Redcare Pharmacy’s Frankfurt Pitch Arrives as Short Interest Hits 8.66% and Shares Languish 64% Below High

Redcare Pharmacy shares have plunged 64% from highs, with six funds shorting 8.66% of capital, despite Q1 revenue jumping 18.4% and prescription sales surging. Management speaks at Frankfurt conference.

Redcare Pharmacy’s management steps onto the stage at the dbAccess European Champions Conference in Frankfurt on Wednesday with a strong operational story to tell — but the market is telling a very different one. The stock closed Tuesday at €43.64, a 64% plunge from its 52-week high of €122.80, and short bets against the company have climbed to 8.66% of share capital.

Six funds are now openly shorting the online pharmacy operator. D. E. Shaw & Co. holds the largest position at 3.46%, followed by JPMorgan Asset Management (UK) at 1.58%, Two Sigma Investments at 1.27%, Jupiter Asset Management at 0.71%, PDT Partners at 0.65%, and AHL Partners at 0.99%. The short register, dated May 26, captures a coordinated bet that the share price has further to fall.

On Wednesday midday, the stock rebounded 3.77% to €45.12, clawing back some of the previous session’s 5.19% loss. Yet the medium-term trend remains ugly: down 2.08% over seven days and 8.37% over 30 days, while the MDAX index has climbed 9.13% in the same period. Year-to-date, Redcare Pharmacy has shed over 35% of its value.

The disconnect between share price and operating performance is stark. In the first quarter, group revenue jumped 18.4% year-on-year to €849.5 million. Adjusted EBITDA rose from €9.1 million to €14.4 million, lifting the margin from 1.3% to 1.7%. Prescription medicine sales in Germany surged 55%, and across all DACH markets the Rx business grew 35.5%. The proportion of Rx revenue hit 37% of total sales, up from 33% a year earlier.

That prescription boom, however, is squeezing margins. The gross margin fell from 23.3% to 21.0%, driven by fiercer competition in the non-prescription segment, a higher Rx mix — which carries lower margins — and an Rx bonus that has been in effect since mid-September 2025. The non-Rx business in Germany, meanwhile, accelerated to roughly 11% growth in April, compared with 9% in the first quarter.

Management reaffirmed full-year guidance: revenue growth of 13% to 15%, German Rx revenue above €670 million, non-Rx expansion of 8% to 10%, and an adjusted EBITDA margin of at least 2.5%. The balance sheet offers some comfort — cash and short-term investments stood at €135 million at the end of March, after the company repaid €64.5 million in convertible bonds during the quarter.

Wednesday’s investor conference gives executives a platform to refocus attention on e-prescription momentum and margin improvement, but they will not unveil new numbers. The next concrete data point is the half-year report on July 29, 2026. Until then, the stock is trading just above its 50-day moving average of €42.95 — a technical floor that has been tested repeatedly. Whether the Q1 momentum carried into the second quarter will determine if short sellers are proven right or caught offside.