The Tyro Payments Ltd (ASX: TYR) share price is one to watch this morning as the Aussie payments company looks to respond to an activist short-selling report.
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Why is the Tyro share price on watch?
According to an article in the Australian Financial Review (AFR), Tyro executives have been working on a response to the allegations.
The Tyro share price plummeted 11.8% lower on Friday after a short-seller released a damaging report. Viceroy Research alleged that 50% of Tyro's payment terminals were experiencing problems — more than the company had previously announced.
Tyro had previously updated the ASX on the terminal outage in early January. On 13 January, the company said 19% of merchants were "impacted" by the outage first announced on 7 January.
The outage has proven more difficult to fix than Tyro had first hoped. That has seen transaction volumes impacted and updates unable to run for Tyro's merchants. That's put the Tyro share price under pressure in recent days.
The Viceroy report was released during trading hours, meaning the company's shares plummeted before a trading halt was called.
Prior to the payments issue coming to light, shares in the Aussie payments group had been performing well. In fact, the Tyro share price climbed 228.9% from 19 March 2020 to the end of the year.
However, 2021 hasn't started in a strong fashion for Tyro shareholders. The company's shares have slumped 31% since the start of the year thanks to the outage issue.
Tyro is far from the first Aussie company to come under fire from short-sellers. Both Seek Ltd (ASX: SEK) and WiseTech Global Ltd (ASX: WTC) have been among those targeted by short-sellers recently.
Foolish takeaway
The Tyro share price is one to watch today as the market waits for the company's response. The Viceroy Research report sent the company's shares plummeting on Friday — shareholders will want to see a strong response from the company this week.
