Member Info for Alfa

I’ll pledge to that, not that there is any chance my portfolio will be in profit today! How about a deal – they can have 1% of my profits, if they make up 1% of my losses if it goes the other way – can’t say fairer than that? In fact why don’t we say 10% I’ll get back my money on BFC one way or another!!

I didn’t see the programme, but I believe the new plant is for ethanol (a petrol substitute) rather than biodiesel which BFC produce, so they wouldn’t be a direct competitor. There are already other biofuel companies in the area (and many others considering plants) and further development of this may well help BFC with logistics, common suppliers, skilled workers, etc. It also shows the continued general investment into biofuels and their viability.

Good to see a rise this morning on the back of no negative press or broker comment. Looks like it’s settled at 13p for the moment, but hopefully it can build from here – not everyone is as brave as us, so they may be waiting to make sure it’s bottomed out! The general market sentiment can’t be helping either – even stocks in my portfolio that have more buys than sells are down today. What we really need are rumours of a bid – come on Biopetrol Industries you know it makes sense!!

Yes, I’d love to be starting with a clean sheet with this one at 13p, but as you say this sort of thing happens. You can either sell up and lick your wounds or try and turn it around by buying more and a bit of selling and buying back lower – I’ve certainly got a better chance of getting 26p then I had 56p. I’ve got the cash to cover this, so I’ll be holding come what may. I watched OXS from the sidelines and that was something that seemed very black, which turned out to be pretty shiny and, er, gold...so here’s hoping. On second thoughts though, this horse racing sounds fun, maybe I should sell up and try something new!!

Biopetrol Industries have 75m euros burning a hole in their pockets and have a stated aim of increasing capacity - BFC would seem to be an ideal opportunity. We’ve seen a bad RNS followed shortly by a good one before with various stocks – how’s about a confirmation of an approach tomorrow? With my earlier buy, I’ve got my average down to a little over 26p now.

I really need to stop buying this stock just before it plunges – Friday at 23.5p and back in early Feb at 37.7p only to see them fall steeply the next day – both times buys cheaper than my previous sells, but still!! Back for some more this morning though at 13.325p - I agree with Glue and Jonty, the fall is overdone and it’s an opportunity to claw back some of my losses – or lose some more; 5p tomorrow, anyone?! Seriously though, the market is punishing it too heavily, a lot of bad news was already in the price. Nothing really has changed, they need money until use of biofuels are mandated, then they have a great operation ready to be highly profitable. They say that the banks are supportive and if they were in Trouble, as opposed to just trouble, they would have asked for a suspension. We know there have been rumours of a bid and today’s news and sp drop can only make that more likely – still everything to play for.

The government won’t bail out BFC directly, but their support of biofuels generally, together with the fact that biofuels are the future will see this company through. The additional funding necessary will happen whether it be via the banks, a placing or a takeover. There is still downside potential from here, so it should be considered a medium to long term bet, but when it comes good the sp will be in multiples from where it is today (even with a placing). I’m committed to this one for the long term, but have sold and bought back a couple of times (including on this morning’s weakness) to improve my average (which is still a painful 50p!). Well worth a punt for the long term.

I do enjoy these anti-Davius posts with their comedy spellings of this name – keep up the good work! For the record, I’m a Davius fan, he’s both saved me from myself and offered me a tip on a number of occasions (I made some good cash yesterday on a day trade on SOLA, for instance). These sort of forums often tend to be an exercise of ramping shares the poster already owns, so it’s nice to see a negative opinion for perspective and long may they continue. A little bit of bitching is good for a laugh though...

Decided I'd buy some of these this morning if they opened up and things looking good so far; could already sell at 8.5p having bought at 8p. Assuming there was a good reason for last weeks sharp rise, the "know no reason" RNS has created some great value that I couldn't resist.

"Punters showed an appetite for Inter Link Foods, 12 ahead at 172-1/2, amid talk that a private equity firm or Northern Foods could be mulling a bid."

Coming back nicely this afternoon from a low of about 150p, currently down 5 on the day at 161p. A succession of disappointing trading updates has seen the sp drop from 350-400p over recent months (with a high touching 500p last October on bid hopes). I had a nice run with these earlier last year when previous disappointing trading was quickly turned around (although things weren't as bad then as they are now). I had watched the slide for a while, but jumped the gun (as usual) yesterday at 168.5p, but feeling better about it now. The CEO and Chairman also both upped their stakes yesterday (albeit modestly).

The actual spread is probably tighter than the advertised 0.65-0.8. Over the last couple of days trades have tended to be either close to 0.65 or a little over 0.7, so these could well be buys and that would explain why the sp hasn’t suffered. Good news with the Barclay’s holding, but the next scheduled news isn’t until the test results from Columbia, which are a few months away. I wish I hadn’t bought so many of these, as I think they are a medium to long term hold now, but there is still a lot of upside potential.

I had feared the "knows no reason for share price movement" RNS might have pushed the sp back into the mid or low 20s, so down 4 to 33.5 isn't too bad. They can't put out an RNS saying "hey guys, this might be our saviour, nothing formal has happened yet, but fingers crossed" and if they can't confirm they have to deny – so the bid could still very well happen and the fact the sp held up as well as it did, would seem to confirm the market feels the same way. Some press speculation over the weekend, accompanied with an article about how renewable fuels will save the planet, would be good ;)

I’ve been holding since buying at 56p back in October, but I actually sold earlier this afternoon when the price began to fall. Unfortunately I then bought back just before the close, as the fall had subsided – assumed it was just profit taking – and succeeded in reducing my average a bit. I would have waited until tomorrow to buy back, but I’m not going to be about and didn’t want to miss out on a rise – but I guess that isn’t going to happen now :(

AFX reports "Bid chatter continued to surround Biofuels Corporation, which moved up 5-1/2 more to 48-1/2. Traders reckon a possible buyer could be Frankfurt-listed and Switzerland-based Biopetrol Industries, which has raised 75 mln eur from a convertible note."

Another strong day today, currently up 6.5 to 43-43.5p – an almost 60% rise since Monday’s close – and again in heavy volume. Although Deutsche’s 3% is good news, there must be something more to it than that. No-one seems to be taking profits either, last sale at 11:46, with something like 70 straight purchases since! (although I realise the trade charts aren’t always 100% accurate).

Something is exciting BFC today, currently up 6 to 34p on heavy volume. A company with great prospects but some debt issues to sort out – maybe rumours of some funding. I hesitate a little to recommend a buy, but with a resolution to the debt these are easily worth double today’s price – but for the brave only maybe! I have them from 56p so that probably makes me more stupid than brave, but looking good today anyway. What with VOG as well, that is two holdings I had at a loss coming back to life!

It's certainly been disappointing to see these continually drifting downwards. But in the absence of news that can often be the way with stocks like BLR. I'm in at an average of 1.2p, so I'd also like to buy some more, but in the interests of balance and that I haven't got any spare cash, I haven't so far. If we knew there was going to be an announcement within a week, I'd take a gamble on extended settlement - my gut feel is that the North Sea will be commercial and Columbia will be much bigger than that, although on a longer time frame, so I think it's a case of hold on and buy more if you can.

Today's news that Andy Leeser will succeed Bob Green as finance director will at least provide some new blood in the boardroom, although finance directors leaving isn't always a good sign. Share price is little changed by the news, so the market doesn't seem to be reading too much into it.

RNS after the close shows that UBS bought another 75,000 since their last notification. Share price up 5.5p this afternoon to 32.5p as well. Probably too much to hope that an announcement re the finance is around the corner, but welcome none the less. I'll be away now until the 2nd, so I'd like to wish everyone (and my stocks BFC, BLR, GOO, SBT, TRX and VOG) a Merry Christmas and here's to a Prosperous New Year!