Ocado sales up 22% ahead of planned IPO

Online grocery retailer Ocado has announced that full-year gross sales figures for 2009 rose 22% to £427.3m, boosting its plans for an IPO this year.

Although the figures still mean Ocado operated at a loss of £14.4m in 2009, the company’s earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation rose 321% to £9.2m from £500,000 in the 12 months preceding. The average number of weekly orders was up 26% year-on-year to 71,000 and peaked at 91,000 orders per week in November.

Ocado made several updates to its digital strategy in 2009, such as letting users shop offline through an iPhone app which it launched in June. The comapny reported that 4.4% of all Ocado orders were placed, or updated, using the application in Feruary 2010. Ocado also formed a partnership with book publisher Dorling Kindersley to sell cookery titles on the site.

The retailer plans a £1bn IPO later this year and has raised £350m from its existing investors, including retail chain John Lewis, which holds a 30% stake in the venture.

This story first appeared on newmediaage.co.uk