Ocado Retail’s revenue growth accelerates in latest quarter By Reuters

LONDON (Reuters) – British online supermarket Ocado (LON:OCDO) Retail said revenue rose 39.7% in its first quarter to Feb. 28, an acceleration from the previous quarter, reflecting continuing strong demand for grocery deliveries during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Ocado Retail, a joint venture between Ocado Group and Marks & Spencer, said revenue totalled 599 million pounds ($838 million) versus 429 million pounds in the same quarter last year. Revenue growth in the previous quarter was 34.9%.

It said average orders per week increased 2.5% to 329,000, while average order size was 147 pounds.

The first quarter is the last one before comparative numbers become considerably harder as the pandemic started boosting sales significantly from March 2020.

Ocado is, however, ramping-up capacity over the course of 2021.

It opened one mini robotic warehouse, or Customer Fulfilment Centre (CFC) as it calls them, in Bristol, western England, last month and plans to open two standard sized CFCs this year.

In addition a minimum of 12 new micro sites are being sought, primarily in London, to support the roll-out of its Ocado Zoom fast delivery service.

The group said it still expected positive revenue growth in its second quarter.