Can you make a fortune betting that shares in our biggest High Street store

Speculators are betting against a host of British companies in the wake of Rachel Reeves’s anti-business Budget.

So-called short-sellers – who profit when share prices fall – are targeting household names from Marks & Spencer and Sainsbury’s to Domino’s Pizza and Burberry.

Such attacks can put downward pressure on share prices – hitting the value of the pensions, ISAs and other investments held by millions of savers.

The scale of the short-selling is laid bare in a report by online broker AJ Bell as businesses continue to reel from the Chancellor’s debt-fuelled spending spree and £40bn of tax hikes.

So is this sounding an alarm for private investors to take action and sell shares in the retail sector?

High Street firms including shops and restaurants have been hit particularly hard by the increase in national insurance contributions. This is on top of an inflation-busting rise in the minimum wage and Labour’s new package of workers’ rights.

Industry experts have warned the package will lead to store closures, job losses and higher prices.

All of this is laced with warnings that Britain is facing a new era of ‘stagflation’ – or weak economic growth and rising prices.

Professional stock market speculators are looking to cash in on the misery, which is why some of our best-loved stores have become prime targets.

‘Short-sellers are targeting UK stocks at risk from Rachel Reeves’s Budget decisions,’ said the AJ Bell report, noting that ‘consumer-facing companies’ are in the firing line.

Warning of ‘a gloomy outlook for the economy’, the report said the Budget has ‘clouded the outlook for consumer spending’.

It came just a day after the Bank of England halved its forecasts for economic growth and warned of a fresh squeeze on living standards – fuelling stagflation fears.

Short-sellers take bets against companies and profit if the share price falls.

By contrast, traditional investors buy shares in the hope that they will rise.

Among the companies under attack are B&Q and Screwfix owner Kingfisher, online supermarket Ocado, housebuilder Vistry and pet chain Pets at Home.

‘These are big names which rely on the general public to keep their tills ringing,’ said Dan Coatsworth, investment analyst at AJ Bell.

‘If times get harder for such big brands, it won’t simply be bad for the share price, it will also represent a big setback for the UK’s economic growth story.’

He warned the outlook for the UK economy ‘is getting worse by the day’ with business and household confidence collapsing even before a series of tax hikes in April.

The dismal state of the economy was highlighted on Thursday when the Bank of England slashed its growth forecast for this year from 1.5pc to just 0.75pc and warned inflation will hit 3.7pc having been 1.7pc just five months ago.

‘Put these things together in a pot and it’s a recipe for disaster if you’re a retailer or leisure operator dependent on consumer spending,’ said Coatsworth.

‘It’s no wonder that short sellers are sharpening their knives and hoping to make a pretty penny.’

Tory business spokesman Andrew Griffith said: ‘The wreckage from Rachel Reeves’s disastrous Budget choices still ricochets around the economy, damaging everything it touches.

‘Through its impact on the High Street and depressing the share prices of some of the best-known British businesses, it is now hitting the retirement savings and pensions of millions.

‘If Labour had an ounce of comment sense, they would change course now.’

Below are some of the shares that are being targeted by speculators.

But should you be betting against these companies as well – or hold your nerve and hope to ride out the storm?

KINGFISHER

The B&Q owner is suffering from what AJ Bell’s Coatsworth calls ‘a post-Covid hangover’ as workers go back to the office rather than do up their homes.

A recent profit warning sent the shares to an eight-month low. They have recovered a bit but short-sellers have been ramping up their bets against Kingfisher into this year.

Short-sellers now account for 6.9pc of the shares, making Kingfisher the second most shorted on the UK stock market.

That’s despite ‘remarkably upbeat’ recent trading statements from DIY rival Wickes and specialist retailer Topps Tiles, Coatsworth notes.

City analysts are split, however, with three rating the stock a ‘buy’ and three telling clients to ‘sell’. A further eight say ‘hold’ if you currently own the shares.

DOMINO’S PIZZA