Ocado coy on M&S deal as losses widen

Ocado boss Tim Steiner on Tuesday kept his cards close to his chest on a mooted tie-up with rival Marks & Spencer as the online grocer sank further into the red.

Losses widened to £44.4 million from £9.8 million for the year ending December 2, despite revenues growing by 12.3% to £1.6 billion. This was mostly down to investment costs and an accounting charge, the company said.

M&S has reportedly been looking to buy some of Ocado’s distribution centres and delivery vans to beef up its online food offering, fuelling speculation Ocado might ditch its delivery deal with Waitrose when it expires in September next year.

Tim Steiner said it was his “business to talk to other retailers” but “would not comment on speculation”. He added Ocado has a good relationship with Waitrose but stopped short of saying whether the deal to sell its products would be renewed. “It may be Waitrose, it may not be Waitrose, we’ll have to wait and see.”

A string of international deals to supply Ocado’s tech and robots to other grocers have put a rocket under the share price, up from 492p a year ago to 990p on Tuesday.