Ocado Group, the British online supermarket and technology group, plunged to a worse than expected full-year loss as it took a big accounting charge and profits at its joint venture with Marks & Spencer were wiped out.
The group, whose shares have more than halved over the last year, today reported a loss before tax of £501m over the year to November 27, 2022.
That compared to analysts' average forecast for a loss of £399m and a loss of £176.9m the previous year.
Group revenue was broadly flat at £2.5 billion.
Ocado Retail, the 50:50 joint venture between Ocado Group and M&S, made a loss of £4m, having made earnings of £150.4m in the previous year.
Its revenue fell 3.8% as even its typically more affluent shoppers felt the squeeze from higher inflation and energy bills.
The group pretax loss also reflected a £349m charge for depreciation and amortisation.
Ocado's £5 billion market capitalisation has been driven by technology partnership deals with overseas food retailers, including Kroger in the US.
Despite the wider loss, CEO Tim Steiner said "we have more confidence in our model than ever before," highlighting the roll out of 12 automated warehouses for partners around the world in 2022.
"The pipeline for new partners is strong," he added.
At the core earnings, or EBITDA, level Ocado made a loss of £74m - also worse than analysts' average forecast for a loss of £66m and compared to earnings of £61m in the previous year.
For 2023, the group forecast "marginally positive" EBITDA for Ocado Retail, "positive" EBITDA for the technology solutions division and "stable" EBITDA in UK logistics.
The group ended the year with a cash balance of £1.3 billion.
"Our strong balance sheet gives us the means to finance our growth through the mid-term (4-6 years)," added Steiner.
Meanwhile, Ocado currently has a good supply of salad items, CEO Tim Steiner told reporters today.
Lidl GB yesterday followed market leader Tesco, Asda, Morrisons and Aldi in imposing customer purchase limits on tomatoes, cucumbers and peppers after supplies across the supermarket sector were hit by disrupted harvests in southern Europe and North Africa due to unseasonable weather.
