Ocado expansion

OCADO will raise £575m from investors to fund the expansion of its empire of grocery delivery warehouses.

The retailer turned tech business said building more of its automated customer fulfilment centres ( CFCs), which pick, pack and deliver orders, is a ‘principal driver’ for its growth. Ocado has built 11 of the CFCs for grocers around the world, with a total of 58 in the pipeline – which it said could handle more than £ 20bn in total sales. Based on commitments so far, Ocado said it is on a path to achieve annual sales of more than £6.3bn with £750m in profits.