Ocado posts strong fourth quarter sales growth
Ocado increased its retail revenue by 34.9% to £579.6 million in its fourth quarter after it benefited from strong demand for online grocery deliveries due to Covid-19.
In the 13 weeks to 29 November, average orders per week grew by 3% to 360,000.
Ocado said customers responded well to its new M&S offering in the period and that everyday essential products within M&S’s fresh categories were particularly popular.
Melanie Smith, Ocado Retail’s chief executive, said: “We continue to make good progress bringing even greater choice, quality, and value to our customers following the switchover to M&S at the beginning of September. At Ocado Retail we are constantly looking to raise the bar even further and the addition of M&S products to our grocery ranges has enhanced what was already the widest choice of products available online.”
Ocado is now expecting its full year EBITDA to come in at over £70 million, which is £10 million better than the previous guidance given in November.
Smith added: “With three new warehouses opening in 2021 which will ultimately give us 40% more capacity to our business, we look forward to being able to offer more slots to existing customers while welcoming new customers to Ocado and showing them what we can offer.”
