MILAN, July 27 (Reuters) - Shares in Ocado continued their ascent on Thursday and looked set to treble in value from the lows in early June in a rally that has kept traders guessing over potential suitors circling the British online supermarket.
The highly shorted stock surged as much as 5.9% to hits its highest since April 2022 by 1017 GMT on Thursday following a 25% surge the day before, which was likely due to short covering with no obvious catalyst behind it.
Its shares soared much as 47% on June 22 after the Times newspaper reported possible takeover interest from more than one U.S. suitor, including Amazon.
Amazon declined to comment at the time, while a few weeks later, Ocado CEO Tim Steiner said the group was not looking to be taken over.
Shares in Ocado, which returned to profit in its first half, have risen 197% from their June lows, giving the firm a market value of more than 8 billion pounds ($10.4 billion). ($1 = 0.7712 pounds) (Reporting by Danilo Masoni; Editing by Amanda Cooper)