 reported a £1.5 million hit to profits on Tuesday, after ice and snow led to cancelled and delayed orders.){kind=link}
Online grocery retailer Ocado (LON:OCDO) reported a £1.5 million hit to profits on Tuesday, after ice and snow led to cancelled and delayed orders.
Three of its small delivery depots in Bristol, Oxford and Kent were cut off, causing the online group to take fewer orders over the period. The losses over the last quarter were equivalent to 1 percent of sales, over the quarter, with costs continuing to rise and excess food given to foodbanks.
Duncan Tatton-Brown, finance director of Ocado, said: “I’ve never seen weather like this in the time I’ve been at Ocado but despite that we delivered to 296,000 customers in pretty extreme conditions.”
Sales rose 11.7 percent to £363.4 million in the 13 weeks to 4 March, boosted by price inflation and further growth in the average number of orders per week, up 11.1 percent.
Shares in Ocado fell on the news, and are currently trading down 1.34 percent at 560.60 (1006GMT).