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In 2025, UK stocks delivered their strongest returns since the 2008 financial crisis, with indexes like the FTSE 100 climbing more than 20%.
However, not all British businesses were able to join in on the fun. And in 2026, institutional investors have been busy placing big bets against several FTSE shares they think could crash even further…
3 stocks to sell?
Here are the three most heavily shorted companies on the London Stock Exchange right now:
- Wizz Air Holdings (LSE:WIZZ) – 16.2% short interest.
- Greggs – 14.6% short interest.
- Future – 11.7% short interest.
When institutional investors start heavily shorting stocks, it’s usually a major red flag that something is terribly wrong with the underlying business. And indeed, all three companies have been struggling lately.
Future has been navigating through a persistently weak digital advertising market, with organic growth failing to meaningfully materialise.
Meanwhile, Greggs is similarly struggling to deliver organic growth with profit margins coming under persistent pressure from inflation and rising labour costs. And until recently, it was the most heavily shorted stock in the UK. But earlier this month, Wizz Air took the top spot.
What happened?
A catastrophic disruption?
The shares of Wizz Air have been struggling for a while. In fact, over the last five years, the low-cost carrier has seen over 80% of its market cap wiped out, largely due to a huge part of its fleet being grounded simultaneously due to the Pratt & Whitney GTF engine defect.
While its planes are steadily getting back in the sky, the Iran war just threw another massive spanner into the works.
The firm’s Middle Eastern travel routes have been completely suspended, while jet fuel prices are skyrocketing courtesy of oil & gas production disruptions in the region.
As such, on 4 March, management issued a €50m profit warning. And with its overleveraged balance sheet already making the business extremely vulnerable to an earnings shock, the stock price has continued to plummet, with institutional investors betting the entire business is at risk of imploding.
Is there any hope?
Wizz Air is in a pretty dire situation. But the company isn’t doomed yet.
Its Middle Eastern operational suspension is ultimately temporary. And once the tragic conflict ends, the business should be able to start recovering.
As for the ongoing engine crisis, Pratt & Whitney is compensating Wizz Air for the disruption, providing a handy cash cushion to absorb costs. And with more aircrafts returning to the sky in 2026, the firm’s operating leverage improves, paving the way to margin recovery.
In fact, CEO Jozsef Varadi has explicitly stated that 2027 “will be the big turning year” for the business, suggesting a turnaround could be coming.
The bottom line
Like Wizz Air, both Greggs and Future have some bright spots.
The UK’s favourite bakery chain is seeing some early success through product innovation, while cost restructuring is helping expand the margins of Future’s media empire. But whether these improvements can come fast enough is the question that shareholders need to consider carefully.
As someone who doesn’t own shares in any of these businesses, I’m not in a rush to buy today, especially since there are far more exciting opportunities to explore elsewhere…
