Ocado roller-coaster as rival makes robot claim

OCADO shares went on a rollercoaster ride yesterday as the online supermarket was accused of stealing robot technology from a Norwegian company.

The shares had been in positive territory until around midday, when Autostore launched a scathing public attack. The business revealed a lawsuit against Ocado in the UK and US, which alleges that its technology is actually the foundation of the British firm’s famous robot warehouses.

The robots at the heart of the dispute have revolutionised the grocery industry, as they allow supermarkets to collate online orders without paying costly staff to manually pick items off shelves.

Autostore’s lawsuit seeks financial damages from Ocado.

Karl Johan Lier, Autostore’s president and chief executive, said: ‘Our ownership of the technology at the heart of Ocado’s warehousing system is clear.

‘We will not tolerate Ocado’s continued infringement of our intellectual property rights in its effort to boost its growth and attempt to transform itself into a global technology company.’

But Ocado hit back less than two hours later, turning the tables on Autostore. The company said its Ocado Smart Platform technology was protected by patents and it was now investigating whether AutoStore has, or intends to, infringe them.

‘We will always vigorously protect our intellectual property,’ the firm added.

The robot rumpus sent the firm’s shares into a frenzy, falling as much as 6.5pc before closing down just 1pc, or 26p, at 2718p.

It was a better day for medical equipment giant Smith & Nephew, which was on the rise after revealing that declines in its quarterly revenues had been arrested.

The firm’s shares closed up 2.1pc, or 31.14p, at 1536.5p after it said third quarter underlying revenues were expected to be down by 4pc compared to a year ago in a trading update.

That would normally sound like bad news, but S&N said it represented a ‘significant recovery’ across its businesses compared to the yearly decline of 29.3pc in the second quarter.

The firm, which makes hip and knee replacements, has been hurt by mass cancellations of elective surgeries during the pandemic, as hospitals have scrambled to free up capacity.

But it said its orthopaedics division had bounced back as ‘global levels of elective surgery continued to recover’.

However, analysts at Shore Capital warned there was still ‘a lot of uncertainty’ surrounding the company because of the pandemic.

‘Any second wave of the virus in the winter would likely stunt growth in elective procedures,’ they told clients. Meanwhile, the FTSE 100 was little changed when the closing bell rang. The blue chip index edged up by just 0.23pc, or 13.35 points, to 5879.45 during the day, as the growing Brexit ding-dong between London and Brussels spooked traders.

Oil giant Shell was among the biggest fallers, dipping 3.5pc, or 32.9p, to 907.3p, with rival BP sagging 3.1pc, or 7p, to 218.2p.

At the same time, the FTSE 250 index of medium-sized firms made only modest gains, rising 0.39pc, or 68.16 points, to 17,383.46.

Shares in retirement homes builder McCarthy & Stone rose 6.3pc, or 4.4p, to 74.2p after the firm announced a partnership with a not-for-profit organisation.

The agreement with Anchor Hanover, which provides specialist housing and care services to the elderly, will see the pair team up to develop ‘ affordable living communities for all’ in England.

They are initially planning 482 units across five sites already owned by McCarthy, worth about £125m.