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Yes, it's hard to underestimate the people's yearning for shopping for their same weekly 50 item shop in an indoor supermarket, (wearing a mask for the foreseeable). Lugging the same heavy items home. Then one week they change the aisles round so you have a treasure hunt to find your staple goods. Oh and of course entertaining the kids as you shop.

Taking all your items out of the trolley/basket in order to pay. Then reloading those same items into your bags and then loading into the car. Then taking the items into the home.

That yearning bypasses me. I do yearn for quality indoor/ outdoor time though - restaurants, pubs, cafes etc

The overall online grocery channel has expanded and now the possibilities of online are very much at the forefront of grocers minds. As more CFCs open around the world the possibilities and advantages of Ocado's solutions will be clearer to see.

There is huge future potential for online grocery. The market is still in its infancy. Ocado's technology is at the cutting edge of an exponentially expanding industry.

Of course online shopping recedes a little as society opens up. Restaurants/pubs being closed etc has helped drive online grocery sales. The opening of shops has been known for a long time and isn't new information. Now the market is speculating where online trends will go from here. Personally I believe the trends at Ocado retail and Ocado Solutions will remain strong, significantly stronger demand than pre pandemic. There will be tough comparables this year versus 2020 post February sales figures of course which will not be beaten for some time.

Many factors here. One big one is the seismic shift in working from home. Consumers have more time to easily accept in groceries and spend their leisure time as they wish, not wearing a mask for half an hour finding their same weekly goods in a supermarket.

Online grocery shopping isn't about waiting around inside. Predominantly it's booked in a 1 hr slot in which the consumer would have been home anyway.

Another lockdown in the UK I don't see as likely but newer variants continue to drive up global cases. Ocado Solutions has contracts in many countries. The pandemic globally is far from over yet.

Stock rotation occuring today. There will be waves of ups and downs as the world moves out of social restrictions. Fundamentally the adoption of online grocery has completely changed. It is now an accepted channel that all major grocers are diverting significant resources to.

As online grocery matures as a market customers will be looking for the best online experience. Ocado, with most accuracy, best customer service, least waste, best product range, stands out from the crowd.

That news from Kantar last week was completely as expected. Good news within that news release was the below. Ocado's shares went up last Tuesday when the Kantar details were released.

"UK supermarket sales climbed in a recent 12-week period, data from Kantar showed on Tuesday, with online grocer Ocado Group PLC again posting the chunkiest sales rise."

"Ocado's sales jumped 28% to GBP584 million, despite the number of online shoppers falling for the second month in a row."

Good point Karister,

The Ocado share price did though increase from 2134 at 14.30 to 2144 at 14.35. That article may have moved he market but I find it hard to believe the first the market knew of the info was in a weekly case roundup of a law website. The hedge funds and investment banks are very well connected with many information networks. I would think Thursdays case news reached them on that day.

I see what you mean chilting. Could be a fair amount of shorting going on under the 0.5% declaration radar. Ocados figure of stock on loan is fairly high but not overly so. Similar to JD Wetherspoons for example. Which I'd imagine doesn't attract much shorting.

Thx for sharing the info. Will look at it monthly going forward.

chilting,

Could you tell me where you accessed the info re the 7.74%? I knew of this sort of data but haven't known how to publicly access this data without paid subscription so far

Thanks

Since the recent annual results there have been 4 director buys, 1 sell.

This gives confidence in the current share price.

Very good morning to you too MrHold,

Agree with your comments. It can be a bumpy ride holding Ocado shares but if you can firmly understand the company and see where they are heading then it gives the ability to ride the waves.

Long term has been the winning strategy so far. This remains so I believe with an incredible management team strengthened recently by the experience of the new Chairman and CFO.

Maybe so. The fact though that there are record low short institutional positions over 0.5% shows that the hedge funds are not willing to go against Ocado in a big way. That in itself shows how Ocado has matured as an investment. See current institutional short positions on OCDO below:

https://shorttracker.co.uk/company/GB00B3MBS747/

Thanks chilting, appreciated.

Given that the news relates to the 29 April it is unlikely to have caused the dip on Friday. Also it is not an unexpected development.

Ocado's share price is based on a vision of the future of online grocery retailing. Some see capacity filled CFCs generating big revenues across the globe and Ocado's tech entering into new markets. Others see limited success and no new contracts.

Still a hold for me. At any moment this share can leap up as it has done in the past. I believe travel restrictions easing will bring more new contract developments.

Still record low institutional short positions against Ocado indicating that the professionals are very hesitant to bet against the share currently.

Disappointing to give up some recent gains on Friday however as MrHold outlines this does present opportunities. I have looked hard at Fridays news flow and the only article of significance is below:

https://www.law360.com/articles/1379689/uk-litigation-roundup-here-s-what-you-missed-in-london

It mentions a development this week in London regarding a legal case against Ocado. I cannot access the full article as I do not have a professional email address. Could anyone with a professional email address register for the free access and copy and paste the information that relates to Ocado back to this board?

If the information relates to something that occured before Friday then it is not significant as the price has been rising recently. If it relates to an occurrence on Friday then it is more interesting.

Ocado's green credentials are very strong.

No doubt there will be a new ill thought out/ unresearched criticism on a different topic coming soon...

Yes, so much achieved so far by Ocado and so much more to come. To deride the company because it doesn't pay a minute dividend or repeating issues over and over again around a single court case (which Ocado completely refute) is very blinkered and designed to put down Ocado at every turn.

Agreed chilting, M&S need Ocado far more than vice versa.

The merits of investing in M&S are best discussed on the LSE MKS board

Yes M&S is here and there is a board for those investors to discuss at length about the grievances over past performance etc.

The single legal case against Ocado in 3 jurisdictions has not held it back in expansion. In Nov 2020 Ocado acquired 2 robotics companies (Kindred systems and Haddington Dynamics). As a result of this they have now have several multi billion dollar clothing companies as clients.

Its up to M&S to ask Ocado Solutions for assistance in their new DC. In the meantime Ocado is currently servicing larger clothing customers - Gap and American Eagle for example..

M&S will be a topic of course from time to time. However currently we are getting bogged down with comparisons of the investment merits between Ocado and M&S. I'm sure if anyone fancies investing in M&S they will post on the LSE MKS board where they will be able to discuss everything in great detail and receive more response and clarity on the 6 year -65% share price performance MKS has delivered to its shareholders..

Excerpts from that article:

"UK supermarket sales climbed in a recent 12-week period, data from Kantar showed on Tuesday, with online grocer Ocado Group PLC again posting the chunkiest sales rise."

"Ocado's sales jumped 28% to GBP584 million, despite the number of online shoppers falling for the second month in a row."

"Ocado's market share improved to 1.8% from 1.5% a year earlier."