• Ocado has made a pre-tax profit for the second year running, up 65% to £11.6m in its year to November 29.
  • Ocado boss Tim Steiner said progress was down to its focus on customer service and innovation.
  • Morrisons online sales reached £200m in its first year of trading.
  • Ocado confident of striking a platform deal with an international company.

 

Online grocer Ocado’s pre-tax profits surged 65.3% to £11.9m in the year to November 29, 2015 as its focus on customer service paid off.

Ocado revealed that Morrisons online sales had reached around £200m in its first 12 months of trading and has continued to grow since.

Despite not signing a much-anticipated international partnership in 2015, Ocado said it is in discussions with multiple international firms about adopting its platform and is confident in signing a deal.

Over the year, Ocado’s gross sales jumped 14.7% to £1.12bn and EBITDA rose 13.8% to £81.5m.

The online supermarket made its first full-year profit in its 2013/14 financial year. Ocado chief executive Tim Steiner said this year’s progress was down to its “clear focus on innovation and customer service”.

He said: “The continued enhancement of Ocado’s industry-leading technology and investment into our retail proposition over the course of the year has meant our customers now have greater choice, competitive prices and consistently high order accuracy and on-time delivery. As a result, customer numbers grew, reflected in strong revenue growth in a very challenging market environment.”

Ocado boosted customer numbers by 12.4% to 509,000 over the year with new customer acquisition up over 20%. Order volumes grew 16.8% over the year to 195,000 orders per week, however average basket value was hit by price deflation and declined by 2.1% to £109.95.

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