Ocado revenues up, but profits down

Ocado revenues up, but profits down

Ocado has reported that its results for the half-year ended 28 May increased 12.5% to £659.6m, but its profit before tax dropped £1.7m to £7.7m. In its results statement issued today (5 July) Ocado said that the drop in profit was a result of higher depreciation from the Andover fulfilment centre opening.

The average Ocado.com basket size value declined by 1.4% to £108.45, but order volumes grew by 15.6% to an average of 260,000 orders per week.

As previ0usly reported, one of the recent highlights for Ocado has been the news that it has reached an agreement to help a major European retailer build its online grocery delivery operation. When Ocado announced this new partnership on 5 June it did not disclose the name of the retailer – and the partner’s anonymity is maintained in today’s results statement.

Commenting on the half-year results, Tim Steiner, Chief Executive Officer of Ocado, 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 the channel shift to online advances we continue to gain share in a competitive U.K. market. We expect the trend for grocery shopping online to continue as consumers become more tech savvy and gain confidence in the online services available. Ocado will be a natural beneficiary of that trend thanks to its industry-leading customer offer. We continue to build new facilities in the U.K. in order to meet the increasing demand we see.

“Meanwhile, 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.

“Grocery retailing is changing and we are ideally positioned to enable other retailers to achieve their online aspirations. We expect our recently announced international partnership to be the first of many and look forward to helping more retailers provide a high quality service to their customers in this rapidly evolving market.”

UPDATE:

During his presentation on the latest results, Ocado Group chief executive officer Tim Steiner said that he viewed the recent news about Amazon’s acquisition of Whole Foods as a “positive development” because  it has spurred “increased interest from players in the US” for a tie-up with his company and its technology.

Relevant Directory Listings

Listing image

SwipBox

Focus on the user experience SwipBox is focused on creating the world’s best user experience for delivering and picking up parcels using parcel lockers. Through a combination of intuitive network management software and hassle-free, app-operated parcel lockers, SwipBox delivers maximum convenience to logistics providers, retailers […]

Find out more

Other Directory Listings

Advertisement

Advertisement

Advertisement

P&P Poll

Loading

What’s the future of the postal USO?

Thank you for voting
You have already voted on this poll!
Please select an option!



MER Magazine


The Mail & Express Review (MER) Magazine is our quarterly print publication. Packed with original content and thought-provoking features, MER is a must-read for those who want the inside track on the industry.

 

News Archive

Pin It on Pinterest

Share This