Ocado boss hails '˜robust trading' as customer base grows
Pre-tax profits rose 21.8% to £14.5 million in the year to November 27, its third consecutive year in the black.
The group, founded in 2000, only managed to turn its first profit before tax in 2015.
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Hide AdRevenue rose 14.8% to £1.27 billion as boss Tim Steiner hailed “robust trading” in a challenging environment.
He said: “We are pleased to announce results today which reflect robust trading in our core business and shows continued progress against our strategic objectives in what has been a challenging retail environment.”
Ocado grew its customer base by almost 14% to 580,000, with growth in average orders per week approaching 18% to 230,000.
However, the grocer saw average order sizes fall 2.7% to £108.10 after taking a hit from the enduring supermarket price war.
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Hide AdThe battle for shoppers, sparked by the rise of German duo Aldi and Lidl, has engulfed the sector and has seen all of the so-called Big Four supermarkets - Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Asda and Morrisons - come under pressure.
The City is still awaiting details of a much-anticipated international deal for Ocado but on this front the firm said only that it is in “continued discussions with multiple international retailers”.