Ocado delivers on profit landmark

ONLINE retailer Ocado today scraped its first ever half-year profit but revealed that sales growth had slowed and more orders were delivered late as it struggled to keep up with demand.

By The Newsroom

Published 27th Jun 2011, 09:37 BST

The grocer, which sells Waitrose products to much of the UK, made pre-tax profits of £200,000 in the 24 weeks to May 15, compared to losses of £6.7 million the previous year.

It admitted that the number of orders delivered on time decreased to 92.7 per cent from 94.9 per cent in the period, which it blamed on capacity issues at its main distribution centre in Hatfield. Efficiency of order picking at the centre also declined.

But it said it would spend £80 million in 2011 and 2012 increasing the capacity at the site and pledged its performance and efficiency would improve as the investment paid off.

Sales increased 20.8 per cent to £296.7 million, down from 24.7 per cent in the first 12 weeks of the period.

Waitrose