OCDO.L - Ocado Group plc
| Previous close | 1,221.00 |
| Open | 1,230.50 |
| Bid | 1,226.00 x 0 |
| Ask | 1,227.00 x 0 |
| Day's range | 1,211.00 - 1,238.50 |
| 52-week range | 739.80 - 1,440.50 |
| Volume | 561,787 |
| Avg. volume | 1,907,564 |
| Market cap | 8.699B |
| Beta (3Y monthly) | 0.96 |
| PE ratio (TTM) | N/A |
| EPS (TTM) | -24.70 |
| Earnings date | 3 Feb 2020 - 7 Feb 2020 |
| Forward dividend & yield | N/A (N/A) |
| Ex-dividend date | N/A |
| 1y target est | 985.69 |
- Fool.co.uk
3 reasons why I wouldn’t buy Ocado shares
Should you buy shares in Ocado? Here's three things I would think about.
- Bloomberg
Kroger Needs to Pare Down Its Grocery List
(Bloomberg Opinion) -- It was never going to be easy for Kroger Co., the nation’s largest supermarket chain, to play defense at a moment of colossal change in the grocery business.That was apparent in its Thursday earnings report, in which revenue and adjusted earnings per share revenue came in slightly below analysts’ expectations, sending shares down. (On the bright side, comparable sales growth accelerated, increasing 2.5% from a year earlier.)The patchy results are the latest reason to doubt that this company is going to be able to transform itself for a more digital-centric future before it’s too late.At a presentation for analysts last month, CEO Rodney McMullen acknowledged that, two years into a three-year turnaround plan, the company has come up short. In particular, he said, “we asked our store associates to do too many things at once,” a reference to its efforts to remodel stores and make better use of shelf space while simultaneously ramping up its click-and-collect business.It is concerning that Kroger apparently has found it so difficult to do retailing battle on multiple fronts. After all, that is simply the reality of being a major brick-and-mortar chain these days, and key rivals seem to be managing it just fine.Target Corp. has renovated about 700 stores since 2017 and has also managed to roll out same-day delivery via Shipt and expand curbside pickup. In the latest quarter, 80% of its digital growth came from those and other same-day fulfillment options. Walmart Inc. has had similar success, developing an online grocery operation that is competitive with Amazon.com Inc.’s while also making physical stores cleaner and better-stocked.It’s not just that Kroger needs to be able to multitask. It also needs a better plan to win at online grocery.In a recent press release, Kroger proudly touted that, as a holiday season promotion, it would offer online grocery pickup for free and waive the usual $4.95 fee. Are shoppers seriously supposed to be impressed by that when pickup is always free at Walmart and Target? If Kroger can’t match that offering, it’s hard to see how it is going to fight effectively for digital grocery market share.Kroger’s biggest e-commerce bet is its partnership with Ocado Group Plc to build automated warehouses for grocery delivery. But those efficiencies will only matter if it can build a substantial base of online customers. And the cost of building these one-of-a-kind facilities, executives have said recently, is coming in higher than expected.In the meantime, Kroger continues to make head-scratching moves such as its foray into the world of so-called “dark kitchens,” or delivery-only food preparation facilities. Through a partnership with the cheekily named ClusterTruck, it announced this week, Kroger will experiment with on-demand delivery of prepared meals.This effectively puts the supermarket chain in competition for the diners that Grubhub, Doordash and Uber Eats are after. This category has enormous growth potential, so Kroger’s ambitions are understandable. But it’s also an area in which restaurant and technology companies have a head start and seem destined to outflank Kroger. And the whole venture seems like a distraction from the more pressing mission of shoring up its positioning in its core grocery business.Kroger’s three-year plan was underwhelming when it was unveiled two years ago, and since then the company hasn’t consistently impressed with its execution. Kroger is undoubtedly a busy company, but it’s not clear all the hustle is making it a better one.To contact the author of this story: Sarah Halzack at shalzack@bloomberg.netTo contact the editor responsible for this story: Michael Newman at mnewman43@bloomberg.netThis column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners.Sarah Halzack is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering the consumer and retail industries. She was previously a national retail reporter for the Washington Post.For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com/opinion©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
- Fool.co.uk
£5k to invest? Here are 2 FTSE 100 stocks I’d buy prior to the election
These two FTSE 100 (INDEXFTSE:UKX) companies may deserve investors' attention in 2020.
- Fool.co.uk
Which is better, the rising share price of Tesco or Ocado?
Tesco (LON: TSCO) shares are climbing, and so, apart from this dip, are Ocado's (LON: OCDO). Here's what I'd do.
- Bloomberg
Grocery-Packing Robots Are Aiming For World Domination
Ocado Group Plc’s new deal in Japan is appetizing, but it’s probably bitten off more than it can chew.(Bloomberg Opinion) -- The online grocer that’s specialized in automating how orders are filled said on Friday that it will provide Aeon Co. with its technology, initially in the region around Tokyo. It hasn’t put a value on the deal, but Ocado expects the contract to cover sales of about 1.5 billion pounds ($1.9 billion) by 2025, rising to about 7 billion pounds by 2035.To achieve that, analysts at Bernstein estimate that it will need to build about 20 automated warehouses, the same number envisaged in Ocado’s biggest deal to date with U.S. supermarket group Kroger Co.It’s not surprising that Ocado Chief Executive Officer Tim Steiner has been tantalized by licensing the company’s software in Asia. Japan is the world’s fourth-biggest grocery market, according to industry researcher IGD. There’s also potential in other parts of Asia.But Ocado already has a lot on its plate, not least the Kroger partnership, where success is crucial to enhancing its credibility with clients and investors alike.The shares slumped earlier this month on concerns that its roll-out at one of the U.S.’s biggest traditional grocery retailers was progressing slower than expected. Ocado is also facing a new challenge from startup Takeoff Technologies. Like Ocado, which was started by three former Goldman Sachs bankers, its executives have Wall Street as well as grocery industry experience. But, rather than building giant state-of-the-art warehouses, it concentrates on making the process of picking groceries directly off of supermarket shelves for home delivery more efficient. This model has also been favored by Tesco Plc in the U.K.Ocado sought to reassure investors recently that the relationship with Kroger was on track, announcing the sixth location for what in industry jargon is called a fulfillment center. But given the importance of this contract, the fact that the U.S. is still the world’s biggest grocery market and that the group had been chasing tie-up there for years, it would have been better to keep it as its priority.When it comes to the capital available for investing in these big international partnerships, shareholders can take heart. Ocado’s sale earlier this year of a 50% stake in its U.K. online grocery business to Marks & Spencer Group Plc for up to 750 million pounds, boosted its coffers.Ocado said it had 1 billion pounds of headroom. With each warehouse costing about 30 million pounds, it has scope to build 30. Even with all the recent contract wins, it doesn’t expect to have to build more than 30 distribution centers, so it should have enough capital for its current commitments. Management bandwidth is another story. Next year, Ocado will be juggling the Kroger contract, getting Aeon off the ground and overseeing the transition to M&S becoming its grocery supplier in the U.K. That’s a lot to do. And let’s not forget its other contracts with Casino Guichard-Perrachon SA in France, Sobeys Inc. in Canada and Coles Group in Australia.The Aeon contract will also require yet more developers to prepare the technology too. Ocado estimates it will need to take on an extra 400 people to get the job done.Investors shrugged off any such concerns on Friday, with the shares rising as much as 15%. But Ocado has a history of unexpected items in its bagging area, from not having enough capacity in its warehouses to a fire at one of its robotic fulfillment centers in the U.K. earlier this year. Over-filling its delivery box increases the risk of more unpleasant surprises.To contact the author of this story: Andrea Felsted at afelsted@bloomberg.netTo contact the editor responsible for this story: Melissa Pozsgay at mpozsgay@bloomberg.netThis column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners.Andrea Felsted is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering the consumer and retail industries. She previously worked at the Financial Times.For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com/opinion©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
- Reuters - UK Focus
UPDATE 2-UK shares tumble as Trump tariff tweet triggers trade fears
UK shares handed back gains to close lower on Monday as a combination of U.S. President Donald Trump setting off global trade worries and disappointing data from the world's biggest economy doused the morning's cheer. The FTSE 100 ended down 0.8% on its third session in the red, after rising by the same level earlier in the day, while the mid-cap FTSE 250 dipped 0.5%. Trump's surprise plans to restore tariffs on U.S. steel and aluminium imports from Brazil and Argentina dragged most other stocks in to the red.
- Reuters - UK Focus
UPDATE 2-European shares slide after strong November; trade jitters nag
European shares posted their biggest daily drop in two months on Monday, with most major markets including Germany and France slumping more than 2%, as a reimposition of U.S. metal tariffs on Brazil and Argentina triggered a decline in global sentiment. After an upbeat November, its third straight month of gains, the pan-European STOXX 600 index closed down 1.6%, erasing session gains after positive factory activity data from China and major euro zone economies had earlier taken it to near four-year peaks.
- Reuters - UK Focus
UPDATE 2-Ocado launches $642 mln bond issue to fund robotic warehouse deals
British online grocer and technology company Ocado has launched a 500 million pounds ($642 million) convertible bond offering, partly to fund the construction of robotic warehouses for its overseas partners, it said on Monday. While Ocado's retail business has only a 1.4% share of Britain's grocery market, its state-of-the-art technology has enabled it to win partnership deals with supermarket groups around the world, including Kroger in the United States, Casino in France and most recently Aeon in Japan. Ocado shares were, however, down 5.2% at 0836 GMT, as the bonds can be converted into shares.
- Reuters
Ocado launches £500 million bond issue to fund robotic warehouse deals
British online grocer and technology company Ocado has launched a 500 million pounds convertible bond offering, partly to fund the construction of robotic warehouses for its overseas partners, it said on Monday. While Ocado's retail business has only a 1.4% share of Britain's grocery market, its state-of-the-art technology has enabled it to win partnership deals with supermarket groups around the world, including Kroger in the United States, Casino in France and most recently Aeon in Japan. Ocado shares were, however, down 5.2% at 0836 GMT, as the bonds can be converted into shares.
- Reuters
Ocado launches $642 million bond issue to fund robotic warehouse deals
British online grocer and technology company Ocado has launched a 500 million pounds ($642 million) convertible bond offering, partly to fund the construction of robotic warehouses for its overseas partners, it said on Monday. While Ocado's retail business has only a 1.4% share of Britain's grocery market, its state-of-the-art technology has enabled it to win partnership deals with supermarket groups around the world, including Kroger in the United States, Casino in France and most recently Aeon in Japan. Ocado shares were, however, down 5.2% at 0836 GMT, as the bonds can be converted into shares.
- Reuters - UK Focus
Britain's Ocado launches $642 million bond offering
- Reuters - UK Focus
LIVE MARKETS-Closing snapshot: more like a red Friday
Welcome to the home for real-time coverage of European equity markets brought to you by Reuters stocks reporters and anchored today by Thyagaraju Adinarayan. It was a slow Black Friday for European bourses, with most ending the day in negative territory as investors lost the week's earlier optimism that China and the U.S. were close to inking their long-awaited 'phase 1' trade deal. A lot of the usual stuff this week: Loads of headlines about the trade war have driven main European bourses as the market sentiment dance to the tune of news surrounding US-China trade deal.
- Reuters - UK Focus
LIVE MARKETS-Solid performance but red flags
Welcome to the home for real-time coverage of European equity markets brought to you by Reuters stocks reporters and anchored today by Thyagaraju Adinarayan. A lot of the usual stuff this week: Loads of headlines about the trade war have driven main European bourses as the market sentiment dance to the tune of news surrounding US-China trade deal.
- Reuters - UK Focus
LIVE MARKETS-QE binge, QE hangover
Welcome to the home for real-time coverage of European equity markets brought to you by Reuters stocks reporters and anchored today by Thyagaraju Adinarayan. Reading into the latest ECB’s Financial Stability Review, William De Vijlder sees a few possible nasty side effects in a QE-negative interest rate binge. Well, "in case of a severe growth slowdown, this implies increased downside risk, which investors may seek to preempt by reducing positions in risky assets, thereby accelerating their decline".
- Bloomberg
Ocado to Build Robot Warehouses in Japan
(Bloomberg) -- Want the lowdown on European markets? In your inbox before the open, every day. Sign up here.Ocado Group Plc got one of its biggest contracts yet to set up robotic warehouses for online grocery sales with Japanese retailer Aeon Co., expanding the U.K. company’s reach into Asia.Ocado’s shares surged as much as 15% early Friday in London, the most in a year and a half on an intraday basis.The British company said it will develop a network of automated warehouses to facilitate home delivery to Japanese consumers, with expected sales capacity of around 1 trillion yen ($9.1 billion) by 2035. That would make the deal comparable in size to Ocado’s earlier agreement with Kroger Co. in the U.S., analysts at Morgan Stanley said in a note.The deal expands Ocado’s reach into Asia as it focuses on developing its technology operations after Marks & Spencer Group Plc bought a 50% stake in the company’s grocery business. Ocado also has licensing deals with Sobeys Inc. in Canada, Coles Group in Australia, Casino Guichard-Perrachon SA in France and others.While Japan’s population of 127 million is aging and has begun to decline, the Aeon deal lets Ocado tap the world’s third-largest economy, with a highly developed e-commerce infrastructure.After relying on readily available manpower for years, Japan’s retailers are starting to embrace technology and automation to alleviate a labor shortage fueled by a shrinking and aging population. Fast Retailing Co., Asia’s largest retailer and operator of Uniqlo clothing outlets, is spending 100 billion yen to automate its warehouses.Chiba, Japan-based Aeon operates more than 21,000 stores, including supermarkets, convenience stores, clothing chains and general merchandise retailers, across 14 countries. The company has been pushing into Vietnam and other places in Southeast Asia as the domestic market stagnates.Asian OpportunityWhile the Ocado agreement is focused on Japan, the U.K. company said it’s also casting its eye across the region.“Asia is an area of opportunity,” Chief Financial Officer Duncan Tatton-Brown said on a call. “There will come a day when entering China is sensible, but not yet.”The U.K. company said the deal will lift operating costs by 25 million pounds ($32 million) in the 2020 financial year.The latest agreement provides some reassurance to investors after a fire leveled one of Ocado’s warehouses in the U.K. in February. The shares have risen about 70% so far this year.(Updates with analyst comment in third paragraph)\--With assistance from Reed Stevenson and Paul Jarvis.To contact the reporters on this story: Thomas Mulier in Geneva at tmulier@bloomberg.net;Eric Pfanner in London at epfanner1@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Eric Pfanner at epfanner1@bloomberg.net, Thomas MulierFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
- Yahoo Finance UK
What to Watch: Ocado soars on Japan deal, bank woes and Npower cuts
A daily overview of the top business, market and economic stories you should be watching today in the UK and abroad.
- Reuters - UK Focus
LIVE MARKETS-November 2019: a RORO kinda month
Welcome to the home for real-time coverage of European equity markets brought to you by Reuters stocks reporters and anchored today by Thyagaraju Adinarayan. It's been a RORO (risk on/risk off) kinda month. The STOXX 600 was up during 11 sessions and down for 10 and moved almost exclusively on U.S.-China trade war news.
- Fool.co.uk
2 FTSE 100 stocks I’d buy for an early retirement
I'm betting on growth stocks like Ocado Group plc (LON:OCDO) to deliver excellent performance for my retirement portfolio.
- Reuters - UK Focus
UPDATE 2-European shares end week on dour note as trade woes linger
European shares ended the week with their worst day this month as a clutch of fairly upbeat economic data on Friday failed to assuage investor concerns about a setback in Sino-U.S. trade talks after China's rebuke over a U.S. law on Hong Kong. Trade-sensitive miners and auto parts makers shed more than 1% each on Friday, while export-laden Frankfurt shares dipped 0.1% even as unemployment in Germany - Europe's powerhouse - unexpectedly declined in November. European shares crawled toward a record high earlier this week on signs of progress in U.S.-China trade negotiations, but sentiment dulled on Thursday as a U.S. law backing pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong drew a warning of "firm counter measures" from Beijing.
- Reuters
Japan's Aeon signs up Ocado in online grocery bet
TOKYO/LONDON (Reuters) - Japan's biggest supermarket group, Aeon Co Ltd has hired British online grocery pioneer Ocado to develop its e-commerce business, hoping to fend off rivals such as Amazon as more customers buy groceries online. Ocado shares leapt as much as 15% in early Friday trading as investors welcomed the latest partnership for the British company, whose technology deals have become more important than its original business of selling food online. "Given that Japan must have plenty of rival automated robotic warehouse providers, this is quite a coup for the business," said independent retail analyst Nick Bubb.
- Reuters - UK Focus
UPDATE 2-UK shares fall after poll shows Conservative lead shrinks
London-listed shares most exposed to the domestic economy took a beating on Friday after a poll showed the Conservative Party's lead over the opposition Labour Party had narrowed ahead of Britain's Dec. 12 election. Prime Minister Boris Johnson's Conservatives now hold an 8 point lead over Labour, compared with 10 a week ago, according to a Panelbase poll.
- Reuters - UK Focus
UPDATE 1-Japan's Aeon signs up Ocado in online grocery bet
TOKYO/LONDON Nov 29 (Reuters) - Japan's biggest supermarket group, Aeon Co Ltd has hired British online grocery pioneer Ocado to develop its e-commerce business, hoping to fend off rivals such as Amazon as more customers buy groceries online. Ocado shares leapt as much as 15% in early Friday trading as investors welcomed the latest partnership for the British company, whose technology deals have become more important than its original business of selling food online.
- Reuters - UK Focus
LIVE MARKETS-Opening snapshot: Black Friday indeed
Welcome to the home for real-time coverage of European equity markets brought to you by Reuters stocks reporters and anchored today by Thyagaraju Adinarayan. The reason why we picked that theory is Ocado's 12% jump this morning. Ocado is boosted by it's tech partnership agreement with Japan's biggest supermarket operator Aeon Co and a gateway to Asia, one of the fastest growing markets for e-commerce.
- Reuters - UK Focus
LIVE MARKETS-Trade woes keep stocks under pressure; Ocado shines
Welcome to the home for real-time coverage of European equity markets brought to you by Reuters stocks reporters and anchored today by Thyagaraju Adinarayan. European stocks are seen falling 0.3% as the latest clash between Washington and Beijing over Hong Kong casts pall over trade truce between the world's top two economies. In the corporate world, Ocado is called up 5% by traders after the British online grocer signed an agreement with Japan's Aeon Co to help the supermarket operator expand in e-commerce.
