LONDON (dpa-AFX) - British online supermarket Ocado Group (OCDO.L) said that Ocado Retail Ltd, a joint venture between the company and Marks & Spencer Group plc (MAKSY.PK, MAKSF.PK, MKS.L), reported a 10.6 percent drop in third-quarter retail revenue mainly due to the fire at the Erith Customer Fulfilment Centre on July 16.
For the 13 weeks ended August 29, Ocado Retail's revenue was 517.5 million pounds, down from 578.8 million pounds last year. This is compared to a 54 percent rise in the same period a year ago. Total revenues for the quarter were 38 percent ahead of the pre-pandemic 2019.
Average orders per week during the period grew 1.4 percent to 338,000 from last year's 333,000.
Over the first 6 weeks of the quarter, the business was performing in line with expectations, with revenue marginally down at 1.8 percent.
In the 7 weeks of the quarter after the fire, and due to the disruption caused by the fire, revenue declined by 19 percent.
The company estimates that in the period it lost a total of around 300,000 orders, or around 35 million pounds of revenue, due to the temporary disruption.
Looking ahead, Ocado Retail expects to deliver strong revenue growth in fiscal 2022.
Melanie Smith, Ocado Retail's Chief Executive Officer, said, 'We're also excited that the go-live of new state-of-the-art robotic customer fulfilment centres at Andover and Purfleet will significantly increase our capacity to serve customers and experience Ocado's outstanding range, value and service. We are looking forward to another bumper Christmas and an exciting year of growth in 2022'.
In London, Ocado shares were trading at 1,788.50, down 5.14 percent.
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