Back from hols to find that the weather was good here too. I think I just about managed to save my tomato and cucumber plants before they died of thirst! It was a busy weekend in town with floods of holiday makers heading for the beach. Some very white bodies quickly turned lobster pink! I've been a bit too busy for trading anything this week so the only thing I own which has shown an upward trend is my tomato crop ;) Mrs. G. picks up OUR new car on Saturday, so I guess I'll have the weekend to myself as she plays with the new toy. Here's to next week and my turn at the wheel!

I guess we were all hoping that after the long holiday weekend, everyone would return refreshed to their desks and we would see some positive action. However, continued bad press for the telecom sector ensured that The FTSE100 closed down on Tuesday, albeit only 25 points. That turned out to be a bad omen as losses extended on Wednesday, led again by Vodafone and BT. The FTSE100 closed a weak 5796, a drop of 67. Thurday's main theme was the expectation that current financial data would stall any further cuts in interest rates. The main index fell less than a point. News from the US on Friday that jobless figures were better than anticipated gave markets there something to chew on and boosted the London market too. After a fighting performance, the FTSE100 gained 13 points to 5809 but it was a struggle and far from convincing.



I can't fail to mention Captain Blood's BIKE RIDE FOR CHARITY fund-raising efforts on behalf of the Leukaemia Research Fund. He began this when disovering a youngster nearby is suffering from the disease. Our neighbour's daughter has been receiving treating for leukaemia for some years now and is making good progress but without continued research, her future, and the future of all others with the illness will forever be in doubt. Please do take a look and help if you can.



The Weekly BB Review

On the PBB Tuesday, Rayrac was back on the PILAT TECHNOLOGY (PIA) trail when new deals in Spain and Australia came to light. With the company's media business due to float for a sum estimated at anything between £10m and £67m, it made Pilat's current valuation seem cheap indeed. The Prophet had worked out all of the angles, seeing a minimum valuation for the company at 170p (as opposed to the 60p or so at the time of writing). Pez. was sceptical, worried that the good news might be hiding something less palatable, but after more explanation from TP, agreed that there was plenty of scope for improvement, even taking a conservative view. Although Q1 results posted on Friday showed an increased overall pre-tax loss, it was broadly in line with expectations. The demerger of Pilat Media, it seems, is well under way. With that in mind, I have added them to my Monitor for future reference and await developments. Provided the float goes to plan and the projections for 2002 are somewhere near the mark, there seems to be very little downside and a lot of potential for profit.

The potential firework which Dr EH Rook introduced in Atlantic Telecom about to rocket? on the FBB turned out to be a damp squib as Atlantic shares bombed this week helped by another "sell" recommendation in Investors Chronicle. superpete is one who has followed these down from 100p and was hoping that a stock overhang might be the reason for the lack of upward movement. netcurtains tried to make the message clear but seemed determined to "double-up" if the price hit 15p - not far to go now! techair phoned the company but got nowhere as they are in a closed period with results due mid-month. SirY2K advised selling into any sort of rally. This is one of those "emotional" plays which we all get hooked into from time-to-time. I see nothing in the recent chart to indicate a possible new support level but netcutains could be right to anticipate some movement closer to results. Sitting on my hands for the moment. There are better opportunities out there.

Despite a stumble on Wednesday prior to preliminary results, Enterprise Inns have had a terrific run of late. In Enterprise Inns- Big buys, good fundamentals, strong sector, on the PBB, it seems like there are as many people looking for a shorting chance as a big bang. I like BYRDSONG's idea of "top fishing" - makes a pleasant change. I guess ETI will run out of steam at some stage but from the reaction to this week's results, it may be some time away.

Whoops and the FBB gang must be rubbing their hands with glee after this week's progress for MotionPoster. The whole story (and links to past comment) are available HERE. initiate was particularly impressed with the announcement of a deal to instal the system in Athens, (with the next Olympics due to be held there, it will give the MTP product a good worldwide audience!) and is looking forward to the other deals which the company reckons it has in the pipeline. WHISKYADDER is just one of many to thank MTP for getting him ahead of the game. As mieke says, the rollout of news seems to be almost stge managed for maximum effect. He is hoping on Monday to hear news on the operation of the installation in Budapest. Good luck all! (A fan!)

Dil was on the ball this week with PRIVATE & COMMERCIAL FINANCE - Explosive Growth Forecast with a comprehesive opening which set out the case extremely well. quickmind and wc1 were quick to applaud. Big Al 39 is another to have taken an interest in PCF and yonchi and Cat were impressed enough to pick some up. Aquila was sure not to miss the news. Although a spot of profit-taking took the icing off the cake towards the end of the week, there was nothing to suggest any major sell-off - volumes were relatively low. Now installed on my Monitor for next week!

The Desire Pet thread has been ticking along on the FBB without much enthusiasm since FEARLESS666 opened it a month or so ago but came to the fore this week as Investors Chronicle included Desire Petroleum in their tips last week, as jojo reported. hastings and CityTraderBoy reminded us that Greenwich Resources and Westmount Energy both have stakes in Desire and may be a way of spreading the risks. Those of us like tinman who remember the "oily penguins" rumours which sparked a run on the shares a couple of years ago, will likely be a little more circumspect this time around but with the price on the rise and the rumours now backed up by some solid facts, maybe this time around the breakout can be sustained. Worth keeping an eye on but be ready to abandon ship at the first hint of choppy seas.

Is the stock market dead?.....No said Bullshare and then went on to explain that his recent discussions with the LSE suggests that year-on-year trading volumes are actually up about 6%. The balance may have changed between private and institutional investors and I suspect that many private investors are trading less but in larger chunks but it is comforting to know that there is still life left in the old dog. (LSE, I mean, not Bully!)

Basil Brush hit the PBB this week thanks to Acorn1 as Entertainment Rights added the annoying fox puppet to its stable which already contains Barbie and Mr. Bean. With the BBC about to re-introduce Basil, timing is perfect. Kayak, marathonmike and matthewa seemed keen but rally gave a graphic explanation of what HE thought. ChrisG went hunting for a new shed to house his share certificates. Although the share price bounced above the 21p mark this week, I would like to see some more substantial signs of recovery before jumping in. So, the company makes a profit and has cash in the bank. I think it will need more than that to push them on in the current climate. Worth watching for all that. Boom, boom!

I hope not too many were unfortunate enough to fall for the hoax virus warning which was doing the rounds this week. URGENT is this a genuine virus warning - due to erupt 1.6.01 was just one of the threads which covered it. I'm sure Barman92 and Godfather Nicholas did the right thing in bringing up the subject and asking those more compu-literate to confirm (or not) its authenticity. The non-virus has been circulating for a while now and advises you to check for a file on your PC which it says should be deleted to save you. In fact, deleting the file renders your PC unusable. The hoax originated in Brazil and has been translated from Portugese into English and French for wider distribution. If you DID follow its instructions, there is a recovery procedure outlined here. There are a lot of computer experts on both BBs, so it is always worth asking the question if you receive anything which looks vaguely dodgy. Better safe than sorry. It is never a good idea to be panicked into taking an action you don't understand.

Poster of the Week this week goes to Dil for the structured way he approached the creation of the PRIVATE & COMMERCIAL FINANCE - Explosive Growth Forecast thread. It is good to have a comprehensive prologue to any written work and sadly, it is becoming a more rare occurrence here. Congratulations Dil! Please drop me a line with a delivery address and I'll get your prize on its way. Now you are famous (again), how about including a few lines about yourself for the Who's Who?


Good Hunting!

The ADVFN Who's Who is still growing and is now a quite long list. If you haven't sent me your bio yet, please drop me a few lines about yourself - a full editing service is provided! No e-mail addresses are published unless specifically requested.