Ocado has said that it is expecting its strongest ever Christmas period.
The group released results for the 13 weeks to 28 November, with £547.8m of revenues. This was down from £570.1m in the same period a year earlier.
“The investments we have made over the past year mean we have significant capacity for growth in 2022 and we will continue to invest in facilities, systems and people in the year ahead to deliver on our long-term growth potential,” said Melanie Smith, the chief executive officer.
“We are working hard to manage current industry challenges, and Ocado Retail has great momentum as we get ready for another record Christmas and further strong progress next year.”
The expectations of a strong Christmas sparked a rally in Ocado with shares rising over 8% in early trade on Tuesday.
There was also optimism around legal proceedings related to the technology powering their robotic warehouses.
“The market has taken a positive view of Ocado’s collection of news, despite some of it being negative,” said AJ Bell investment director Russ Mould.
“It’s a massive relief to the business that it won the first-round ruling in a patent fight with Autostore over technology linked to robot warehouses.”
“While the legal fight is still ongoing, the results so far mean investors can worry less about Ocado having to pay out money for patent infringement or having its reputation tarnished. However, Autostore is going to fight the ruling to the very end so there is still an underlying risk associated with the matter.