Notes from Underground – Most read articles for the week ending 16 September

Here are the most read and most listened-to articles and Bearcasts on ShareProphets over the past seven days. The most read non-Quiz, non-Tom article last week is by Nigel Somerville, The View From The Montana Log-Cabin As Gold Settles Back But Holds $1900 at No 2 or No 2 including Bearcasts.

The most read ShareProphets stories this week were:

1. Looney Tunes at BP, CEO walks after more evidence of him shagging about emerges
   When former BP (BP) CEO John Browne was found to have put his Brazilian rent boy lover on expenses he was forced to walk (after all expenses abuse is theft) but his supporters insisted that this was a homophobic witch hunt and he was duly made a member of the House of Lords and has become part of the great and good. One rule for 1% using company funds inappropriately, another for the 99%. Today we embark on another show of one rule for them, one for us. BP’s latest CEO, Bernard Looney, has resigned with immediate effect.
   
   
2. The View From The Montana Log-Cabin As Gold Settles Back But Holds $1900
   Everyone is so bearish about the yellow metal. Even so, it remains within touching distance of its all-time high and held comfortably above the $1900 line closing the week at $1919 – down from last week’s $1940, but still fine by me. If everyone is bearish and it is still at this level, I’d suggest that is good news.
   
   
3. The Restaurant Group proposes a deal to help it own fewer restaurants
   I have not been a fan of The Restaurant Group (RTN) for ages and it does not surprise me that this business, with “approximately 380 restaurants and pub restaurants throughout the UK as at 10 September 2023”, has seen its shares fall by more than 75% during the last five years. And despite the fact that, at some point, I have been to one of its Wagamama restaurants, back in May I regarded the stock as a clear avoid. So am I surprised that it has announced “an agreement in respect of the proposed sale of its Leisure business comprising of 75 trading sites and associated restaurant and management team employees to the Big Table Group”?
   
   
4. Visual Aid: Six Red Flags Pointing to China’s Economy Slowing Down
   In this visualisation, we look at six important indicators that point to China’s economy slowing down. Data comes from the National Bureau of Statistics of China, the People’s Bank of China, and the General Administration of Customs, to see what is flashing red. As usual, courtesy of Visual Capitalist.
   
   
5. Kefi Gold and Copper – “Saudi projects progress” update, bigger news VERY SOON
   Having noted earlier in the week that a further update on the company's activities in Saudi Arabia is expected to be announced shortly, Kefi Gold & Copper (KEFI) has now issued this – and including that Jibal Qutman project trenching, diamond drilling and metallurgical testwork are ongoing and Hawiah project infill and expansion drilling campaigns are ongoing. That would be further potential news flow catalysts then.
   
   
6. Is It Worth Flying to Rio? Probably and Here's Why
   Hello Share Thrashers. I’ve not commended Rio Tinto (RIO) to you before but I think it’s become worth a look. Unlike many jumbo miners, this outfit has a keen eye on future trends. And, if ever there was a strong trend that’ll climb even stronger, it’s the increasing support for green types of energy. To this end, Rio seems like an unlikely contender. But not so.
   
   
7. Regtech Open: the bastard son of the Supply@ME Capital fraud – the comedy continues
   At what point will the FCA show some shame for admitting this worthless POS with a non IFRS compliant prospectus to the Standard List with a £60 million joke valuation? The shares are now 292p valuing a loss making company with (falling) sales of £1million last year and no balance sheet at £173 million. And now there is another red flag at RegTech Open (RTOP)
   
   
8. Lashings of ouzo on my cornflakes, ScotGold suspended, the Fat Lady is boarding a train to Jockland
   Oh dear, oh dear, as the disgraced tipster Mike Walters would always say as yet another of his recommendations went horribly Pete Tong. I have warned and warned about Scotgold (SGZ) for eons, publishing leaked internal emails which showed how parlous its financial position was, something the company tried to brush off with dissembling releases. Well, today, I hear that the Fat Lady is in a taxi to Kings Cross and preparing to head north… the shares have been suspended.
   
   
9. An Open Letter to the FCA - how have you allowed a £180 million utterly false market to be created in just over two weeks & will you fix it?
   The FCA has failed again in its role as the body charged with approving prospectuses for companies listing on the Standard List. I refer to RegTech Open Project PLC which listed on 25 August with a £60 million valuation at 100p and which is now capitalized at £180 million. But it is clearly an almost worthless entity. Folks are going to lose a lot of cash. I have written to the FCA begging it to put an end to what is clearly a false market.
   
   
10. Kefi Gold & Copper – notes further progress with Ethiopian government, still an upcoming project catalysts BUY
    Last week we noted on Kefi Gold & Copper (KEFI) that it was seeking Tulu Kapi project further progress in the week including the finalising of capital controls details with the Ethiopian central bank and addressing the few remaining loose-ends of Ethiopian Ministry of Mines-facing agreements. It now is pleased to report a number of important outcomes from its meetings.

The most-listened to Bearcasts this week were:

1. Tom Winnifrith Bearcast: EK says never trust a man who does not drink, ref Chris Bailey & FevertreeI start with my nettle beer brewing and ShareStock, then move on to Fevertree (FEVR), Kefi Gold & Copper (KEFI), the greatest joke ever told IQE (IQE) and Chill Brands (CHLL)
   
   
2. Tom Winnifrith Bearcast: bloody rotten day, Frisby wants me to kill my cats and Bill Gates fecks up a video as I buy more sharesIn today's podcast I discuss forthcoming videos and look at Kefi Gold & Copper (KEFI), Amaroq (AMRQ), seed Innovations, John Lewis, Regtech Open Platform (RTOP), Online Blockchain (OBC), ADVFN (AFN), and THG (THG) run by that prick Matt Moulding which is surely still a short even at 70p.
   
   
3. Tom Winnifrith Bearcast: I think Totally is Totally fecked & a chat with O'HaraI start with macro-stuff on the UK vs the USA. Then it is onto Totally (TLY) and Optibiotix (OPTI)
   
   
4. Tom Winnifrith Bearcast: Malcolm and Nigel you may well both be wrongI end with my sister cropping up on Radio 4 yesterday, I start with my dilemma about where to watch the Wales game. In between I ask Malcolm ( UK shares) and Nigel (gold) to consider if the assets they are loving up may be unloved for a very good reason.
   
   
5. Tom Winnifrith Bearcast: I reckon Wandisco will run out of cash by Christmas 2024, Versarien a year earlierI start by remembering 9/11. Then I look at Wandisco (WAND) which is rebranding as a Mosquito or a scream of pain (I kid you not), Sportech (SPO), Yourgene (YGEN), wider problems on AIM, Versaien (VRS), BSF Enterprise (BSFA) and CEO's who get payoffs for wrong doing or being useless.
   
   
6. Tom Winnifrith Bearcast: From the Top (BP's Looney) to the bottom, the bum that is Zak MirIn today's Bearcast I look at sordid Mir in relation to the scumbags at Dukemount Capital (DKE) where i hope my prior warnings were heeded. I look at IOG (IOG), Ben's Creek (BEN) and at BP and Bernard Looney.