Vistry Grp Share Price (VTY)

Vistry’s register is unusual, but not as contradictory as it first looks.

The big “hedge fund” shareholders are mostly long-term activist/value/event-driven investors, not fast-money traders. Several came into Vistry through the Countryside deal, so they may not have bought Vistry directly at today’s distressed levels.

You probably cannot find their exact buy-in price because UK holding notices normally disclose percentage ownership, not average purchase cost. The best clue is the Countryside merger terms, which used a Vistry reference price of around 741p, but each fund’s true cost depends on what they originally paid for Countryside and whether they later added to or reduced it.

The short sellers are a different crowd. Vistry’s disclosed short interest is very high, around 14%+, with names such as Schonfeld, GLG, Two Sigma, Citadel, BlackRock, Arrowstreet, Millennium and AQR on the short side.

So the picture is:

Long side: value/activist funds betting Vistry eventually repairs margins, cash flow and credibility.

Short side: hedge funds betting on the July update exposing more margin, debt, discounting, or cash-conversion problems.

The interesting point is that both sides are sophisticated. This is not a sleepy housebuilder anymore; it is a full battleground stock.

Captain’s version:

The long whales are tied to the mast, the short sharks are circling the hull, and July’s update decides whether the ship springs a leak or the sharks get squeezed.

Half hour to go for an BoE interest rate hold, and vty share price boost.

I was surprised to learn that the major shareholders were hedge funds. They generally operate on a shorter time frame loaded with debt. However, from what's being reported, these ones seem interested in the long term with Vistry. I'd love to know what they bought in at - I can't find that anywhere. I have to say, when I read this I did wonder who exactly was doing the shorting.

I doubt many of the shorts will exit till at least seeing what the July trading update has to say

Without wishing to spam - and the elephant in the room here - is clearly ‘it’ outside the shorters some instis’s start loading up - who have also possibly lent out shares and know what they could start in the potential bonfire.

The more I look the more I feel - who would be short now

And one shorter has 3 percent of the company on loan - wow.