A mystery voice calls: 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…

Bowleven (BLVN) have settled their contract with Petrofac for just $9m. This leaves Bowleven ridiculously cheap. I have no idea why the shares sit at 39p. Has anybody?

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For some reason, a mystery voice, claiming to be an institutional holder of more than 3% of Plus500 (PLUS), telephoned me out of the blue late last week and asked me to explain myself over Plus500. It rapidly became clear that his essential purpose in telephoning me was to advise me as to his reasons for holding Plus500. Further, he would not disclose who he was. Some people! So I made my excuses. But I would mention that when people behave like that it is almost always in support of a failing share price that continues to fail.

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Shaftsinkers (SHFT) have found themselves caught in South African miners strike woes. At 7p it is capitalised at £3.4 million where, quite possibly, net assets are a multiple of this figure. One might be tempted to get all greedy. The problem is that once a company starts haemorrhaging like this it is best to stand back, ready to offer a sympathetic hand but not being so silly as to extend it before it’s cadavre time.

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I sold Globo (GBO) short at 49p since there are notably curious features in the Greek associate’s accounts. More follows…

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Finally, poor old Michael Gove! He just hasn’t got the legs that the incoming ladies sport. I know what I am talking about since I married a woman with good legs and have bred two ladies with good legs. Indeed, the headmaster of Rugby School announced to 1,200 Speech Day pupils and parents that my daughter Lucy had the best legs in the school. This explicit comment surprised me and my wife. But he was right. 

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