Notes from Underground – Most read articles for the week ending 25 Feb 2023

I'm thrilled that the most read article last week was the return of the ShareProphets Sunday Pub Quiz, now with the new added feature of working correctly. Otherwise, the most-read non-Tom article this week is  Kurdistan carries a lot of political risk for oil companies, but despite that I view Genel Energy and Gulf Keystone as buys by Gary Newman  at No 3 or No 7 including Bearcasts.

The most read ShareProphets stories this week were:

1. Once again, the Sunday ShareProphets Pub Quiz
   The Sunday ShareProphets Pub Quiz has had a run of bad luck lately. The service that we used for it kept getting stuck after more than a few people used it. So we've started building our own. Please give it a try this week and let me know in the comments how you fared. And remember, no Googling!
   
   
2. BREAKING BOMBSHELL: Julie Meyer screws 3 more ex employees at Drive
   Oh dear , oh dear, the woman awarded an MBE for services to business by Mr Vince Cable, the man who attacked we bears for being nasty to the king of the fraudsters Rob Terry, has shown, once again, what a horrible piece of work she is. I bring you three more employment tribunals concerning Drive Software, the insolvent Tesla meets Fitbit outfit controlled by Julie "Lingerie on Expenses" Meyer.
   
   
3. Kurdistan carries a lot of political risk for oil companies, but despite that I view Genel Energy and Gulf Keystone as buys
   Looking at the share prices of the two London listed Kurdistan oil producers, Genel Energy (GENL) and Gulf Keystone Petroleum (GKP), they seem totally disconnected with what the companies have achieved operationally.
   
   
4. OptiBiotix Health – director to leave, commercial focus to be increased. Buy
   OptiBiotix Health (OPTI) has announced that a director and CEO of its operating business René Kamminga is to “leave the business on 28 February 2023 to pursue other opportunities”, with OptiBiotix CEO Stephen O'Hara to resume the role as CEO of the operating business and to “lead a minor restructuring of the business, with further announcements to be made in due course”. So what’s really going on here?
   
   
5. BOMBSHELL: The FCA & AIM regulation fail to act on Versarien lies as Superdry deal shown to be a nothing
   I now have it double sourced that the supposed deal between Versarien (VRS) and Superdry is just bull. It is dead. Not that it was ever alive. What is even more shocking is how the regulators have treated this allegation that Versarien has lied to investors.
   
   
6. Mega company Wednesday excitement – Rio Tinto and Lloyds Banking Group
   Whilst I am sure many of you have rolled from eating pancakes yesterday to reading the poetry of T. S. Eliot today, I keep on cracking on with the global corporate earnings season – and this brings me today to Rio Tinto (RIO) and Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY) (one of which I think is cheap and one of which I am glad I do not own).
   
   
7. BREAKING SHOCKING EXPOSE: Versarien results - what Neill Ricketts is not telling you about Innovate UK
   In today’s, utterly dreadful, results from Versarien (VRS) the auditors make it clear that the company will go bust if it cannot get a material cash injection from grants, loans or share issues. There is something Versarien is not telling investors about that. I wonder if it has told auditors BDO or its hapless Nomad SP Angel.
   
   
8. BREAKING EXPOSE: Andrew Monk, Silverwood, VSA and Lush – that’s another fine £216 million mess you’ve got yourselves into
   Andrew Monk of VSA Capital (VSA) has yet to come clean on whether anyone at his firm has been interviewed by the FCA as part of its formal enquiry into wholesale insider dealing , market abuse and investor deception at his client Caracal Gold (GCAT) but now there needs to be an enquiry into share dealing at Siverwood Brands (SLWD) and this time VSA is directly involved. This is the £216 million Lush blow up.
   
   
9. BOMBSHELL EXCLUSIVE: Leaked email & spreadsheet shows exactly how TruSpine dicks its creditors on whose support it depends
   This morning, Aquis listed Truspine (TSP) has admitted that refinancing has ( again) not yet arrived and that it is reliant on the support of its creditors. Unfortunately for it, we have has been supplied with an email and spreadsheet showing exactly how it is dicking its creditors and how big the sums involved are for each creditor. Naturally we publish in full.
   
   
10. Tesco chat (and this time not about buying a food shop)
    I think Tesco (TSCO) deserves to be the biggest supermarket in the UK. And despite just a bit of volatility in the company over the last couple of decades, it has ultimately boxed clever. The combination of the turnaround by its previous CEO “Tesco Dave” and the return of capital via the sale of its Asian business at a decent price, helped me make some good money on the shares. However ...

The most-listened to Bearcasts this week were:

1. Tom Winnifrith Bearcast: My SIPP buys shares in xxxx as Lucian's twitter account is hacked If you see Lucian tweeting out #COYS or Buy Cineworld (CINE) you know what has happened!. I start this podcast on the subject of home made apple juice then cover Cineworld, Alien Metals (UFO), Skinbiotherapeutics (SBTX) and Jubilee Metals (JLP)
   
   
2. Tom Winnifrith Bearcast - ouzo on my pancakes as its Schadenfreude day at the Welsh Hovel! The images below should amuse you. Together with the discussions about getting my wife sacked and me killed, Versarien shareholders - egged on by the vile Neill Ricketts - have given it to me in spades over the years. Natch, today is a good day for me. I discuss many lessons learned and where next. 0p. I also look at Okyo Pharma (OKYO) and Kefi Gold & Copper (KEFI).
   
   
3. Tom Winnifrith Bearcast: Could Cineworld be a zero by the end of next week? I end by thanking the kind reader whose gift of a bottle of Metaxa has just arrived. The Mrs says thank you as well. Elsewhere I chat to Lucian Miers and discuss Cineworld (CINE) - after yesterday's legal hearing - and Canadian Overseas Petroleum (COPL). then it is onto Tern (TERN), Bluebird Merchant Ventures (BMV) and what Versarien (VRS) is so desperate to hide. The references in that section are to the great film Zulu.
   
   
4. Tom Winnifrith Bearcast: Should Angus Energy, Union Jack Oil and IGAS merge? Of course they should. But I explain why they will not. I start with Julie Meyer and urge you all to write to the Forfeiture Committee today. Then I look at Canadian Overseas Petroleum (COPL), Caracal Gold (GCAT) , at Wood Group (WG.) and at Spiritus Mundi (SPMU)
   
   
5. Tom Winnifrith Bearcast: Surely Moonpig is a short? What am I missing? I start with half term trespassers of whom there seem to be many here in Wales. Then it is onto Verditek (VDTK) and why AIM Regulation's failings matter, Audioboom (BOOM), Versarien (VRS), questions about revenue recognition at Andrew Monk's VSA Capital (VSA) and finally Moonpig (MOON). The prize Versarien contest mentioned is HERE