I have lately reflected upon the show trial result that has seen Tom Hayes languishing in Lowdham Grange prison, Nottinghamshire as a consequence of the staggering sentence of 14 years for manipulating the Libor rate. Anyone would think that he had personally taken the profit as opposed merely to seeing his bonus enhanced. Further, I…
I/my family own c. 250,000 Watchstone (WTG). Latish yesterday it emerged that a firm of solicitors, styled Your Legal Friend (hem hem), have submitted a claim against Watchstone for, essentially, the consequences of the actions of a previous board. WTG advise that the claims come to £9.4m and that they will in any event be…
I am told that Watchstone (WTG), formerly Quindell, are in Court this afternoon with a view to getting permission to distribute the 90p a share as scheduled in the RNS of 9th November. I can’t see such permission being denied. So I bought another 50,000 WTG at 97p. I do not know how Hymex and…
A long-time reader of the Diaries draws my attention to the following decision letter issued by the Financial Ombudsman. In essence the borrower, a Mrs H, an accountant no less and acquainted with finance (it is said), borrowed £90,000 to buy a duff property investment in Bulgaria (as one does). The mortgage broker has been…
I reckon my family owns circa 2m Polo (POL) which cost about £200,000. So I yesterday grasped the opportunity to meet Michael Tang, the Chairman & CEO at The Grosvenor Hotel. I told him that he is either a crook or an idiot. For some reason he did not warm to this categorisation. However, I…
Cameron was a bit OTT calling Corbyn a terrorist-sympathiser. Of course, strictly speaking, Corbyn is just that – consider his form in relation to the IRA. But that was because he is sympathetic to Irish nationalism and its political consequences and, in any event, HMG had to and indeed did talk to the IRA. But…
An unusual opportunity has arisen at Lonmin (LMI). It is raising circa £300m at 1p per share. The issue is underwritten. Curiously the nil paid (LMIN) stand at 0.03p offer, which, added to the 1p subscription price, gives an all in cost of 1.03p. This contrasts to the 1.25p or so at which the ordinary…
Little fish are sweet (Chapter 94): It has always been hard to take African Potash (AFPO) seriously since its website is in material aspects identical to that of some other fertiliser business. This in turn raises the clear inference that AFPO’s management does not take originality seriously. However, this morning it transpires that they have…
Little fish are sweet: I have been sat in BCB (BCB) for years. It’s Lord (Michael) Ashcroft’s Belizean toy bank. It reported last week, showing net assets of £38m as against a capitalisation at 7p of £7m. Further, annualising the first quarter’s results gives a profit expectation of £4.8m net of tax. Or put another…
Not entirely surprisingly, the Plus 500 (PLUS) bid from Playtech has broken down since the FCA was not prepared to give PLUS clearance. Good old FCA (I never thought I’d write that). But the share price is barely changed down at 355p. Take PLUS’s declaration this morning that “Regulatory compliance capability has been strengthened.” One…
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