Ocado Pips Adyen to Take Crown of 2018's Best European Stock

(Bloomberg) -- Trading volumes slumped and a slew of stock markets were closed in Europe on the final day of 2018, but some excitement was provided by the race for the year’s top Stoxx 600 performer.

In the end, U.K. grocery delivery company Ocado Group Plc took the crown, with a 99 percent gain for the year putting it just ahead of a 98 percent advance by 2018’s IPO star Adyen NV.

Ocado has long been among 2018’s top stocks, but its share price surge cooled a little in the second half of the year on a dearth of new deals with international retailers to follow those which had lit up the first half. New agreements, like the one signed with U.S. retailer Kroger Co. which helped its stock rocket, will be the key aspect of Ocado news flow going forward, Morgan Stanley said in a note after this month’s fourth-quarter update.

Adyen surged on its first day of trading back in June and managed to consolidate those gains as the Dutch payments firm scored new customers like sports apparel giant Adidas AG and U.S. jewelry merchant Tiffany & Co.

To contact the reporter on this story: Sam Unsted in London at sunsted@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Beth Mellor at bmellor@bloomberg.net, Paul Jarvis

©2019 Bloomberg L.P.