned a piece here about the possible impacts on sub-prime lenders, given that the industry was already having issues even prior to that, and have also commented extensively on this on Twitter over the past couple of years.
I always find it hard to buy shares where I see fundamental good value and where I am intending to hold them as an actual investment rather than just a short term trade based on momentum.
October share tip at a 279p offer price, UK pawnbroking group H&T (HAT) has announced that “trading performance during the second half remained consistently strong and the group expects to report profit before tax for the full year within the range of current market expectations”.
Advance Energy (ADV) is proving to be probably my worst tip ever, given that I only covered it yesterday and the share price is currently down around 80% following an update on drilling which appears to be bad news, and I can only apologise to anyone who bought based on my piece yesterday. At least it has given my pea brained critics on twitter a day of onanismic delight.
I start with Mr Moulding who must be a decent chap as he gives vast sums to that beacon of integrity that is the Conservative & Unionist party. I discuss today’s horrible statement from THG (THG).The incident should also see firings at the Mail on Sunday and Sunday Times but it will not. I look at Omega Diagnostics (ODX) as it rushes towards a single figure share price and at Guild e-Sports (GILD), still a joke, notwithstanding today’s statement. Finally i look at the Sound Energy (SOU) bids for Lord Lucan’s Angus Energy (ANGS) Will Lucan get any more lucky?
Advance Energy (ADV) is a company which I covered last summer and suggested that although it has a very chequered history, new assets and a completely different management team made it well worth a speculative buy with a drill to come.
A real buzz seems to have returned to the oil and gas sector in recent times and with commodity prices at their strongest for several years, and that even seems to be trickling down to the lower end of the market and the explorers now with some shares on a real rip.
Pharos Energy (PHAR) has been a terrible investment for anyone who has held longer term – including myself – and even more so from the days when it was called Soco International (SIA), but I still believe that it can turn things around.
About a month ago (here) I wrote about Currys (CURY), observing that ‘if I see the stock below a quid then I will probably buy some’. Back then the stock was between 110-115p and today it is more like 107p. So what did today’s ‘trading update for 10 weeks ended 8 January 2022’ say?
If you are into corporate updates it is an interesting day today and loads to write about. Here is the exciting news: it is going to be like this for over the next couple of months. It has always been thus over the last twenty-five plus years I have been looking at the U.K. markets. I guess I should start with ASOS (ASC), which may have formally talked about a four month trading update to the end of December, but a second headline it gave, observing that the company ‘announces intended move to London Stock Exchange’s main market’, is kind of interesting too.
Tintra (TNT) has issued an RNS “Strategic Investment Under Funding Round” which saw the shares soar up over 225% at the time of writing. The whole think stinks like a rotting herring stuffed down the back of a sofa in a very warm room.
These days there seem to be very few AIM oil or gas companies drilling wells targeting significant resources, and even fewer where the outcome is a success.
Oh dear. How sad. Never Mind. The Covid testing bubble is bursting and an admission this morning from Avacta (AVCT) is even more of a disaster than a 27% share price slump suggests. This collapse is only just beginning and will spread across the sector, so completely vindicating we cynics of stocks such as Abingdon (ABDX), Omega Diagnostics (ODX) and others. As a bear, preparing to crack out a celebratory ouzo, Let me explain.
I see that Aston Martin Lagonda (AML) observed this morning that its “year-end cash balance of c.£420 million, higher than previously anticipated…”. That is no disaster for the car company but given its lack of conventional profitability, there will still be a lot to appraise at their formal numbers on the 24th February. The shares might be up 3% today but they are still down by more than 25% during the last year. Even though Formula 1 fans might regard the company as offering a lot of sales growth potential, personally I am not excited, even if it claims their DBX brand achieved ‘about 20% share of the luxury SUV market’. A company owned by the rich, for the rich is never the easiest holding, especially as it has gone bust a number of times before historically. It remains a clear avoid for me.
It was not a big Christmas shocker for Next (NXT) to declare this morning that ‘in the eight weeks to 25 December full price sales were up +20.0% versus two years ago…This was £70 million ahead of our previous guidance for the period’. That is far from a disaster, even if Next shares have fallen below the 80 quid level.
I start with a few comments on my life as a tree hugging, green feminist and the issues that presents. Then I comment on Wildcat (WCAT) and its smearing of me in a bonkers statement. I then comment on Versarien (VRS), the Ian Westbrook case and what will cause a share price collapse this year. Then it is on to Cineworld (CINE), the Restaurant Group (RTN) and easyjet (EZJ), three end of covid plays and why they are not all the same. Finally I look at Nostra Terra Oil & Gas (NTOG) and the latest statement served up by its devoutly Christian boss and why I am not buying into it.
Now that the acquisition of Bacanora Lithium (BCN) by Gangfeng has completed, many former shareholders will be wondering whether to keep hold of the shares they were awarded in Zinnwald Lithium (ZNWD) as part of that deal.
So here we are once again considering the merits of a bucket of highly avoidable oily sector investments I heaved into a bucket this time last year, uninfluenced by free pork pies or site visits. The 2021 Vomit list. After chucking up 9 out of 10 winners in its inaugural 2020 list, what has 2021 thrown up? Perhaps none given the rising oil price? Don’t be silly – “Lying” Steve Sanderson would never let me down!
The lower end of the AIM market seems to be littered with small companies that haven’t made any real progress over the years, in terms of shareholder returns, and I’m often left wondering what the point of them being listed is, given the additional costs that involves.
Rockhopper Exploration (RKH), advised the market today that the application by the Italian Government to consider a case that potentially influenced the ability of the arbitration panel to rule on the company’s claim under the Energy Charter Treaty for the Ombrina Mare project had been rejected. This is good news, which followed the recently announced deal with Navitas Petroleum LP and Harbour Energy (HBR) to take Sea Lion oil field forward, which was also a step in the right direction. But does that make the company shares a buy?
Hurricane Energy (HUR) is a company that I’ve been following and covering ever since the days before it drilled the Lancaster appraisal well; through the times when it looked like it could be a big AIM success story; and more recently when it was uncertain as to whether it would even survive.
These days I’m generally not a fan of tiny natural resources companies and tend to avoid them as they rarely attract the positive sentiment and momentum that we have seen in the past, and most will never even come close to actually extracting anything from the ground.
Today’s news from Tern (TERN) is welcome because it has reduced its future cash flow burn by finding new partners to fund InVMA or Konektio. The downside is that Tern has diluted its stake from 50% to 36.8% just as the company is experiencing significant sales growth, according to the RNS:
Video streaming technology company Aferian (AFRN) has announced year ended 30th November 2021 performance “ahead of the prior year, and in line with board expectations” and confidence looking ahead including increased exit run rate annual recurring revenue of approximately $15 million and further visibility as customers place orders up to 60 weeks in advance in response to extended lead times in the supply chain.
Jadestone Energy (JSE) has announced that 2021 average annual production is expected to be around the midpoint of the 11,500-13,500 boe/d guidance range and that it “now expect to reap the benefits of higher production and attractive pricing, given ongoing oil price strength, our unhedged position and recent improvements in the Tapis differential”.
In a week’s time it will be Christmas Eve and even I might stop looking at the global equity markets for a few days. Before then, there is still lots to think about regarding prospects for 2022. I look forward to sharing a couple of tips for 2022 before the end of this year, but there are three names today which have all given out a pleasing update today. They might not be one of my two formal tips of the year, but there are reasons why I will still be holding them deep into 2022.
UK Oil & Gas (UKOG) needs to get a placing away by St Valentine’s Day or it is deep in the merde as I explained HERE. No institution will touch this crock run by Lyin’ Steve Sanderson so the next bailout placing, like all the others, is a bucket shop special which is why Pinocchio is ramping his arse off with spoof RNS after spoof RNS to try to get private investors buying the shares ahead of a placing at a big discount to the City spivs. Yesterday’s spoof RNS was a green one - today Lyin’ Steve spoofs with a share purchase.
Hello, Share Takers. There’s an interesting situation building at B T (BT.A) The share dipped 6% today because a billionaire said he doesn’t intend to bid for the company. However, Patrick Drahi, boss of Altice UK, announced today that it’s acquired a further 585,476,188 shares in BT, increasing its ownership to 1,785,476,188 shares.That’s 18.0% of BT’s issued share capital. That means Drahi has now put into BT a total of £3.2 billion pounds
The last time I wrote about Omega Diagnostics (ODX) was back in June when I got slated for suggesting that the company had missed the boat when it came to Covid testing, and that its Department of Health and Social Care contract wasn’t worth the headline figure you so often saw people banging on about!
Having raised £4 million gross at 18.8 pence per share on 13 July 2021, the Bulletin Board Morons, although feeling somewhat sore given that the Tern (TERN) share price was 12.5 pence bid price at the close of business yesterday, might be consoling themselves thinking that, at least, the jam tomorrow specialists, won’t be asking for any more cash for some time. Sadly, that isn’t the case and I demonstrate below why they will very shortly be asked to stump yet more cash to feed the greedy board and its portfolio of loss making and cash guzzling investments.
Equipment rental company Vp plc (VP.) has announced results for its half-year ended 30th September 2021 emphasising “a strong and continuing recovery in all of our businesses”. This sounds encouraging.
Mode Global Holdings (MODE) is typical of many small technology companies in that it burns through cash at an alarming rate whilst trying to grow its revenues to any sort of meaningful amount.
Congratulations if you are a holder of the ‘new and used cars, vans, trucks and bikes, parts and servicing’ company Marshall Motor Holdings (MMH) which today announced its ‘intention to recommend shareholders accept offer by Constellation’. Well done if you bought the shares 18 months ago at a quarter of acquisition price. Personally I am still getting my head around the comments a couple of days ago that Auto Trader observed that ‘of 900,000 vehicles going through its portals, the average price of a used car had risen on a like-for-like basis by 28% over the past year to £17,366’.
AIM-listed Gold producer in Turkey, Ariana Resources (AAU) released two lots of news this week from Venus Minerals, the Cyprus-based explorer in which Ariana holds 50%. First up came a revised mineral resource estimate at the Apliki project, which Venus wants to buy into and which looks set to cornerstone an IPO for the company. Then an increased JORC resource estimate at the Kokkinoyia project was released.
In its November 15 trading update Cineworld (CINE) included a table, which compared revenue from months in 2021 with revenue from months in 2019. This was an attempt to illustrate that cinema viewings were returning to pre-covid levels, the CEO specifically commented that “We are thrilled to see audiences returning in significant numbers”. As Tom pointed out then, Cineworld made these comparisons notwithstanding that October 2021 had five weekends whilst October 2019 only had four weekends. Given that cinema viewings tend to cluster around the weekend, this meant that the October 2021 numbers artificially appeared stronger than reality.
How many times have you used Deliveroo (ROO)? I cannot remember if it is once or twice for me, but I am not a big fan of the ‘British online food delivery company’. I am glad I have regarded the shares as a strong avoid too, because the (reduced) 390p IPO price earlier this year is embarrassing for the current 252p priced share.
OptiBiotix Health (OPTI) has announced the launch of a new sports nutrition product range, LeanBiome, with a supply & licensing agreement with “a leading global player in beauty & nutrition”. What of a current share price response up to 42.5p?
Consistent with my musings yesterday, life in the markets remains excitable although at least today we are seeing an increase after those big losses on Friday. All good fun which any experienced investor has seen much more than once before. Nevertheless I do find it interesting that Friday was the fourth largest volatility index increase since 1990. No doubt a few of you remember all of the excitements back in February 2007, February 2018 and January last year, even before we mention July 1990 and November 1991. Stuff happens…especially on a day such as ‘Black Friday’. Live with it if you are an investor. So what about ‘Cyber Monday’ then?
Atalaya Mining (ATYM) states it is pleased to announce its quarterly and nine-month results for the period ended 30th September 2021, with it emphasising “another strong quarter… robust operational performance, combined with strong copper prices, has seen our EBITDA for the first nine months of 2021 more than triple from the amount generated during the same period of 2020”. So what of a now more than 400p share price?
Horizonte Minerals (HZM) looks as though it has defied the odds and will actually manage to bring a large project requiring significant Capex into production, whilst at the same time retaining 100% of it.
Political risk is always hard to gauge, and where it does start to become a potential issue for a company, it is rarely clear in advance just how much of a problem it could be. The political risk in Peru increased significantly earlier this year when left wing president Pedro Castilla came to power, especially for mining and oil companies as he had promised to heavily tax foreign companies operating there.
When I last wrote about Infrastrata (INFA) in July, I predicted a placing was only a matter of time. The company has changed its name to Harland & Wolff (HARL), but the inevitable has now arrived. A placing at 20p – a whopping discount of 31% to yesterday’s closing price of 29p, and below the price of 23.4p when I commented last in July. The only surprise in the relatively small quantum and the delay, but don’t worry if you miss taking part in this placing – i rather think another one will be coming along shortly.
I will leave others to talk about the joke that is AO World (AO.) which – after today’s return of losses, more debt and a messy outlook – should change its advert to ‘A..O…let’s not go’. I thought this one was overvalued at the time of the IPO,more than 5 years ago but, after it regained that level during the early COVID-19 days, shares in the electrical retailer have correctly fallen over 75% year-to-date. It is a very clear avoid to me so I move onto something far more sensible…
I said back in March about Kingfisher (KGF) that it ‘loves the rise and rise of DIYers’. And you can see the impact on the share price over the last eight or so months, rising from well below 300p to over 350p. But today the share is down over 4% at below 325p, and that is despite the company observing in its Q3 update today that it ‘continues to grow its market share, driven by strong execution of our new strategy’. So what is going on?
A few years ago I did own some shares in Royal Mail (RMG) on the basis that (1) it could be managed better as a private company rather than a state owned one and; (2) its property ownership in places such as the Nine Elms site in south London offered it the scope to even further improve its alright net cash position. Anyhow, I made a bit of money but lost interest in the shares at/around the 600p level in 2018. For many obvious reasons (fewer letters, worker angst and growing competition in the parcel business), the Royal Mail had a shocking couple of years after that, meaning by June last year I noted that its new chair Keith Williams had a big job going forward. And he certainly did but – as shown by the near tripling of the share price since – I doff my hat to him.
As a reminder: Standard listed Wildcat Petroleum (WCAT) lied with its first RNS last December 31 about having raised money. It had not. It now has sub £200,000 left and, ceteris paribus, will go bust by Easter. Its June 30 accounts were promised for October and are still not yet out, with no explanation for the delay. Its November AGM has had to be postponed with no new date given. But in what appears to be blatant market manipulation, its shares are roofing it. Why will the FCA do nothing? Today we have news …
From memory I have never used a product from ‘British multinational enterprise software company’ Sage Group (SGE), but I know enough people who have and they are generally pretty happy with it. Over the last couple of years or so, I have been a bit more of a fan of the shares and noted back in May that the stock was worth a buy with a 800p+ share price target. Back then the shares were about 650p and – after today’s full year numbers – they are at a 750p share price. That is not too shabby then.
There are naturally many different views on tobacco shares. I have never smoked and dislike even being moderately close to smokers, but Imperial Brands (IMB) is in the top half of my personal pension fund portfolio. And, as I noted back in July, it is not the only UK listed name in the global sector which is cheap. I have hardly made a fortune holding shares in Imperial Brands over the last couple of years, but I have done alright, aided by increasing my position earlier this year (and then there have been some very reasonable dividend payments too – more on this later). So what do I make of today’s full year numbers to the end of September?
As you may recall, the business model of Vox Markets is that companies pay £15,000 a year to get interviewed by Justin the Clown who then asks the CEO whether he prefers Hob Nobs or Jaffa Cakes and whether his schlonger is ginormous or merely massive. The sort of AIM and Standard Listed companies that sign up, hope that such interviews can move the share price so allowing the next bailout placing. Maybe those companies have finally worked out that nobody takes the Clown seriuously and this business model is finally being rumbled. I see interesting filings at Companies House.
Five months, ago here, I observed that the ‘British luxury clothing retail company’ Ted Baker (TED) ‘remains a sell for me’. Their shares back then were at about a 155p share price and they finished Friday at a level of 130p. So even though the shares may be slightly up over the last year, any owner since 2017-18 has seen a near 90% share price fall.
I commented earlier this week my predicted COP26 lack of meaningful outcome would have little relevance to the wider investment world. But that does not mean it has had no impact to my thinking or investment cases I consider. Unfortunately, Provident Resources (PVR) has had its investment case holed below the waterline for me by a COP26 side deal.
Nostra Terra Oil and Gas (NTOG) is one of those companies that has always seemed to be popular with private investors over the years, but it is hard to see why as all it has done during that time is rack up substantial losses for them.
Pharos Energy (PHAR) has announced that “the TGT infill development drilling programme has safely completed ahead of schedule and well within budget”, with a fourth well presently being completed before being perforated and brought onto production to add to three wells already on production.
Since the arrival of the new management at what was St James House on 25 March 2021, there have been over 25 RNS announcements from the group now known as Tintra (TNT). That is enough on its own to scream caveat emptor.
This morning Johnson Matthey (JMAT) issued just the sort of news that investors will not have wanted to see, announcing its intent to exit the battery materials sector and as a result its share price has plummeted.
Back in September I observed about Halfords (HFD) that ‘despite the slowdown in its cycling business, I would buy it sub 310p’, which was about the then share price. Judging by this morning’s just over 310p share price, we are back to about the same level. That is not however to say there has been no changes, after all the stock is up over 10% this morning. Hence Halfords shares have had a rather mixed couple of months before today. So what is going on?
JKX Oil and Gas (JKX) is a company that I’ve followed for a number of years but it has never quite lived up to expectations, nor performed anywhere near as well as its assets on paper suggest that it should have.
Just under four months ago, here, I observed that ‘back in the year 2000 I remember looking at Tate & Lyle (TATE), the British-headquartered but globally focused company which aids its customers to ‘make food healthier and tastier’, which was founded after a merger back in 1921. I did very well on the shares back then, but I was not sure back in July this year, whether I was going to buy it again or not. And since then the shares have fallen a bit further, so based on last Thursday’s first half numbers should I be buying or not?
Mr Moulding is clearly feeling the pressure at THG (THG). The interview here is remarkable and no doubt Moulding feels it will assist the share price. For all sorts of reasons I conclude that what comes over is a quite enormous sell signal.
It looks as though Asiamet Resources (ARS) has finally landed the deal for the BKM asset that investors have been patiently waiting for, but so far the market seems unimpressed and the share price is trading lower than it was before the announcement.
Hello, Share Pickers. This old punter is a big believer in the Santa Rally, that fabled big share boost up to Christmas. Nearly always stock values creep up during November and December. Though you have to be ready with the sell button in January. There was no rally last year due to covid, but can we expect a yule surge this time? You bet we can.
Have you ever had a can of Vimto? I do now and again and you can find it in most supermarkets here. Anyhow, the company behind the soft drink is Nichols (NICL), which itself was formed back in 1908 in the Scottish town of Shortridge (although now it is based in Newton-le-Willows, Merseyside). Today, sales are around 80% in the UK with the balance in the Middle East and (growing) in Africa. It is interesting to read today that full year 2021 profits are expected to be ahead of current market expectations, which is not too shabby given that, whilst UK sales were up 4.5%, elsewhere in the world growth was up over 36%.
Back in June I observed that BT Group (BT.A) might have been floated in the 1980s but if you have been holding shares since then it has not exactly been a fantastic run. The company is having to change along with the world of telecommunications and I hold some shares because – in my opinion – the CEO Philip Jansen may have a good idea or two. The trouble is evolving a business can take time and cost a lot of money.
Shares in Chill Brands (CHLL) have fallen by almost 20% since the start of the week and it is not yet Tuesday Lunchtime, unless you are Roland “Fatty Cornish in which case Tuesday lunchtime started just after elevenses. In such a situation many companies would be tempted to issue a “we know of no reason for the share price move” statement. But Chill cannot and it cannot for two reasons.
Petrofac (PFC) shares have been good for trading over the past few years, assuming you managed to get your entries right, but the company has had too many potential issues to really have been considered an investment, unless you had a very high appetite for risk.
SkinBioTherapeutics (SBTX) has announced it has commercially launched its probiotic food supplement to help alleviate the symptoms associated with psoriasis, AxisBiotix-Ps.
Platinum group metals recovery company in South Africa, Sylvania Platinum (SLP) has announced results for the first quarter of its year, including “net profit of $8.6 million… Cash balance of $132.7 million”. Good news?
Serica Energy (SQZ) has seen a sizeable drop in its share price over the past couple of days, and the news that landed this morning suggests that some got wind of this before the official RNS announcement. TW Note. Surely you are not suggesting insider dealing on the AIM sewer, the “world’s most succesful growth market” – surely not?
Johnson Matthey (JMAT) has seen its share price take a bit of a hit in recent months and is now trading at a similar level to where it started the year, despite the world economy looking in better shape now than it did then.
Hello, Share Scrapers. Fairly recently I commended Pets at Home (PETS) to you. Allow me to feature another company which could benefit from the current boom in pet ownership. CVS Group (CVSG) is a company which does veterinary services for creatures great and small, including horses. It also has some other interesting animal sidelines.
Faced with a plunging share price since the “oversubscribed” placing and founder shareholder stock dump in May, what does Dragon’s Den “star” Sarah Willingham do for her NightCap (NGHT) baby. First: panic. Second put out out a rushed trading statement with old news and missing out critical numbers.
The latest results from pawnbroker H&T Group (HAT) noted Covid-19 related trading restrictions and reduced high street footfall impact but they still showed profitable resilience and noted growing confidence. We can understand why, given the strains raging inflation will put on household budgets, and predict a return to the 380p+ share price levels of early 2020. At a current 283p offer price (279p when we tipped it two weeks ago) and up to 290p, this is a recovery BUY.
Back in April here, at the time of its IPO, I observed that PensionBee Group plc (PBEE) – which describes itself as ‘a leading online UK pension provider with a mission to make pensions simple, so that everyone can look forward to a happy retirement’ – was ‘certainly not buying it on day one’. Well that was a smart choice as whilst the shares hit 180p a few days after the float, they ended Friday’s trading at 140p.
In bearcast yesterday I discussed whether Andrew Bell would be given the order of the boot at the December/January Red Rock Resources (RRR) AGM where he is up for re-election. There was, I suggested, a reason why some shareholders might feel this was a risk worth taking. Mr Bell has – at my request – responded with his case for the defence. We, as shareholders, can all make up our own minds but a sub 0.5p share price will not help Mr Bell’s cause. His detailed case follows:
Asiamet Resources (ARS) has been a very frustrating share to hold and in the past I have been less than impressed with the management, especially when it comes to the Aeturnum debacle at the start of this year.
I have not written about Moneysupermarket.com (MONY) before but Malcolm has, as you can see here just over a year ago. He was absolutely correct that helping to identify good value car insurance, home insurance, credit card deals, travel insurance, pet insurance and broadband deals, along with the ownership of MoneySavingExpert.com (thanks Martin Lewis), was popular with lots of people. And whilst COVID-19 issues with the travel industry has caused some challenges over the last year, a business with some overall net cash on its balance sheet and free cash flow generation helping to support a 5%+ dividend yield certainly could have been a lot worse. But the shares have had a very poor last few months as, whilst the travel insurance business has been only slow to improve, the energy deals business has been an absolute shocker recently.
It is not a bad start to the week when a holding gets bid for. If I get one bid a year for one of my holdings then I am lucky, because trying to predict a bid is somewhere between difficult and impossible (which is a bit of a hassle given the market factors in a potential future scenario about 99 times more often than there actually is a bid). Anyhow, having made Playtech (PTEC) one of my tips of the year in late 2019, I doubled up my position during the COVID-19 uncertainties a few months later. All a bit embarrassing…but such is the investment world. Anyhow, I have kept my expanded position since and was still seeing some potential for future appreciation as noted here last month. Good bid news this morning then for the gambling software development company and for me!
ITM Power (ITM) has advised it has raised a shedload of cash to the tune of £250 million via a placing at share price of £4. I find the detail and timing very interesting and cannot help myself questioning if this is the pre-cursor to FLOP26, ops sorry COP26, and the bursting of the green bubble.
I am quite impressed today by two names that I do not own but probably should. That’s life in the investment world sometimes (actually quite often). But the key is to keep on looking.
I wrote about Orcadian Energy (ORCA) when it first listed on the AIM market in the summer. It has substantial 2P reserves in the Pilot field and significant 2C in the surrounding acreage. It’s looking to farm out a secondary asset for others to input the time and cost to move it forward, leaving the company to focus on core projects. In my opinion this outline deal is a smart move.
Afentra (AET) is a company I covered a few months back as being worth a look, and it now looks as though it could finally be on the verge of securing an asset with its cash pile.
Apparently The Hut Group (THG) ‘is a British e-commerce company headquartered at Manchester Airport … operates over 100 international websites that takes brands direct to consumer through its proprietary e-commerce platform’. How wonderful but the last time I wrote about the stock (here) observed that it was ‘over-loved’. Kind of interesting then to see a big 43% fall in the share price year-to-date.
Imperial Brands (IMB) is “pleased to report the business continues to perform well… on track to deliver our full-year results in line with expectations”. That suggests upside potential from a below 1500p share price.
There is typically always lots of corporate reporting on a Thursday. I am not surprised to see Shell (RDSB) shares down today, despite talking about a boost to its cashflow in the third quarter. Alternatively on the share price rise of Mondi (MNDI), which might have chatted about a ‘strong performance in the third quarter with higher average prices across the business and strong volume growth year-on-year’, but also ‘a backdrop of sharply higher input costs’. As always with shares, you have to try and work out what is already factored in (and what is not). Anyhow, I thought I would talk about Headlam (HEAD), Europe’s ‘leading floorcoverings distributor, providing the channel between suppliers and trade customers of floorcoverings’.
I was impressed by a couple of corporate updates today. I wrote about Imperial Brands (IMB) most recently back in May, noting that despite never being a smoker I thought the stock was still a buy. It has hardly romped in recent months – including today – despite what seems to me a pretty good pre-close trading update.
As a famous Led Zeppelin song once observed: “if it keeps on rainin’, levee’s goin’ to break”. Such is life in a world of higher government debt levels and (in many cases) excitable equity valuations and exceptionally low bond yields. That is not a combination which continues, in other words you have to keep very active with your stock selection (and general investment allocation). I am certainly confused about some of today’s results from the UK market.
Bacanora Lithium (BCN) is a company that I have covered a few times previously, most recently when major shareholder and joint venture partner Gangfeng made a takeover bid for it.
It is easy to make investment selection errors but it is also easy to miss out on sensible investment opportunities. Over the last 10 months I have written twice about the industrial flooring company James Halstead (JHD), most recently back at the end of March. Back then I talked about that ‘looking for a bad day (or three) share price below 500p feels like a sensible longer-term buy of this sensible family influenced name forged in 1915’. Judging by today’s update from the company, I should have taken advantage of the opportunity I had to do that back in May.
Have you ever looked at iomart (IOM)? I am sure that many of you would think that a ‘Scottish information technology and cloud computing company which provides managed services from data centres and offices across the United Kingdom’, would be in a great industry for the 2020s. However it is facing a few challenges out there as Friday’s 17% share price fall showed (and hello a 44% year-to-date decline). So what is going on?
As rare as is it to see an AIM mining minnow with a large and potentially very valuable resource in the ground actually make it to the production stage whilst retaining ownership of all of the project, Horizonte Minerals (HZM) now looks on the verge of achieving that.
Back in July I observed that Next plc (NXT) ‘shares might not be cheap but they are quality’. Since then the stock has traded either side of an £80 share price, including being up 2% today after the publication of H1 numbers. With all the challenges for the clothes sector, you have had plenty of opportunities to buy Next shares over the last five years at a 40 quid or below share price. The share price this year though has been nicely above the previous all-time highs in late 2015 when the world was a different place for all of the biggest clothing names. Whatever happened to most of them?! Next has always been a bit different.
Simec Atlantis Energy (SAE) rather surprised a few investors with an after-hours placing RNS yesterday at a whopping 48.4% discount to the closing price of 4.85p just minutes before. Of course to any regular reader of this site it should come as no surprise whatsoever – I have been warning for the last 2 years! But there is worse to come in my view.
Sometimes I look at a company and think its shares are just too cheap at the current market cap and is pretty much being priced to fail, yet in some cases there certainly doesn’t appear to be anything fundamentally wrong that suggests that to be the situation.
I may not have been on a plane since January 2020 but I still like easyJet (EZJ) shares and was pleased to read earlier today on the ‘31 for 47 rights issue of 301m New Shares at 410p per New Share…valid acceptances representing approximately 93.0%’. Whilst most money raisings will induce volatility, earlier this month I wrote about how I backed this deal. Frankly, I am amazed that 7% of investors failed to do this. That’s their mistake in my view. Easyjet remains a buy for me. I might even get the chance to travel on one of its planes over the next year. Also earlier this year I talked about looking for the opportunities to buy the ‘British multinational diversified engineering business’ Smiths Group (SMIN) when its shares fell below £15.
We on this website, have warned you numerous times abut the financial house of cards, built on sand, which is All Active Asset Management (AAA). But still folks discuss what colour Porsche they will buy when they sell. They assume that the shares must be worth at least 80p, based on the current £120 million fundraise closing, at that price, on October 28.
