If revenue is vanity and profit sanity, then backing Ocado — and its consistent pre-tax losses — requires an investor to take leave of their senses. Yet that’s not stopped the online grocer attaining a position in the FTSE 100.
The retail joint venture with Marks & Spencer is Ocado’s shiny shop front, proof of its model in full swing. That business did well out of lockdown, revenue grew by just over a third last year thanks to an rise in average basket size and active customer numbers, but the lifting of restrictions and greater competition for customers’ cash means that the exceptional level of demand has started to fall back. And that was even before a fire at its fulfilment centre in Erith, southeast
