Order numbers lift Ocado shares

The share price of FTSE 100 grocery delivery firm Ocado (LON:OCDO) climbed 1% to 1,209.50p (as of 13:15 GMT) after it reported a 10.8% improvement in retail revenues for the quarter ended 1st December. The size of orders remained stable while numbers increased as the firm added more M&S products to its range.

Ocado Retail’s CEO Melanie Smith commented: “I am pleased to report further progress in bringing the Ocado offer to an ever increasing number of customers in the U.K. Another strong quarter for customer orders means that we remain the fastest growing grocer in the country. The collaboration between M&S and Ocado Group is working well.

“We have made good progress preparing for switchover date in September 2020, when the M&S food range will be available online for the first time. We are also planning fresh capacity, to offer customers more availability, and have new customer fulfilment facilities in Bristol and Purfleet, and a rebuilt state of the art facility at Andover, on the way. As a team, we could not be more excited“.