UK 20:18 Saturday, 3 October 2026
Breaking news and expert analysis on fast-moving AIM and LSE listed shares
Back in November 2018 here, I concluded about temporary power company Aggreko (AGK) that it was worth 30% more than its c.750p share price then. However, returns in 2019 were reversed in 2020 as the Olympics did not happen and emerging market demand was hit by a bunch of "challenges" as well. Still - by last month - Aggreko gave a short update which concluded that its cautious £80-100 million profit target for 2020 was likely to be slightly beaten. And to highlight improving prospects, it saw 2021’s profits to be back to the £170-190 million range. That is not too shabby for a company trading back in late January at an EV of about £1.7 billion.
Early this year we showed the ten top shorted London-listed shares at the start of 2018. How's the latest performance?...
Another busy week of UK corporate reporting. I could write about Ashtead (AHT) again but frankly I called it a take profits a quarter ago at twenty quid a share and in early trading today it is below this level again...and the CFO has decided to exit. The latter event all looks very orderly but the as good as it gets feeling lingers. I could also write about my old mucker DS Smith (SMDS).
Ho Ho Ho, Share Packers Aggreko (AGK) is a company which I’ve featured recently. And since then, I think the story has got a little better.
Hello Share Crunchers. I’ve made an awful lot of gelt out of a firm which is mainly known for hiring out electricity generators. But it is a few years since I decided that the share price of Aggreko (AGK) had motored beyond its prospects, and I dumped the lot.
You would have thought I had learnt my lesson on the temporary power market following the disastrous APR Energy ‘excitements’ of a year plus ago. Perhaps I feel emboldened because the ultimate takeover of the company by a do-gooding consortium bailed me out on the name and added a touch of profit to boot. Alternatively I feel a touch of unfinished business on Aggreko (AGK) after calling the stock interesting when it exited the FTSE-100 fifteen months ago and it has quietly been one of the stars of my portfolio year-to-date. At least until today.
Temporary power provider Aggreko has been something of a stock market enigma, going from being a darling growth situation in the wake of being used at big sporting events such as the World Cup and a potential bid stock,
You have to be careful of trading rules because as soon as they become gospel they tend to not work. I have noticed however that when a stock is booted out of the FTSE-100 it often provides a buying opportunity. This is because in today’s panicky financial market world passive tracker vehicles, which mechanically buy or sell shares depending on inclusion (or not) in an index. Add in the impact of certain ‘clever’ fund managers attempting to anticipate this impact by selling before any such judgement and the quarterly index change period can throw up some opportunities.
From the FCA's spreadsheet of short positions required to be disclosed to it, the following details the most shorted shares (by net short position %) and if this position has increased (red), reduced (green) or remained unchanged (black) since a previous analysis HERE.
