The Evil Diaries: “Tense time”

Time for common sense: I took another look at Global Res IT (GRIT): It’s not as obvious a slam dunk as I originally thought but I think it has merit. TNAV is 39.5p and that is after deducting £5m of 9% CULS. The convertible aspect is neither here not there. This contrasts with the fact of there being circa 39m shares in issue standing at 10p or a capitalisation of c. £4m. So, on the face of it, attractive.

However, the expenses, including everything, are about £560,000 p.a. to which must be added the CULS interest of c. £200,000. This is one helluva lot of zonking to achieve damn all. After all a portfolio of c. £16m has to perform well to pay these costs before a bean goes back to shareholders. All this is all too clear from the published accounts.

So what’s the way forward? The answer must surely be a steady liquidation based on a private status. I think there must be shareholders who would take the money and hand in their hands. Certainly, the present state of affairs is barmy.

For the record there is a portfolio of very ordinary ordinaries and it will not be easily liquidated. Not that this necessarily means anything but I do not recognise any of the holdings. I see that one holding is in any event unquoted – which makes things yet harder.

*****

Rigging the market: The rig at Pantheon’s drill site is big and very expensive. It’s stuck there rather than declaring itself engaged in a dry hole (in which latter event it would be whisked off to another hole to drill). So it might be that Pantheon is engaged in such as wireline logging. If so, that would be bullish. 

*****

What is it about Ashley as a first name (not as in Laura Ashley which report today)? Ashley Madison is for those seeking or proposing to seek to bonk on the side whereas Ashley Claxon (why put in the ‘t’?), Royal London’s corporate governance manager (what do these people do?), is merely bonkers. She claims that Sports Direct (SPD)‘s Mike Ashley (the Ashley here is a surname) doesn’t seem to mind what Ashley, the mad, thinks. Are you surprised? Mike likes to get on with business. Why not avoid board meetings if one holds 57% of the equity and merely refers to one’s board for helpful advice? According to Claxon, Mike is naughty because he doesn’t do things Claxon’s way. If I were an SPD shareholder I would want performance and not the warblings of Claxon. Let Claxon identify a breach of fiduciary duty and I’ll be orl ears.

*****

Globo (GBO)‘s lawyer is standing ready to sue. So I had best be careful (even though the lawyer has great legs). But Globo has been trying now for three months to raise $180m at 10% p.a. and has clearly so far failed. Meanwhile the share price keeps dribbling down. Are you surprised? This is surely still a short at above 20p.

*****

Tense time: BBC news says “HM Queen becomes Britain’s longest-serving monarch at 5.30 p.m. today”. That should read “should become…”. After all, HM Queen might not make it. But, at 5.30 p.m. the news should read “HM Queen became…”. Keep your ears peeled. 

*****

Milk in the future: Apparently, some farmers would like a milk futures terminal market. This is quite a wheeze and, if the NFU is up to the task, they should organise it. There should be no problem defining delivery dates and grades.

*****

Finally, international relations: I wrote to the German ambassador yesterday, starting the letter “Dear Germany….” and went on to point out that the German who represents the best of his country in Britain is Henning Wehn and that he should be given some sort of an award. We’ll see.