Ocado moves into the black in final quarter

Online grocer Ocado posted a profit for the first time yesterday after it scraped into the black at the end of 2010.

The group, which was founded in April 2000 and has a delivery deal with supermarket Waitrose, made a pre-tax profit of 300,000 for its final quarter to 28 November, although it remained in the red for the full year.

In its first set of results since floating on the stock market last July, Ocado revealed pre-tax losses more than halved to 12.2 million, including 3.5m of flotation costs, from 25.5m a year earlier.

Annual sales rose 29 per cent to 551.1m and the group said it had maintained growth since the year-end, with sales so far up 25 per cent.

Chief executive Tim Steiner hailed a "landmark year" and said management delivered on the targets set out at the flotation.

"We have continued our focus on improving the customer offer, which has led to a record number of customers and sales with the achievement of profitability in the final quarter. Ocado's growth continues to outpace the market," he said.

The group plans to grow the business in 2011 by expanding its own-label offering.