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(Alliance News) - Ocado Group PLC on Tuesday said it narrowed its annual loss, aided by a 33% jump in revenue and a GBP104.6 million gain from exceptional items.
Shares in the FTSE 100-listed online grocer were trading 3.2% lower at 2,658.00 pence each on Tuesday morning in London. It was the worst-performing large cap stock.
The company offered a cautious outlook for the current financial year and earmarked GBP700 million in total capital expenditure.
For its financial year ended November 29, 2020, Ocado's annual revenue jumped by a third to GBP2.33 billion from GBPGBP1.76 billion, helped by virus-boosted demand for online grocery purchases. This was slightly short of the GBP2.35 billion expected by the market, according to the company-compiled consensus.
The company's statutory pretax loss narrowed to GBP44.0 million from GBP214.5 million as it benefited from a GBP104.6 million gain from exceptional items, swung from a GBP94.1 million hit in financial 2019. The boost from exceptional items this year came from insurance proceeds from a fire at its Andover, England customer fulfilment centre.
Before exceptional items, Ocado's pretax loss widened to GBP148.6 million from GBP120.4 million. According to the company-compiled consensus, the figure was expected to be unchanged.
By division, Retail revenue climbed 35% to GBP2.19 billion and earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization soared almost four-fold to GBP148.5 million.
UK Solutions & Logistics revenue rose 14% to GBP654.3 million and Ebitda fell 38% to GBP44.4 million.
International Solutions revenue soared to GBP16.6 million from GBP500,000 but Ebitda loss was GBP83.3 million, stretched from a GBP54.9 million loss the year prior.
No dividend was declared, unchanged year-on-year.
Looking ahead, Ocado said annual revenue growth is "highly dependent on length of Covid-19 restrictions". It also has planned around GBP700 million in total capital expenditure.
"The rapid acceleration of many pre-existing trends in business and society has been a feature of the Covid-19 crisis and the dramatic channel shift in grocery is a clear example of this. The landscape for food retailing is changing, for good. As we look ahead to a post-vaccine world and a return to a new normality, Ocado Group is very well-placed to enable our grocery partners worldwide to bring the best customer experience to market, responsibly, with high levels of hygiene and superior, sustainable, and proven economics," Chief Executive Tim Steiner added.
As at November 29, 2020, Ocado had cash of GBP1.71 billion, up from GBP640.6 million on December 1, 2019.
By Ife Taiwo; ifetaiwo@alliancenews.com
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