Ocado Retail Revenue Jumps 40% on Lockdown-Driven Demand

(Bloomberg) -- Ocado Group Plc’s retail revenue rose more than 40% in the second quarter as the U.K. online grocer’s sales were boosted by home shopping during the Covid-19 lockdown.

The company suspended financial guidance for the year, saying uncertainty around the pandemic made it impossible to predict near-term sales trends. The second-quarter’s gain was up from a 10% increase in the first quarter.

The shares rose as much as 3.9% early Tuesday in London and are up 34% so far this year.

Ocado has ramped up capacity in response to a lockdown-driven increase in business as shoppers are wary about venturing out of their homes to supermarkets. In the early days of the quarantine, the company struggled to meet demand, leading to longer wait times for delivery slots, while larger grocers like Tesco Plc were more easily able to scale up online.

One of the company’s customer fulfillment centers in London has increased capacity to 110,000 standard sized orders per week from 80,000 at the end of the first quarter, Ocado said.

©2020 Bloomberg L.P.