The 15 most-shorted UK stocks right now
Pulled from the FCA's daily net short position disclosures - 425 UK issuers currently have a disclosed position. The three month (3M) column is the share price move from 20 April to 20 July.
| # | Ticker | Company | Index | Short % | Since 9 Jul | 3M price | Qual | Val |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | VTY | Vistry Group | 250 | 20.11% | -0.44pp | -24.1% | 0 | 10 |
| 2 | IBST | Ibstock | SmallCap | 18.52% | +0.22pp | -11.2% | 0 | 5 |
| 3 | CPI | Capita | SmallCap | 14.24% | +0.50pp | -18.0% | 0 | 3 |
| 4 | OCDO | Ocado Group | 250 | 14.18% | +0.84pp | -14.9% | 5 | 8 |
| 5 | GRG | Greggs | 250 | 13.82% | -0.71pp | -3.0% | 3 | 6 |
| 6 | SMWH | WH Smith | 250 | 13.31% | +0.18pp | -35.8% | 3 | 6 |
| 7 | WIZZ | Wizz Air | 250 | 12.33% | +0.13pp | +8.7% | 4 | 6 |
| 8 | CHG | Chemring | 250 | 11.39% | +0.35pp | +0.8% | 5 | 2 |
| 9 | PINE | Pinewood Tech | SmallCap | 11.18% | +0.15pp | +27.2% | 8 | 2 |
| 10 | DOM | Domino's Pizza | 250 | 10.95% | -0.21pp | +4.3% | 4 | 9 |
| 11 | BME | B&M European Value | 250 | 10.88% | -0.29pp | +13.8% | 3 | 8 |
| 12 | MTLN | Metlen Energy | 100 | 10.09% | +0.03pp | +30.6% | 0 | 6 |
| 13 | GEN | Genuit Group | 250 | 10.03% | +0.02pp | -13.2% | 7 | 9 |
| 14 | SN | Smith & Nephew | 100 | 9.95% | +0.19pp | -9.9% | 7 | 7 |
| 15 | TPK | Travis Perkins | 250 | 9.85% | -0.04pp | -5.5% | 1 | 8 |
Three things that I noticed:
The table basically splits into two
As you would probably expect most shorted stocks are heavily down over the three month period. The six most-shorted names are down an average of 18% over three months - every single one negative. Names 7 to 15 are UP an average of 6%. Most of the signal is therefore in the top of the list. The position of the shorted positions 3 months ago is not available due to recent reporting changes.
A quarter of the list is the same bet.
Vistry (housebuilder), Ibstock (bricks), Genuit (pipes and drainage) and Travis Perkins (builders merchant). Four of the fifteen are UK housing and building materials. Add the high street - Greggs, WH Smith, B&M, Domino's - and it's basically two macro plays on the cost of living and increased interest rates currently impacting the UK.
They are shorting cheap, not expensive.
The Qual and Val columns are my own 0-10 composite scores for every UK listed company. Vistry is a 10/10 on value and a 0/10 on quality. Ibstock and Capita also score 0 on quality. This is a classic value-trap fingerprint - these are not shorts against overvaluation, they are shorts against deteriorating businesses that already score cheap.
Biggest build of the fifteen: Ocado, +0.84pp.
Ocado reported its half year to 31 May 2026 on 16 July. The headline looks spectacular - revenue +54%, EBITDA £432m against £92m - but essentially all of it is £354m of termination fees from Kroger and Sobeys closing four sites. Strip those out and revenue grew 1%, Technology Solutions revenue fell 8%, and the platform's average live modules shrank from 122 to 115. One caveat on the data: individual positions are only disclosed above a reporting threshold (0.2%), so what you see is the visible portion of short interest, not all of it.