Ocado losses widen to £500m as retail operations hammered

UK online grocer and technology company Ocado Group posted wider losses as the cost of living crisis and return to normal shopping habits after the Covid pandemic hammered its joint venture with Marks & Spencer .

The group on Tuesday posted a pre-tax loss of £501m for the year to November 27, 2022 compared with a loss of £179m a year earlier and worse than analyst forecasts of a £399m loss.

Core losses were £74m compared with a profit of £61m a year earlier. Retail losses at the M&S joint venture were £4m, down from a £150m profit in 2021.

Ocado retail revenue declined by 3.8% to £2.2bn in what the firm called a “challenging market” as the benefits of the trend towards online shopping sparked by Covid pandemic lockdowns wound down and customers bought fewer items “exacerbated by the cost-of-living crisis”.

Looking forward, the group forecast "marginally positive" core earnings in 2023 for Ocado Retail positive earnings for its technology solutions division, which designs customer order fulfilment systems and stable EBITDA in its UK logistics unit.

Reporting by Frank Prenesti for Sharecast.com