The named positions the FCA published against the online grocer through its most shorted years, reconstructed from the old register, and how the 2018 Kroger deal changed them.
Figures are the sum of named positions of 0.5% or more, from FCA data, 383 points between 4 Jan 2016 and 20 Dec 2019.
Under the UK's old regime every net short position of 0.5% or more was published with the holder's name. Summing those named positions for Ocado gives a lower-bound measure of its short interest, and by that measure it was the most shorted stock on the London market for long stretches of 2016 and 2017, reaching 21.37% of its share capital on 1 Jul 2016.
The position reflected a long-running argument about whether the company's warehouse technology could be licensed to other grocers at scale; until it was, the business was a loss-making online supermarket with a high valuation.
In May 2018 Ocado announced a technology partnership with the US grocer Kroger, and the shares roughly doubled in the following months; the named positions were reduced steadily from then on. By 20 Dec 2019 the sum of published positions stood at 2.97%. Because the old register only showed positions of 0.5% or more, the true figure at every point was at least as high as the one charted here.
Full history and today's figure: OCADO GROUP PLC.
Figures are as published by the FCA; this site is not affiliated with it. The narrative describes what the published figures showed and widely reported public events around them; it is not a description of any company's prospects and is not investment advice.