Autumn 2006

Grocery home delivery giant Ocado pushed turnover up 70 per cent in the year ending last November, reaching £170 million, it is reported. However, expansion appears to have taken its toll on costs, and the company's pre-tax losses for the year are put at £45 million.

The organisation is still in a steady growth phase, gradually adding extra delivery areas to its coverage. In addition to the South East, the Midlands and the North West, it now also includes the south coast. Its current web site, which no longer publishes news as such, includes the statistic that it can now reach 13.5 million households - all from its Hertfordshire base.

Ocado is the only mainstream grocery home delivery operator working from a single central location, and pioneered the use of demountable delivery van bodies that could be pre-loaded, trunked to distant areas on large lorries, then lifted on to small chassis for final delivery. It is understood that this concept has not been applied across the board, as was once expected by industry observers, although it remains a model for longer-distance deliveries.

Extensive promotion, including sponsorship of Channel 5's high-profile (and well-reviewed) Big Love drama series, has added to the company's costs, though arguably given it a major boost in market awareness.

Waitrose continues to work with the company and to provide product, although parent John Lewis's share in the business, once 40 per cent, is down to 29 per cent following recent refinancing measures. These are understood to have included a fresh injection of up to £60 million. There has been talk in financial circles of a possible market flotation next year.