All,

Is there anyone here that is a client of City Equities?

If so, have they rung you regarding a mining/resource stock last Friday, or today?

If so, can you remember which one please?

I would be grateful if you could post it here, as I hold an account but don't want to ring because they can be a bit pushy.

LOL

i bought cybit holdings a about 3 years ago on their recommendation and still holding at a big loss, i think it will come good eventually but jeez it will take a long time. On their part they did suggest SEO, TAL in the same batch which havent done too bad!

Andy,
Global Marine Energy. 150p Price Now 24p -84%
Telephone Maintenance Gp 4.5p Price now 2p -50%
Dowgate Capital 1.2p Price Now .60p -50%
Advanced Tech Uk 21p Price Now 000 -100%
Bella Media .27p Price Now .08p - 70%
Cheerful Scout 2p Price Now .09p - 55%
Reflec 1.2p Price Now .08p - 34%
Mano River 8.6p Price Now 9,25p +6%
Pentagon Protection 8.25p Price Now 2.25p -71%
Scotty Gp 4.25p Price Now 1.75p - 55%
Erix Therapeutics 8p Price Now 0.25p -97%



I have managed to get rid of most of them over a three-year period without loosing
my shirt. However each and every one of the above were recommended to me by phone calls from a City Equities dealer assigned to me. They would not let me buy through them, any stock I choose myself. All purchases were their recommendations only. They acted as principle on most occasions. The Advanced tech Uk Group went into liquidation a few months after they recommended the shares to me. I believe the shares were dumped on me through them from some of their bigger clients. I am having this investigated at present. I can understand that stocks go down, but when the entire portfolio goes down by the above %, questions need to be asked. Anyone else who has issues with City Equities please post here. I am gathering info on them.
Crock

Guys
so sorry to hear this, but so glad for my sake.
For 6 months I have been hounded by a guy called James Scryminger, finally after being hounded I filled in the form and faxed it back.
I then faced a barrage of questions but he stopped when I said what I had in liquid cash(I am fully invested) and told me I needed more cash around me before he could proceed.
I am now so glad and will just keep telling him that I only have a months salary about me.
Sorry for your losses but so glad you kept this thread going.
Stevie

Stevie,
The easiest way to keep City Equities off your back is to say
when asked, that you are not liquid. They record the calls and are not allowed to
sell you stock when you are not liquid. Posters keep the info coming on City Equities.

Crock

Hi
City Equities!
About 12 mths ago I made the mistake of filling in an on-line form, from memory it went something like ' allow us to make recommendations, under no obligation to buy through us' they drove me mad with up to five telephone calls a day. I declined for a couple of months until one recommendation rocketed to an 85% gain within minutes of her phone call. The next time she caught me in an good mood I too succumbed to the patter 'this company was 50/75% higher the previous week and will go back there in the near future etc.
2150 later plus 25.00 PA crest charge, i am still holding a paper loss of approx 45%. The company Apace Media is a solid enough outfit and as a pension investment they will serve me well. However I am a day trader or swing trader cfds the like of Apace is completely....U S.
It wasn't until after I had bought that I was told they already owned the shares they had sold me.......typical bucket shop or boiler house trading. I didn't read that on their website although it was there, in my defence, I had no intention of trading with them but I thought I listen to their recommendations........BIG BIG BIG mistake.

Sorry to go on so much, quiet day in the market for me, but one thing that annoys me, that was the last 'tip' (?) she phoned me. Don't get me wrong I obviously can manage without her phone calls. But do they have no shame?
I did get a call from her about 4/5 mths since asking me to fill in application form.
Them again on Friday last "hello its Suzy Arthur here" I told her that when Apace starts marching she can phone again until then leave me alone.
Can you believe it she was still ramping the same stock, as if although i had held for approx 10 mths I still hadn't researched the Co!
Leave City Equities alone they are not very honourable people.
Good Luck to all
Alan

Thanks Alan.

My top tips from CE's:

Actually not quite as bad as crockanure8's holdings. I think I got off lightly!

Eurasia Mining 7.25p Now 4.5p -38%
Innobox 7p Now 2p -71%
London Asia Capital 12 Now 23p +92%
Maverick Entertainment 0.4 Now 0.25 -38%
Zyzygy 0.8p Now 0.6p -25%
Cagney 10p Now 6.5p -35%

London Asia Capital has been the one share that has risen but doesn't come near to covering the overall loses.

Has anyone noticed how they calculate the loses and gains on the mid price which is gives a totally skewed impression of the real picture given the usually large spreads on these shares.

CE's do provide ample warning of the risks of trading in these shares so I guess no one can grumble that they are misinformed of the risks and have to put the loses down to experience and move on. However they do seem to have backing a loser down to an art form. Or should I say backing a winner in CE's as they get their slice either way.

Has anyone had a positive experience with CE's?

My advice to anyone considering going with CE's is to buy a dart board and a list of AIM stocks. I'd trust the dart to pick me a winner over CE's any day.

Guys
Why doesnt someone start a virtual portfolio.
5 or six of CE picks against a random selection on the dartboard with some throwing a few darts.
I would find the outcome interesting
Stevie

Clover,#
Great post, sorry about the losses.

Stevie,
You throw the darts and I will follow the progress. Take 6 stocks and we will
compare them to the July 2005 equitity market update posted above. Let me know the stocks that the darts have landed on. The easiest way to do it is throw 6 darts at the Ft AIM index sheet.
Crock

I might try that this weekend, I will be in touch unless someone who can do it quicker wants to have a go.
Steve

Crockanure*,

Wow that is some list!

I happen to have received the Jan 2006 CE update.

In it they feature ALD, APA, CET, NMI, OXB, and TEL.

ALD has done ok, +6%, but the rest are either sideways or down slightly.

clover,

well they got LAC wrong!

All the others show their normal rate of consistency though!

A recent comment about boiler rooms from The Daily Reckoning, quoting the Sunday Times.

--------------------------------

I now know, buying an unheard of company, in a very
high risk sector from an untraceable Swiss-based
American is akin to sweeping banknotes into a pile and
putting a match to them.
Today, as investors we have the power of
electronic information at our fingertips and stronger
investor protection laws on our side and yet...le plus
ca change le plus cest la meme chose.

Or, more locally, it appears nothings really changed.

According to the The Sunday Times last week-end,
boiler room share trading operators continue to prey
on the unwary.

The scam has been updated a little but the techniques
remain fundamentally unchanged. From operations often
based offshore (to be outside the reach of UK
regulators), victims are cold-called over the phone.
Sweeteners such as free research reports and discounted
dealing are sometimes dropped in as enticements.
Investee companies are usually small speculative names
that are, of course, just about to hit the big time.

There does appear to be a new twist, though. The Sunday
Times describes the touting of Regulation S shares. A
new one on me, so I did a quick search...and it
certainly looks one to avoid.

The perhaps reassuring legitimacy of the word
Regulation in the name is somewhat misleading. This
is not an investment about abiding by the law but one
of exploiting a loophole within it.

It effectively permits US shares that do not meet
American listing standards, to be flogged to
foreigners. That includes us here in the UK.

Plus this little beauty also comes with a sting in the
tail when you want to sell... they are not freely
tradable shares.

They are prohibited them being traded back in the US
for one year and even then you must pay a US lawyer
to remove the restriction, says the FSA.

For further details click through on the FSA link below:

www.fsa.gov.uk/consumer/01_WARNINGS/protect/shares.html

So if some unknown salesperson clogs your phone line one
day with a little gem of an investment, be sure to
tread carefully.

Of course, financial cons will always be part of life.
Regardless of higher levels of investor information and
protection the golden rule remains.

Caveat Emptor...
buyer beware.

I have just completed the transfer of all my rubbish shares from City Equities to my regular dealing account from where I can begin to offload them (at a heavy loss). I was pretty stunned to get a call from my contact at CE to say they had completed the transfer and that I should now set up a special account. Apparently this would ease the transfer of future crap purchases into my regular account. If I hadn't been so stunned that they had called I would have told him that I planned to dig a big hole in my back garden and throw ten pound notes into it when ever I passed by as I figured that this would be more profitable than staying with CE's.

I have got a few 'Introduce a Friend' flyers from them over the time but haven't yet hit on anyone I hate enough to introduce to them!

Clover,

LOL!

Their auduacity knows no bounds it seems!

I wonder whether CE took NML around Xmas time?

Apparently FSW Europe did, and another broker of a similar ilk, and within days, NML were suspended from AIM, and then delisted a month later!

I wonder how they explained that to their clients?

Clover,

If you are still here, check out the price of Eurasia today!

Pacific Continental have made the news again!


Click HERE!

A. S. W. writes: I was very interested to read about complaints you received against stockbroker Pacific Continental Securities. I also lost a considerable sum through the high-pressure sale by this firm of US Regulation S shares. Until I read your article, I had no idea that such shares could not be sold to Americans. The only restriction stated by the broker was that they could not be traded for 12 months.
The complaints against Pacific Continental - dubbed Britain's riskiest or unluckiest broker by Financial Mail - continue to roll in.

==============================================================

The number of unhappy investors who lost out after being talked into buying shares in high-risk US companies that do not meet American investor protection standards - but under Regulation S can legally be sold to non-Americans - has now reached 70.

The story is always the same. The salesman talks up a storm, predicting great things in return for accepting the one-year lock-in period. But by the time the year is up, the shares have collapsed.



For full story click the link above.

Beware... I just got stung with something I bought from CE in a weak moment...why do I fall for it I ask myself !
couple of weeks ago they phoned me wanting to get me in on IGH...I went in with 1000. @ 5.5p .. now a few weeks later the bid is down to 4p with sells of 3.75p today.. grim or what.. anyway hoepfully IGH will turn good but for now it looks grim !

CE just sold GGG to their clients.

Will be worth watching the price for a while.....