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Avocet is correct re the previous losses. Extract from Ocados recent half year report below:

"Group EBITDA of £17m is offset by depreciation & amortisation and exceptional items to give a loss before tax of £(289)m"

It's yourself who needs to read the H1 report Phoenixy...

Yes chilting, I believe that Ocado Solutions are currently actively looking for new partners. In all the results releases, interviews etc I have seen Ocado management when questioned on this issue are keen to point out they are actively looking for new contracts and are in discussion with potential new partners.

Tim Steiner has consistently spoken of the ability to sign up more partners quicker after the improvements in their latest technology.

Well said chilting. Luke Jensen has been a key mastermind in building Ocado into the company it is today. Great talent. The timing of his move suggests that there are no imminent new partner deals in the pipeline since he is the key negotiator for Ocado.

Yes Phoenixy, there will though have been many who have recently bought into Ocado disregarding Tim's statement, believing a takeover was on the cards.

I'd say this reduces the likelihood of an imminent takeover of Ocado group. Luke Jensen would have stayed to cash in his huge share options if he thought a takeover was occurring soon..

________________________

Ocado Group plc today announces that Luke Jensen has notified the Board of his intention to retire and will step down from the Board as Executive Director and CEO of Ocado Solutions with effect from 30 September 2023 to focus on external non-executive director positions. Luke has been CEO of Ocado Solutions since 2017 and a member of the Board since 2018.

During his time at Ocado, Luke has played an instrumental role in building the Ocado Solutions business globally. From signing the first international partnership with Bon Preu in 2017, to the most recent agreement with Lotte in Korea, Ocado Solutions is now partnered with twelve of the world's biggest and most exciting food retailers whose online businesses are powered by Ocado's technologies, delivering the best customer experience for grocery online with superior economics.

The Company further announces that John Martin, current Non-executive Director at Ocado will be appointed as CEO of Ocado Solutions on 1 September 2023, allowing a period of time for a thorough handover from Luke Jensen before he retires at the end of September 2023. On appointment into this role, John Martin will cease to be a member of the Board and will step down as Chair of the Audit Committee and as a member of the People Committee.

Tim Steiner, Chief Executive Officer of Ocado, said:

"Over the last six years, Luke has played a key role in our transformation into a global technology solutions business. He leaves our Solutions business in a strong position to drive future growth, having recently established a global regional structure, with the appointments of regional presidents and the creation of a global Partner Success organisation. We wish him well and thank him for his contribution to Ocado. Luke will be supporting the transition over the coming months."

Rick Haythornthwaite, Chairman of Ocado, said:

"I would like to thank Luke on behalf of the Board for his valuable contribution to the Company, the Board and Ocado Solutions. I am delighted that John Martin will step into this role to deepen further the support of our clients as well as help shape our strategic direction and performance culture. John has extensive strategic, operational and financial management experience of running large international businesses. The Board believes he is the right successor to Luke with the required credentials to build on a strong foundation."

Commenting on his decision to step down from the Ocado Board, Luke commented:

"I am proud and honoured to have played a part in the transformation of Ocado from a UK retail company to a global leader in technology solutions. With the roll-out of its latest innovations underway, Ocado is better placed than ever to support its partners to win in their mar

Mapper,

Ocado group EBITDA in the recent half yearly results was £17m (£820m your prediction). The current share price is half your predicted £15. In some years to come maybe your prediction will come true but not this year IMO.

The latest results were a big improvement for sure. I've posted previously acknowledging that. Impressive for example that Ocado retail average basket items are not reducing. Big issues both yourself and I did not predict are the heightened takeover hopes that account for a decent rise in the current share price. Also the £200m payment from Autostore. Huge inflow of funds at a critical juncture as Ocado faces heightened costs.

Hope it continues to be profitable for you. Currently I'm focussed on the profits I'm making elsewhere. Always interested in Ocado. Ocado is certainly a lot more attractive as an investment currently..

Casapinos, The latest results surprised me, they showed encouraging signs, a departure from the run of recent results til then. End of Autostore hostilities is another plus, £200m very useful funds for Ocado and the whole process vindicates Ocados strong repudiation of Autostores claims from the beginning.

I'm not invested in Ocado currently, am fully invested elsewhere, however I am always looking over Ocado.

Best to all

(Nedre Vats, 22 July 2023) - AutoStore Holdings Ltd (AutoStore, OSE:AUTO) and

Ocado Group (Ocado, LON:OCDO) announced today a complete settlement of all

claims between the companies in their global patent dispute, avoiding further

litigation and associated costs.

The principal terms of the agreement are:

? All patent litigation claims withdrawn globally

? Mutually beneficial global cross-licence of each other's pre 2020 patents

? Both companies can continue to use and market all their own existing

products without challenge

? Ocado retains exclusive rights to the Single Space Robot

? AutoStore will pay £200 million to Ocado in instalments over 2 years

Whilst the agreement gives both companies access to parts of each other's patent

portfolios for them to use or develop their own products, it does not provide

for collaboration or technology assistance between the companies or access to

actual products.

The other terms of the agreement remain confidential.

Tim Steiner, CEO of Ocado, said: "I am pleased we have been able to settle the

disputes in a constructive and collaborative manner. We can now each move

forward and concentrate on providing our partners with world beating

technology."

Mats Hovland Vikse, CEO of AutoStore, said: "We are glad to have achieved a

resolution that gives both companies opportunity and freedom to commercialize

our extensive patent portfolios. This settlement resolves our differences and

allows us to continue focusing on our respective business goals."

Will be another disappointing results release tomorrow imo. Further basket size shrinkage at Ocado retail. Lower market share. More losses

Re Ocado Solutions I expect costs to be higher than expectations. No new customer sign up news. Some delays in grocers building out their CFCs pushing potential profit point further into the future.

Morgan Stanley cuts Ocado price target to 430 (460) pence - 'underweight'

The Amazon takeover rumours have been circulated many times over the years. Personally I can't see it happening this time. Macroeconomic conditions still very much against Ocado. Driving up costs rapidly across the business. Consumers continually switching to cheaper lines. Grocers looking for cheaper solutions, concentrating on their core offering. Ocado retail lagging and losing further market share as I'm sure will be confirmed again in the next results..

Paultokyo29,

Well done on topping up at a great price this morning. I'm a holder. Saw the results this morning and thought they were impressive. Could have been that the market was expecting even better results hence the drop at the open. Anyway this company looks to be still thriving and growing. I'm very happy to keep holding..

Yes, good uplift in Ocado shares performance. The court win gives a stronger foundation for the stocks price. Tim Steiner's recent comments below were a very big positive. Before that there were grave doubts as to Kroger's expansionary aims with Ocado CFCs.

"They are committed to building more, they just want to make those (existing) ones work as well as they can before they roll out loads – very sensible thing to do," Steiner told reporters.

He said Kroger remained "extremely positive" about the relationship, noting he visited the firm last week and will again in two weeks' time.

"They expect to have loads of these warehouses. But when you do something new, you need to make it work really well before you scale it up massively," he added.

Mapper99,

For the FY2022 Ocado group made an EBITDA loss of £74m. You believe that in the FY2023 year Ocado group will make EBITDA profit of £820m?

That will not happen...

High degree of manipulation? The results were poor hence the fall in share price.. Blue finish lol...

The gap between current capacity and capacity being built out versus sales and forecast sales is huge. It has been a big miscalculation and Ocado are committed to building out these facilities and cannot uturn without large costs. Its a huge issue that will crimp Ocado retails profitability for a long time to come..

It's widely known that at Ocado retail "The gap between capacity and the actual level of sales at Ocado is enormous."

https://www.theguardian.com/business/nils-pratley-on-finance/2023/feb/28/the-long-term-seems-to-be-getting-longer-for-online-grocer-ocado

The cost of servicing, maintaining this excess capacity, which is in the wrong geographic areas is huge. Meanwhile in other areas of the country Ocado retail still has no presence...

Ocado retail can't afford to expand currently. They've overexpanded in the South of the UK creating excess capacity whilst leaving large areas of the UK without an Ocado presence, Scotland for example. The capacity has been built in the wrong places, creating ongoing cost. It will be a big drag on profitability for many months to come..

Another set of ordinary, underperforming results from Ocado retail. Revenue trailing inflation. Average basket size of items in a typical Ocado retail order falls again..

Ocado retail has cancelled plans to build any further CFCs. It has built overcapacity in areas of the country where it was already present. More underperformance to come from Ocado retail imo. Recently they have been swallowing some inflation costs at Ocado retail instead of passing them on to the customer. This drives up customer orders but eats into profitability...

UK trading conditions have been extremely poor however Ocado retail management have compounded these issues by poor management decisions. Choosing to go for huge expansion in currently served Ocado retail markets rather than expand into new ones in the UK has been a very costly decision. It has left Ocado with no presence in some large areas of the UK, Scotland for example. Currently there are no further funds to expand into those areas leaving Ocado to miss out on these lucrative markets.

It has also left Ocado retail with huge over capacity in its stronghold areas as basket sizes have dropped, orders have not risen to fill the new capacity. CFCs operating at below capacity, incurring large servicing, maintenance costs.

Next Tuesday will confirm further underperformance at Ocado retail leading the shares again lower...