Online grocery retailer Ocado Group (LON:OCDO) reported a loss for the first half, after heavy reinvestment outweighed a rise in revenue over the period.

Pre-tax losses for the six months to 3rd June hit £9 million, a steep fall from the £7.7 million profit posted last year. This came despite a 12.1 percent rise in revenue to £799.9 million, and a retail revenue boost of 11.7 percent to £736.6 million.

The group attributed the profit loss to reinvestment in a technology platform for retailers, marking themselves out as the most innovative grocery delivery firm in the market.

“This is a transformational period for Ocado,” chief executive Tim Steiner said.

“We have developed unique and proprietary technology to offer retailers an end-to-end operating solution for grocery retail that enables them to meet the changing needs of consumers.

“In the past six months we have partnered with some of the world’s, biggest, best and most innovative retailers to help them redefine the shopping experience for their own customers. As a result, we are beginning to fulfil our ambition to change the way the world shops.

‘In order to fully capitalise on the opportunities ahead of us, we are working at pace, investing more and focussing sharply on execution to bring on new capacity in the UK and to achieve successful outcomes for our partners.

“We are confident that we have the ability to scale-up the business, deliver on our commitments and drive sustainability”, he concluded.

Ocado has had a strong year already, pushing into the FTSE 100 for the first time in June and signing a massive deal with US firm Kroger for its new technology.

Shares in Ocado are currently trading 2.62 percent down however, at 985.00 (0836GMT).