Unless I am completely bonkers…an extract from the diaries of Evil Knievil

The man the Daily Mail dubbed “The King of the Short Sellers”, Evil Knievil (aka Simon Cawkwell) is Britain’s most feared bear-raider. A big man with a bigger reputation, Evil Knievil famously made £1mn by short selling shares in Northern Rock during its collapse. He also uses his knowledge and experience to buy shares, often resulting in the same devastating effect.

Three times a week Evil provides his thoughts and musings on the markets only at theevildiaries.com. Read an extract from Evil’s latest diaries below and click the banner at the bottom of the page for a free trial to the website…

After a long delay, Ignacio Salazar, CEO of Orosur (OMI), has declared that he bought last Friday 150,000 ordinaries at 24 cents Canadian. I know he thinks the shares very cheap since he told me that this is view. And unless I am completely bonkers it is entirely reasonable to decide merely on published figures that the shares are cheap. 

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I have never taken Foxtons (FOXT), surely the most aggressive agency operating in central London, seriously. Even though others have. Yesterday, its CEO resigned, having trousered a huge sum. I can see it from his point of view: the central London market is dead. And are you surprised?

As a result, I cannot imagine anybody buying shares in Foxtons or, as it happens, any other agency which is confined to this country – it’s not just bad in London. As regards the timing of a short, I am rather less certain.

I think it is also tempting to short housebuilders but the backdrop of this industry is that, given this country’s mad policies on housing, there is a role for these companies to solve matters. So I’ll leave these alone.

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Elsewhere, Tangiers Petroleum (TEPT) has roared ahead a further 4p to 18p as the public girds its loins to have a real go. If they hit oil, hang on to your hats. And if they don’t…….you get my drift.

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Finally, Epsom racecourse have indicated that they expect the going come 6th/7th June to be on the soft side. If that transpires my heavy investments on Tarfasha (Oaks) and True Story (Derby) may be blown out of the water by their withdrawal. Fortunately, the ground can dry out and I hope it will.

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