Online grocer Ocado has unveiled a 29% rise in sales in its latest financial year. Since the end of the year, it said, it had gone on to beat the snow by delivering to “record” numbers of customers in the run-up to Christmas.
In its full-year, to November 28, the company said it hit gross sales of £551.1m, up from £427.3m at the same time last year.
The figures were released as part of a fourth quarter trading update to the City, in which the grocer said gross sales lifted by 27.4% to £178.9m for the 16 weeks to November 28, compared to last year. Average weekly orders rose by 28% to 99,741 during the period, from 77,914.
Ocado brought investors up to date with a Christmas trading update, and said that during Christmas week sales rose by 43.5% to £12.3m, while in the four weeks to December 26, they were up by 26.7% to £50.9m.
Ocado chief executive Tim Steiner said: “We are delighted to see the continued growth in demand for Ocado. A record number of customers shopped with us in this period.” More than 98% of deliveries had been made successfully despite “extreme weather conditions,” he said, praising “heroic” staff efforts.
Commenting on the full-year figures, Andrew Bracey, chief financial officer at Ocado, said: “We are delighted that sales growth has continued at 29% for the whole year, in line with expectations at the time of the IPO.”
