Ocado raises full year profit forecast as it acquires two tech firms
Ocado has said trading within its joint venture with Marks & Spencer has remained strong throughout the fourth quarter of its current financial year.
As a result, it now expects full year EBITDA for the group to come in at over £60 million compared to the previously guided £40 million.
The online grocer said it has continued to experience high demand as more consumers choose to shop online during the coronavirus pandemic. Sales have been line with trends seen in the previous quarter.
Ocado has also announced that it is to acquire two US robotic companies. The company said it will purchase Kindred Systems and Haddington Dynamics for $262 million and $25 million respectively.
Tim Steiner, Ocado chief executive, said: “”We consider the opportunities for robotic manipulation solutions to be significant.
“Ocado has made meaningful progress in developing the machine learning, computer vision and engineering systems required for the robotic picking solutions that are currently in production at our customer fulfilment centre in Erith.
“Given the market opportunity we want to accelerate the development of our systems, including improving their speed, accuracy, product range and economics.”
