Says Khalaf: "As one of the most shorted stocks in the UK stock market, this deal will be a poke in the eye for the hedge funds who have bet against Ocado because of its eye-watering valuation. However its share price is looking forward to future earnings based on licensing out its online delivery technology, rather than the revenues it's currently making from food retail. The short sellers were hoping Ocado wouldn't deliver on its international expansion plans, that position now looks like a badly busted flush." He notes that the biggest short positions in Ocado were GMT Capital Corp with a 1.89% net short position, Kairos Investment Management with 1.51%, Marshall Wace with 1%, Parvus Asset Management with 0.86%, Hunt Lane Capital with 0.72%, BlackRock with 0.60% and UBS with 0.59%. 0904 : London stocks are little changed in early trade, with the FTSE 100 flat at 7,731.83, with the pound up 0.1% versus the euro at 1.1437 and 0.2% firmer against the dollar at 1.3510.