Technology

Posted on July 5, 2017 by staff

Ocado revenue surges to more than £700m – but profit dips

Technology

Half-year revenue at Ocado has surged  to more than £700m, although pre-tax profit has been affected by investment in a new customer fulfilment centre.

Order volume for the online supermarket also increased by 15.6 per cent to an average of 260,000 orders per week.

The company generated revenues of £713.8m in the six months to 28 May 2017, up from £584.2m to 15 May 2016.

Pre-tax profit dipped to £7.7m from £8.5m.

Chief executive Tim Steiner said: “I am pleased to announce another period of consistent customer, revenue and order growth, as well as improved operating efficiencies within our UK retail business.

“In addition, I am delighted to have announced our first OSP agreement with a European retailer.

“After several years of price deflation in the U.K., we have seen this begin to ease in the period and, when combined with our increasing scale and operational efficiencies, this trend will support the continued profitable growth of our retail business.”

As well as announcing its first international partnership with a European retailer, Ocado’s new store-pick solution is also being live tested at Morrisons.

Steiner added: “We have invested further in our platform and innovation to advance our technological leadership, as we continue to grow our technology and engineering teams.

“With the scaling of our Andover CFC and the store pick capabilities we have developed for Morrisons, we are able to better demonstrate the quality of our platform to current and future international customers.”