RNS ?12 Jun 2017 11:46
Ocado Group PLC on Monday said pretax profit in the 22 weeks to the end of April soared by 46% after reporting strong growth in sales and revenue, with most of its key performance indicators heading in the right direction.
Ocado shares were down 2.4% on Monday at 282.90 pence.
The online grocery retailer released the figures as it said it is launching a potential offering of senior secured notes that would be issued with customary high-yield terms, while also extending its revolving credit facility. Ocado said it had published the financial update for the 22 weeks to the end of April to support its debt offering.
"These financing transactions are intended to extend the maturity profile of Ocado's debt and diversify its sources of funding. The board believes that with its continued strong trading, increased scale and profitability, Ocado can benefit from the historically low financing costs in the public debt markets to put in place longer maturity financing on attractive terms," said Ocado.
"The proceeds of the offering will support the continued growth of our UK retail capacity, and further improvements to our proprietary platform," Ocado added.
Ocado said its GBP210 million revolving credit facility was drawn down by GBP87.5 million at the end of April and is due at the start of July 2019. This is to be paid off in full using the proceeds of the offering.
The details of the offering were not disclosed early Monday.
Ocado reported a 25% lift in sales to push revenue up by the same amount to GBP600.4 million from GBP481.7 million the year before, leading to a 21% lift to earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation to GBP37.6 million from GBP31.2 million.
Pretax profit for the 22-week period amounted to GBP6.7 million, rising by an impressive 46% from GBP4.6 million the year before.
Cash at the end of April stood at GBP41.9 million, down from GBP61.5 million a year earlier, while external net debt soared to GBP98.7 million from GBP5.8 million.
Ocado said average orders per week in the period rose by 16% year-on-year to 258,000 from 222,000, but said the average value of each order fell by 1.6% to GBP108.81 from GBP110.60.
Ocado's customer fulfilment efficiency improved 3.8% year-on-year to 164 units per hour from 158 units per hour, while average deliveries per van increased 2.9% to 178 from 173. The average number of operational staff on a full-time equivalent was over 13% higher at the end of April at 10,324 from 9,131.
Product waste was slightly better in the period, at 0.7% versus 0.8%.
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