Ocado blaze cost it £4.8m

OCADO took a £4.8m hit on sales after a fire devastated its warehouse in Hampshire.

Revenues came in lower than expected, growing by 11.2pc to £404m in the 13 weeks to March 3.

More than 300 firefighters fought the blaze at Ocado’s robot-operated warehouse in Andover last month. The cause is still unknown but investors shrugged off the setback as shares hit a record high, rising 5.4pc, or 61.5p, to 1209p.

Chief executive Tim Steiner, 49, said: ‘Our teams have been working hard to minimise disruption to our customers and we will build a replacement that reflects the innovations and improvements we have made since Andover opened in 2016.’ But Sophie Lund-Yates, equity analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, warned Ocado still has a lot to do to prevent the fire affecting sales for the full year.

‘For now the pressure is on the shoulders of its centre at Erith, where capacity is being ramped up faster than expected to help offset Andover’s problems,’ she said. Average orders per week jumped by 11.3pc to 314,000 but customers spent slightly less per order, at £110.24 per basket compared with £110.45 a year earlier.

The figures come after Ocado struck a £1.5bn deal with M&S to provide the grocer with an online delivery service.