60 days ago
After the admission of a shock £188 million cost over-run for the Araguaia Nickel mine in Brazil, it is quite right and proper that CEO Jeremy Martin and CFO Simon Retter have been given the order of the boot by Horizonte Minerals (HZM). I am pretty sure that both will get huge payoffs and will not need to resort to crowdfunding to keep bread on the table. Next up will be the final shafting of shareholders. Yes: their suffering is far from over.
2433 days ago
A man who deserted West Ham as a player to "go to a bigger club" in the form of Everton should never have been our manager in the first place. Last season West Ham were dire and Slaven Bilic should have been fired after we stayed up only becuase some teams were even more dire than we were. Decisions such as keeping Randolph in goal rather than Adrian cost us our normal status of mid table mediocrity. having been saying Bilic out more or less since his appointment, I am at least conistent.
2872 days ago
It appears that in our absence, Oakley's cat sitter junior doctor Johnny has done his best to watch TV with the morbidly obese three legged cat. First it was Nigel Farage, Oakley was attentive but naturally he is an "outer" already.
Then it was the football.
2975 days ago
Shares in Solgold (SOLG) raced ahead by 43% on Friday. But has anyone looked at the balance sheet and cashflow statements? It is just totally out of cash. All the money's gone. The RNS trail, is ramptastic and SP Angel (BTW what has happened to Mkango you scumbags) is bound to roger PIs with a post pump dump of a placing within days. This, and the idea that West Ham are the new Brazil and that all rugby players are homosexuals, is discussed in today's podcast.
3383 days ago
As you know I have guided West Ham to the brink of Champions League football by studiously paying no attention to every game played and avoiding going anywhere near a match or even watching on TV. When I have weakened and thought about attending a game, suddenly The Irons stop playing like Brazil and start playing like a Hackney Marshes side. I must warn you that with the Hammers travelling to my home City of Bristol this Sunday for an FA Cup game, my resolve weakened.
My daughter is in town and I tried to buy a pair of tickets off an online site. Luckily www.ticketbis.net offers the most useless service on this planet and treats potential customers like shite. I was promised calls back, I harried, a bloke called me asking for my business and said right now go buy tickets online only to find there were none. This company is run by a bunch of total wankers from Liverpool. The sooner the welfare safari that is scouseland is towed off into the Irish Sea and sunk the better. I heartily advise that you never use this company ever, not even to buy a stolen hub cap.
So no tickets. That prevents an almost certain cup upset. However I should warn you
3464 days ago
For longer than I can remember I have had seats at West Ham. Years of misery has been the only result. Worse still I have taught my daughter to support the Irons, taken her to games and she is now a diehard hammer. It is the sort of act that should get me reported to Social Services.
Last year was dreadful. West Ham were not only hopeless but dull too. I could take it no more and at £650 a pop my season tickets were not renewed. I dithered about a late renewal after a couple of summer signings by Fat Sam but our early exit from the Carling Cup kept me strong. I was not renewing.
It was at that point that West Ham started playing like Brazil.
3562 days ago
As I have noted before Phorm is now weeks (3 weeks I make it) from going tits up having sent $340 million of OTHER PEOPLE’s MONEY to money heaven and blown £10 million since March alone. As it tries to raise fresh equity it is still lying to investors about what went wrong in Brazil and Romania and City firms Mirabaud and Strand Hanson are complicit in this. Yes I used the word lying. Will Phorm please sue me I want to see you in court? You are liars. Liars. Pants on fire. Geddit? And Mirabaud, long term broker to Phorm you appear not to give a flying fuck about integrity as long as you get your commission. How do you sleep at night you greedy and unpleasant dirtbags? Any PLC retaining Mirabaud as its broker or Nomad should be aware that it is in bed with a disease ridden hooker.
I have pointed out numerous times how Phorm has misled investors
3570 days ago
I am sure that AIM Regulation now knows full well who Phorm (PHRM) PLC are. But following my revelation’s earlier today HERE I have asked my good pals to investigate whether Phorm PLC but also Mirabaud Securities (broker) and Canaccord (Nomad) were guilty of market abuse in 2011 and 2012 or of extreme negligence or both or neither.
The letter follows.
Dear Sirs.
3570 days ago
I noted in a previous article HERE that Phorm (PHRM) was only a few weeks away from running out of cash and going tits up. Notwithstanding its $10 million fund raise in March it will be on its way to PLC heaven in mid-August unless some more mug punters like Evil Knievil are found to keep this fare going. I know that the company is telling a jam tomorrow story to investors right now. But before they fall for that ask Phorm about Brazil.
Now groupies of this stock state that Brazil is old hat. Phorm says it is winding down there to focus on higher growth opportunities, like Turkey and China. But as I revealed HERE that is a lie. Phorm had to shut up shop in Brazil, as its operations were banned under law. The same happened in Rumania. And before that in the US, UK and the rest of the EU.
Now what I alert you to today is how Phorm misled investors over Brazil for almost three years.
3584 days ago
Poor Phorm (PHRM). It has woes aplenty. First up it runs out of cash and unless some sucker gives it more it will go tits up in six weeks’ time. Secondly it appears unable to tell investors the complete truth about certain of its problems, like being shut down by the regulator in Brazil as I revealed HERE a few days ago. And thirdly it sees that it is not just Brazil where it has problems with regulators.
I noted in my prior piece that whenever Phorm seems to be getting any traction at all in a territory those darned regulators just shut it down. The UK, the US, the EU, etc, etc, etc. But there is always the same pattern of hype (pre fund-raise) and then disappointment.
Right now Turkey and China are in the hype phase. But what are the odds that the regulators will act there at some stage. Maybe the US, the UK, the whole of the EU and Brazil was just a fluke? So let’s look at last year’s hype story …Romanian, birthplace of Mr Nastase, the coolest tennis player in history.
According to Phorm’s latest RNS:
3588 days ago
I pointed out on Friday that Phorm (PHRM), having raised £10 million in late March, is now within six weeks of going tits up unless it can find some more folks prepared to piss their hard earned cash up against the wall. Phorm promises potential new investors a bright new future but perhaps such folks might want to look at the past first.
Phorm’s problem – other than its monumental cash burn - has always been that whenever its technology gains any traction at all ( and it is not usually that much) those damn pesky kids at the Scooby Regulators come in and bleat on about personal privacy and other such matters and it has to shut up shop. That was its fate in the UK, the US and indeed it is now unable to do business in the EU.
Right now it claims to be making progress (if not much cash) in China and Turkey but it may only be a matter of time before history repeats itself. If you want a clue on that have a look at what was the great hope in 2012…Brazil.
Indeed if you read the company’s website you might still think that Brazil is still important.
With offices in Singapore, London, Istanbul, Bucharest and São Paulo, Phorm (AIM: PHRM) is a Singapore incorporated company, publicly listed on the London Stock Exchange's AIM since 2004.
Phorm is active globally: while we are a UK listed (AIM) company, we are active as far afield as Brazil, Turkey and Romania.
Er
3593 days ago
Wandering down to the Avon on Sunday, the Mrs and I passed through the sort of streets where everyone currently has an Enger-land flag on display in their window. This is of course to celebrate the National Side playing the National Sport in Brazil.
I am not sure of the etiquette here but when should those flags go down? Should it have been last week when Enger-land’s status as rank no-hopers was officially confirmed with an early World Cup Exit? Should the flags have gone down after Roy Hodgson’s over-rated prima donnas failed to defeat Costa Rica thereby ensuring an early exit without a win? Or do the flags say up all summer as a sign that “We may be rubbish but we don’t care?” As of tonight the flags are still up.
I only ask.
3605 days ago
So Ireland did not make it to Brazil. That leaves me with a dilemma – who to support? If this was Rugby and Ireland were not playing it would be simple: anyone playing England. The swagger, pomposity and arrogance of English rugby drives me to supporting anyone up against the Old Enemy. But I just don’t feel that way about soccer.
The selection of Neanderthal half-wits who wear the England shirt and whichever hapless sap is in charge do not rile me in the slightest. I feel a general sense of contempt for all the Premiership prima donnas but there is no great hostility towards England as a national side. And so on balance I wish England well and will naturally cheer them on for their entire campaign. All three matches.
But I’d rather like to be rooting for a side with a good chance of making it through to the second phases. And also I really find it hard to root for any team that has as its talisman Wayne Rooney. And every time I see Joe hart on TV earning yet more money promoting shampoo I find myself wishing the mercenary pig nothing but ill. As such my mind had wandered to Greece. I was told that the Greek team – who collectively earn less than Mr Rooney does on his own – are not that bad. Having now seen them play I accept that they are quite bad.
Having completed a fiendishly complex sweepstake created on an Excel spreadsheet by a friend of the Mrs which forced the Mrs and I to predict every result and how many goals Messi scores, I now reckon that the last four will be Holland, Portugal, Brazil and the Argies. And I’d go for an all South American final with the hosts winning.
So I cheer for Greece and England. And as neither will make it past the group stages there is unlikely to be a time when I have to choose between the two. After that – how about Holland. As they play in Orange the Ulsterman in me sees the links and they were superb against Spain.
3746 days ago
You know I have a hard life. Deciding which 14 bottles of beer to drink is the sort of chore that I have to suffer. I can sense the waves of pity heading my way. Actually it was not quite as it seems.
The countdown to the launch of our new Spanish themed wine bar Maribelle’s is accelerating. We go live on Monday February 3rd at 91-95 Clerkenwell Road. Fear not, Real Man Pizza is not closing – it thrives with its new menu as the quirkiest Italian restaurant in town. It is just that we are opening up our unused basement as Maribelle’s. And so last week I worked hard on:
Hiring a new waitress. The first girl to walk in was Ana from Spain. What can I say? Her CV was perfect, she wants to be a journalist but she could be a model. She had the job in 30 seconds. No messing about there. An easy executive decision.
Then the wines – 25 Spanish wines, white, red, rose, Cava. I love a white Rioja. That was fun. Eight Sherries as well. I know I kind of associate sherry with our grandparents, with what my philosophy tutor at Oxford Dr Malpas used to pour before a tutorial or with the 1970s. But white Sherries, chilled, can be fantastic and we have a cracking selection on offer.
Then to the “Spanish speaking beers”. This is a bit of a cheat. Of the 14 one is a Spanish cider. And seven come from Spain. The rest are from Argentina, Peru, and Mexico and – as a real cheat since they speak Portuguese there – one is from Brazil. I dithered about the Argie lager but it is just so good.
Then the real treat – the tapas menu. A few heated discussions with Maribelle herself (our chief waitress from Spain who has two degrees in economics and takes her clothes off to campaign for world peace) ensued. But we have agreement now and this week the cooks will be practising hard to get everything just right.
The sign makers are commissioned and new signage goes up this week while the electricians and carpenters are in over this weekend. This afternoon Darren and I will finalise the artwork (some debate over a brass model of a woman’s bottom is still to be concluded – I vote yes, Darren and his Mrs are dithering) and the furniture. And then down to the marketing literature featuring Ana.
All of the team at Real Man is very excited about this new venture. Fingers crossed. I hope to see many blog readers popping into Maribelle’s from the third. Hint: Ana works Tuesday to Thursday.
