Cineworld, ASOS and Boohoo: The 10 most shorted LSE stocks and the City fund managers that go after them
Cineworld Group, the world’s second-largest cinema chain, is currently the most shorted UK listed company, according to the most up-to-date London Stock Exchange data.
Some 8.2 per cent of its stock was held short by five investment firms, with New Holland Capital LLC holding the largest short position with 2.4 per cent of the company’s shares.
The next most shorted UK listed companies were ASOS PLC, Dixons Carphone PLC and BOOHOO.com with 7.2 per cent, 6.4 per cent and 6.2 per cent of their stock held short by 8, 6 and 7 investment firms respectively.
The table below, sent to Morning Wire by City broker GraniteShares, which studied the LSE data, shows the largest ten short positions in companies that are listed and trading on the London Stock Exchange.
| Company | Percentage of stock held short | Number of funds shorting the stock |
| Cineworld Group | 8.2 per cent | 5 |
| ASOS PLC | 7.2 per cent | 8 |
| Dixons Carphone PLC | 6.4 per cent | 6 |
| BOOHOO.com | 6.2 per cent | 7 |
| Kingfisher PLC | 6 per cent | 6 |
| Hammerson PLC | 5.1 per cent | 5 |
| AO World PLC | 5 per cent | 7 |
| Naked Wine PLC | 4.9 per cent | 5 |
| Royal Mail PLC | 4.9 per cent | 5 |
| Metro Bank PLC | 4.7 per cent | 3 |
Discussing the LSE data with Morning Wire, Will Rhind, Founder and CEO of GraniteShares, said: “The combination of worries about global economic growth and inflation has hit confidence and put share prices under pressure with retailers some of the worst affected.”
“The most popular shorted stocks remain some of the largest U.S. technology names, in particular Tesla.”
Will Rhind
With the recent decline in U.S. Technology stocks, sophisticated investors may be signalling they expect further price declines,” Rhind added.
City fund managers
The analysis also shows that GLG Partners LLP had by far the most short positions on UK listed companies of any investment firms with 41.
This was followed by Marshall Wace LLP, BlackRock Investment Management (UK) Limited and JP Morgan Asset Management (UK) with 32, 17 and 10 short positions respectively.
| Fund Manager | Number of short positions |
| GLG Partners LLP | 41 |
| Marshall Wace LLP | 34 |
| BlackRock Investment Management (UK) Limited | 24 |
| Citadel Advisors | 11 |
| JP Morgan Asset Management (UK) Ltd | 10 |
| Ennismore Fund Management Limited | 8 |
| AQR Capital Management LLC | 8 |
| Citadel Advisors Europe Limited | 7 |
| Sandbar Asset Management LLP | 7 |
| AKO Capital LLP | 7 |