Yahoo Finance Ocado revenues surge 27% as locked down shoppers buy food online
Ocado today declared it had seen unprecedented demand for online grocery shopping in the UK with a 27% leap in sales over the last six months.
Chief executive and founder Tim Steiner said: "The world as we know it has changed. As a result of covid-19 we have seen years of growth in the online grocery market condensed into a matter of months; and we won't be going back."
He said fees invoiced to international grocers using Ocado's online delivery technology surged 58% to £73.7 million as it rolled out new sites overseas including Paris and Toronto.
Extra spending in that rollout meant underlying profit of £19.8 million was down 36% on a year earlier. Overall losses before tax came in at £40.6 million while underlying earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation was £19.8 million.
Steiner was speaking after reports on Sky News that a hunt to replace chairman Lord Rose was underway but there was no immediate comment on that.
Ocado said its had £2.3 billion of cash on the balance sheet after the £1 billion it recently raised on the capital markets.
