Short Monitor – Coronavirus yet to infect the monitor

Premier Oil remains the most shorted stock in the UK, with 18.6% of its issued share capital shorted. That said, the size of the total shorts in Premier Oil has decreased steadily over the past few months, falling by 0.1% in February. As a result, Premier Oil does not feature in our ‘Top UK Shorts February’ chart. Tullow Oil had the greatest increase in shorting activity from January to February. In total, 6.48% of Tullow’s share capital is now being shorted, a 3.7% increase from January, making it the 15th most shorted stock in the UK. Its share price has fallen by over 85% in the last 12 months following negative newsflow, including a significant fall in oil production. The latest announcement on 17 February showed the company did not encounter any significant hydrocarbons after reaching total depth in the Marina-1 exploration well, which will now be plugged up and abandoned.

Hammerson, a retail REIT, was the most shorted stock over the last month and is now the seventh most shorted stock in the UK. Hammerson made its first appearance in the Top Total UK Shorts list in January. On 25 February, the REIT announced a negative set of results for FY19, net rental income was down 11% to £308.5m (FY18: £347.5m) and the IFRS loss was £781.2m – a 191% increase y-o-y (FY18 loss: £268.1m). Hammerson’s share price is down 33% YTD.

Coronavirus has significantly affected stock markets across the world, where the FTSE 350 fell by 8% in February. That said, despite the FTSE fall, the total number of companies shorted decreased by 3% to 729 (January: 751).