£210m TURNAROUND

OCADO has raised eyebrows among shareholders, sacrificing profitability to throw money behind transforming itself in to a technology company.

Shares fell 2.6pc last night after its profits dived from £12m in 2016 to a £0.5m loss last year, despite sales rising 12.7pc.

It has also issued an extra 5pc of shares to raise money for its technology business which has won it recent deals with French supermarket Groupe Casino and Canada’s second-largest supermarket Sobeys. Ocado will build automated warehouses for the companies, which use grid-like systems for storing food and robots for picking and packing goods. It is now planning to invest £210m over the next year on developing its technology business so it can win more international deals.

But analysts questioned whether its overseas deals would actually have a positive impact on earnings.