This Announcement contains Inside
Information
OCADO GROUP
PLC
Interim results for the 26 weeks ended 2 June
2024
16
July 2024
Continuing financial, operational and
strategic progress;
raising guidance for underlying cash flows and
Technology Solutions EBITDA
Financial progress
●
Group revenue
£1.5bn, +12.6%: Technology
Solutions +22%, Ocado Logistics +6%, Ocado Retail +11%
●
Group adjusted
EBITDA*1 of £71.2m, up £54.6m from
£16.6m: Technology Solutions
EBITDA of £35.0m, up £29.1m; Ocado Logistics at £17.2m, up £2.6m;
Ocado Retail at £20.7m, up £23.2m; inter-segment eliminations at
£(1.7)m, down £0.3m
●
Reported loss
before tax £(154)m (1H23: £(290)m): after net
adjusting items* of £7.3m (1H23: £(77.2)m)
●
Underlying cash
outflow*2 of £(197)m: £101m improvement vs.
1H23, driven by higher revenues,
increasing EBITDA margins, lower capex and good cost control;
continuing a sequential improvement in the Group's cash flow.
Liquidity remains strong at £1,047m (1H23: £1,309m)
●
Improving
mid-term cash trajectory:
underlying cash outflows in FY24 now expected to be around
£150m lower (improvement) vs. FY23. Clear roadmap for Group to turn
cash flow positive during FY26.
●
Cost &
capital discipline across the Group: commitment
to progressively reduce total technology & support annual spend
towards our mid-term goals; clear and focussed targets for
technology cost reductions as Re:Imagined innovations approach
market-readiness and roll out to our partners
●
Raising FY24
EBITDA* & cash flow guidance: Underlying cash flow* expected to improve by
£150m (previously £100m); Technology Solutions to achieve a
mid-teens EBITDA margin (>10% previously)
Operational and strategic progress
●
Technology
Solutions: +11% growth in average live
modules3 vs. 1H23 (up from 101 to 112) reflecting the
incremental drawdown of capacity at certain CFCs and the
annualisation of three new CFCs in FY23; we expect the CFCs in
Madrid, Sydney and Melbourne to go-live in 2H24
●
Partner
Success: supporting our partners' long-term
growth and profitability remains a top priority; specialist
resources embedded in our local account teams, supported by a
dedicated central function.
●
Re:Imagined
technology rollout: On Grid Robotic Pick
("OGRP") and Automated Frameload ("AFL") installations progressing
well; next-generation robots and grid on track to be deployed with
McKesson in Canada
●
Ocado
Logistics: continuing to drive leading levels
of productivity and efficiency for our UK partners
●
Ocado
Retail: 'Perfect Execution' Programme has
driven a market-leading trading performance, +11% growth in sales;
on track for FY24 guidance of 2.5% adjusted EBITDA margin* (excl.
Hatfield fees)
Tim
Steiner, Chief Executive Officer of Ocado Group,
said:
"Today's results illustrate good progress as we support
thirteen of the world's leading grocers to grow their online
business with our technology. We have come through an
unprecedented period for online grocery, with multiple years
of high food inflation following a surge in demand during the
pandemic. The global channel shift to online has now resumed and
Ocado is uniquely well-positioned to take advantage of the
opportunity.
Our technology is delivering high levels of productivity and
customer satisfaction. In the UK, Ocado Retail continues to lead
the way in online grocery, and internationally we have received
orders for new capacity, with a number of our partners reporting
strong digital sales growth year-on-year.
The success of our partners is our top priority, and we are
focused on helping them execute their online strategies to deliver
attractive returns from their investment in our technology. While
there remains more to do, we look forward to making continued
progress over the rest of the financial year and beyond, as we
build a profitable, cash-generating, technology
business".
Ocado Group 1H24 Summary Income
Statement
£m
|
1H24
|
1H23
|
£m change
|
% change
|
Revenue4
|
|
|
|
|
Technology Solutions
|
241.4
|
198.2
|
43.2
|
21.8%
|
Ocado Logistics
|
354.0
|
335.2
|
18.8
|
5.6%
|
Ocado Retail
|
1,312.0
|
1,178.5
|
133.5
|
11.3%
|
Inter-segment eliminations
|
(364.3)
|
(341.2)
|
(23.1)
|
(6.8)%
|
Group
|
1,543.1
|
1,370.7
|
172.4
|
12.6%
|
Adjusted EBITDA*1
|
|
|
|
|
Technology Solutions
|
35.0
|
5.9
|
29.1
|
493%
|
Ocado Logistics
|
17.2
|
14.6
|
2.6
|
17.8%
|
Ocado Retail
|
20.7
|
(2.5)
|
23.2
|
n/a
|
Inter-segment eliminations
|
(1.7)
|
(1.4)
|
(0.3)
|
21.4%
|
Group
|
71.2
|
16.6
|
54.6
|
329%
|
Depreciation, amortisation &
impairment
|
(210.3)
|
(192.5)
|
(17.8)
|
9.3%
|
Net finance costs
|
(33.0)
|
(27.4)
|
(5.6)
|
20.4%
|
Other finance
gains/(losses)
|
10.9
|
(9.0)
|
19.9
|
n/a
|
Adjusting
items*5
|
7.3
|
(77.2)
|
84.5
|
n/a
|
Group loss before tax
|
(153.9)
|
(289.5)
|
135.6
|
46.8%
|
* These measures are alternative
performance measures. Please refer to Note 16 of the Condensed
Consolidated Financial Statements
Notes:
1. Adjusted EBITDA* is defined as
earnings before net finance cost, taxation, depreciation,
amortisation, impairment and adjusting items*.
2. Underlying cash flow* is the
movement in cash and cash equivalents excluding the impact of
adjusting items*, proceeds from the disposal of assets held for
sale, cash received in respect of contingent consideration, costs
of financing, purchase of/investment in unlisted equity investments
and FX movements.
3. Average live modules measures the
weighted average number of modules of capacity installed and ready
for use by OSP clients during the year, which drives Technology
Solutions recurring revenue.
4. Revenue is a. Retail - online
sales (net of returns) including delivery charges to the customer
b. Technology Solutions - the fees charged to Solutions partners
and OIA clients and c. Logistics - the recharge of costs and
associated fees from Ocado Logistics to our UK clients. Recharges
from Technology Solutions and from Ocado Logistics to Ocado Retail
are eliminated on consolidation.
5. Adjusting items* of £7.3m income
(1H23: £77.2m expense) comprise largely 1. the unwind of the
discount in relation to the settlement reached with AutoStore to
settle IP patent legal cases of £6.9m, 2. profit on the disposal of
Dagenham and Coventry spoke sites of £12.4m, and 3. finance, IT and
HR systems transformation costs of £8.2m.
6. Direct operating costs as a % of
live sales capacity reflect the P6 exit rate position for all OSP
CFCs live at the period end. Direct operating costs include
engineering, cloud and other technology direct costs.
7. Mid-term support cost target of
£130m subject to inflation from FY21 - estimated to be c.£150m
including inflation impact.
8. DP8 represents the customer
deliveries per standardised eight-hour shift for Ocado Retail
only.
9. NIQ Total Till and NIQ Homescan
from Nielsen Consumer LLC.
10. Active customers are classified
as active if they have shopped at Ocado.com within the previous 12
weeks.
1H24 Operational and Strategic Review
The commentary is predominantly on a
pre-adjusting items* basis to aid understanding of the performance
of the business.
Technology Solutions
Strong revenue growth and profit
flow-through
Our Technology Solutions business continues to
show strong financial progress, with 1H24 revenue growth of 21.8%.
The growth principally reflects the annualisation of CFC openings,
in addition to the drawdown of incremental capacity at our
partners' existing CFCs. Average live modules increased by 11% to
112 for the half, with the division's revenue growth augmented by a
greater mix of newer OSP modules and an inflation
indexation.
The Luton CFC, Ocado Retail's newest CFC, has
rapidly scaled its operations to c.55k orders per week since its
go-live in September 2023, relative to a planned design capacity of
c.65k orders per week. The Luton CFC also has some of our latest
innovations installed, including its first phase of On-Grid Robotic
Pick ("OGRP"), enabling around a quarter of eaches to be picked
robotically. At target, we expect c.70% SKUs to be picked
robotically, with the combination of OGRP and Automated Frameload
("AFL") ultimately able to reduce labour costs by well over 100bps,
driving the total labour productivity of CFCs to above 300 units
per labour hour ("UPH"). At the end of the half, we had 26 live
sites, comprising 22 CFCs and 4 Zooms, with a total of 112 live
modules.
We expect the Alcampo CFC in Madrid and the
Coles CFCs in Sydney and Melbourne to go live during the second
half. As a consequence, we continue to expect a minimum of 120
modules to be live across our partners by the end of FY24.
Subsequent to the period end, AEON also confirmed an order for a
large CFC in Kuki-Miyashiro, the Saitama prefecture of Japan; which
we expect to commence operations in late 2027.
We continue to drive operating efficiencies. Our
direct operating costs6 at OSP CFCs improved by 20bps to
1.56% of sales capacity and we expect to benefit from further,
progressive improvements in the coming years. The improved
efficiency and strong revenue conversion led to adjusted EBITDA* of
£35.0m (1H23: £5.9m) for our Technology Solutions business,
representing a margin of 15%.
Following a strong 1H24 performance, we retain
our FY24 guidance for 15% to 20% revenue growth but raise our FY24
margin guidance to a mid-teens percentage; previous guidance:
'greater than 10%'.
OSP
Partner Success: a key focus for the group
Ocado has 13 OSP partners worldwide, and 22 CFCs
live. By the end of FY24 Ocado expects to have 25 live CFCs.
Ocado's technology is operating well across all sites and live
partners are reporting high levels of customer satisfaction. CFCs
scale to maturity and profitability over varying time frames,
depending on a range of factors including size, geography, and
commercial strategy. On average our partners' international CFCs
have been open for a period of just over 2 years, so in the main
they are in the earlier stage of their ramp.
The pandemic, closely followed by a sustained,
generational high in global food inflation disrupted the channel
shift to online grocery in many mature grocery markets, leading to
slower cumulative sales growth than originally projected. Against
this backdrop, Ocado is working with a number of partners to ensure
their growth targets reflect a changed market environment. In some
cases, a decision was made to pause new site openings to focus on
growing into existing capacity.
A recent example is Sobeys in Vancouver, where a
joint decision was taken to extend the timeline to opening that
site to concentrate on scaling operations at their existing three
CFCs. As announced in November 2022, a similar decision was taken
with Ocado Retail in the UK to pause the opening of new sites in
order to grow efficiently into existing capacity. As reflected in
today's results, that business is showing good growth in customer
volumes and strong progress in adjusted EBITDA*.
Looking to the second half of 2024, lower levels
of grocery inflation and more normalised volume trends are likely
to continue. Many OSP partners and their competitors are also now
seeing strong rates of growth for online, both in absolute terms
and relative to in-store growth.
With the majority of international partners now
live, the primary focus of Ocado's account teams has shifted to
supporting them to further increase efficiency as they scale, and
helping them to take advantage of the new growth 'levers' available
to them in the online channel with OSP. This work accelerated with
the appointment of John Martin as CEO of Ocado Solutions in
September 2023. Our partner success programme is a core focus for
us and progressing well, delivering a positive impact on both
operational performance and customer growth.
There remains work to do as OSP partners move up
the maturity curve with CFCs. To accelerate this, Ocado Solutions
completed a reorganisation in 1H24, strengthening our partner
success programme, implementing an enhanced account-based structure
with more specialist resources embedded in local account teams.
Ocado continues to scale this resource in order to support partners
in this critical area.
A
focus on cost and capital discipline
Support costs were £90.0m in the half (1H23:
£88.5m) and included £2.5m of costs from the annualisation of the 6
River Systems acquisition and £4.1m of investment in our Partner
Success and OIA teams, partly offset by cost reduction initiatives
of £5.0m. We expect further progress in cost reductions, continuing
towards our FY26 target of annual spend of £150m7, with
around £180m of support costs in FY24.
Total technology spend was £145m in the half
(1H23: £149m) comprising capital expenditure of £98m (1H23: £103m)
and technology costs of £47m (1H23: £46m); with the benefit to
total spend from a lower headcount partially offset by inflation.
The technology costs principally relate to non-capitalised research
projects and maintaining the Ocado Smart Platform through ongoing
partner support, with the latter typically representing one-third
of the overall cash spend on technology. The largest element of the
capital expenditure relates to our investments in CFC technologies
and the delivery of the Ocado Re:Imagined suite. Ocado Re:Imagined
is a series of technology innovations, both hardware and software,
designed to drive efficiency and performance. Some of our
Re:Imagined technologies have already been deployed, with OGRP live
at the Purfleet and Luton CFCs and AFL live at the Purfleet and
Stockholm CFCs.
As the development phase of our Re:Imagined
innovations approaches its completion and we begin to deploy the
benefits to our partners, we expect our total technology spend to
reduce. As a consequence, we expect to progressively lower our
total technology spend to £240m by FY26, from around £290m in
FY24.
Ocado Intelligent Automation: building interest with McKesson
on track
OIA brings Ocado's unique and proprietary
technology to clients outside of the grocery sector. It operates a
capital-light "MHE sell" (rather than "MHE licence") model ensuring
our cash flows are neutral/positive throughout the project
life.
In November 2023, OIA announced its first deal
to provide fulfilment technology to McKesson in Canada, with the
CFC on schedule to go live in FY25 using the latest 600 series
robot and a prefabricated grid from Ocado's Re:Imagined
technologies. The deal will be cash-neutral throughout the
development phase and is expected to be cash and adjusted EBITDA*
positive in FY25 when installation is due to be complete. OIA
continues to progress well, building a pipeline of potential
clients via its marketing and non-solicited interest.
Outlook for Technology Solutions
●
15% to 20% Technology Solutions revenue growth for
FY24
●
Mid-teens percentage adjusted EBITDA margin* for FY24
(previously 'greater than 10%')
●
Three further CFCs are expected to go live internationally
during FY24: two CFCs for Coles in Melbourne and Sydney, and one
for Alcampo in Madrid
●
A minimum of 120 modules are expected to be live across our
partners by the end of FY24
●
Lower total technology spend of £240m by FY26, with around
£290m in FY24; progressive cost reductions as Re:imagined
automation is delivered
●
Progressively lower support costs of
£150m7by FY26, with around £180m in
FY24
●
We continue to target further OSP deals and remain in several
'live' discussions
●
Ocado Intelligent Automation continues to market its ASRS
proposition; ongoing discussions with several possible partners are
encouraging for new orders to be delivered in FY24
Ocado Logistics
Our third-party logistics ("3PL") operation,
that services Ocado Retail and Morrisons in the UK, continues to
perform well and remains an excellent example of a highly efficient
3PL distribution model.
In the first half of FY24, Ocado Logistics
increased its total number of eaches picked by 9.4% and its orders
delivered by 7.8%. CFC productivity (OSP units picked per labour
hour or "UPH" of 221 vs. 206) primarily benefited from greater
volume utilisation, whilst our delivery efficiency
("DP8"8 of 21.0 vs. 21.4) was impacted by longer stem
times as a result of the Hatfield CFC closure and an investment in
both time on the doorstep and the training of newly hired Customer
Service Team Members.
As a result of the improved CFC efficiency and
lower utility costs, together offsetting the impact of higher
delivery costs, cost recharges increased at a slower rate than both
eaches and orders; leading to cost-plus fee growth closer to 6%.
Nonetheless, Ocado Logistics reaffirmed its credentials as a
consistent generator of adjusted EBITDA*, delivering a 1H24
adjusted EBITDA* of £17m (1H23: £15m).
Outlook for Ocado Logistics
●
Continued improvement in productivity for our UK
partners
●
Volume growth expected to be high single-digit
●
Stable revenue: high single-digit % volume growth offset by a
reduction in costs recharged to customers due to efficiency
improvements
●
Stable adjusted EBITDA* at around £30m
Ocado Retail
The
UK's fastest growing food retailer9
Ocado Retail revenue grew by 11.3% in 1H24
driven by growth in average orders per week of +9.2% to 428k, with
growth in eaches of 9.5%. This delivered adjusted EBITDA* of £20.7m
in 1H24 (1H23 £(2.5)m) with the business on track to deliver
guidance of a FY24 adjusted EBITDA margin* of 2.5%, excluding
Hatfield fees of circa £33m per annum.
Ocado Retail's continued focus on its three core
strategic pillars of unbeatable choice, unrivalled service and
reassuringly good value, resulted in its share of the UK online
grocery market increasing by 90bps to 12.3%9, with
online penetration at 12.4% of the UK grocery market.
Ocado Retail is seeing continued momentum with
the total active customer10 base increasing by +8.1% to
1,037k, and the growth in the mature customer base (those customers
who have shopped 5 or more times on Ocado.com) was stronger, up
+9.7% year on year.
The average basket value increased by +1.8% to
£123. ASP inflation of 1.5% was well below UK grocery inflation of
4.4%9 as the business continued to invest in price,
lowering prices on more than 2,800 products and continuing to
deliver the 'Ocado Price Promise', matching baskets to Tesco.com on
over 10,000 items. Taken together, these measures led to material
improvements year on year in customer value perceptions.
The strong performance reflects the progress the
business has made on delivering its Perfect Execution strategy -
with its NPS further extending its lead in the market.
Customers are being offered more choice, with
over 1,800 new M&S products launched. New products also
continued to be introduced to our competitively priced Ocado Own
Range including Orange Juice, Sourdough, Burgers and Crumpets. The
business launched a Buy British aisle with over 800 products from
British farmers and growers and also a Makers Market range
supporting challenger brands.
Perfect orders (on time and in full, with no
substitutions) increased by around nine percentage points year on
year ahead of pre-Covid levels, now with 99% of items delivered as
promised, and product availability improving significantly year on
year as the business realised the benefits of rolling out its new
OSP forecasting engine.
Gross profit grew by 13.4% to £442m, which was
higher than revenue growth (+11.3%) driven by increased volumes
alongside improved promotional effectiveness and reductions in
waste. Both CFC and utilities costs fell in absolute terms,
reflecting the increasing productivity and operational leverage
within the CFCs and the closure of Hatfield CFC.
Conversely, service delivery costs increased
ahead of order growth, reflecting inflation and network
reorganisation as we closed Hatfield. In aggregate, our fulfilment
and delivery costs increased by 3.8% to £(247)m.
Marketing costs were broadly flat at £(20)m,
representing 1.6% of revenue (vs. 1.7%) as the business continued
to drive efficiencies and marketing channel
optimisation.
Fees paid to Ocado Technology Solutions and
Ocado Logistics increased to £(101)m, reflecting the index-linked
nature of the OSP fees and the annualisation of the Luton CFC
opening in 2H23. The total fees in the half year period include an
amount of £(17)m relating to our oldest CFC in Hatfield which was
closed in 2H23, with its order volumes facilitating the rapid ramp
of our Luton CFC.
The increasing productivity and operational
leverage within the CFCs was the primary driver of a strong
revenue-to-EBITDA conversion, with adjusted EBITDA* of £20.7m for
the first half (1H23 £(2.5)m) with adjusted EBITDA margin* rising
by almost 2ppts to 1.6%. Excluding the Hatfield fees of £(17)m
incurred in the half year period, Ocado Retail delivered an
adjusted EBITDA margin* of 2.8%.
A
clear pathway to sustained growth and a high mid-single-digit
adjusted EBITDA margin* (excluding the impact of Hatfield
fees)
With the closure of our oldest CFC in Hatfield
and rapid ramp at our latest robotic CFC in Luton, Ocado Retail was
(at the HY end) using c.80% of our available network capacity. We
expect ORL to continue increasing utilisation of its available
capacity during FY24.
Our latest generation CFCs are consistently
achieving total labour productivity of well over 200 UPH compared
to UPH of around 150 for our first-generation CFC in Hatfield. The
newest sites also have much lower energy usage with Luton consuming
approximately one-third of the electricity of Hatfield. With the
benefit of Ocado Re:Imagined, Ocado will continue to drive
improvements in UPH (to ultimately exceed the target of >300
UPH) and to improve our customers' experience, including an
increased capacity for same-day deliveries.
Luton CFC is our fastest-ever ramping CFC.
Having reached c.40,000 orders per week within the first four weeks
of going live in September 2023, the facility is now operating at
close to its design capacity of 65,000 orders per week. Over the
last two weeks, the Luton CFC achieved a total labour productivity
of c.250 UPH, which we expect to increase to over 300 UPH in the
coming years, with the benefit of the OGRP and AFL technologies
bringing down labour costs considerably.
Based on the strength of Ocado Retail's customer
proposition, its improving profitability and its growing efficiency
as our innovations continue to reduce cost, we see a clear pathway
to sustained growth and a high mid-single-digit adjusted EBITDA
margin* as the business continues to scale.
Outlook for Ocado Retail
●
We have confidence the business will continue its encouraging
momentum across FY24, growing sales volumes ahead of the market and
benefiting from continued active customer growth
●
Relative to FY23, FY24 revenue growth will continue to be
impacted by lower growth in ASP, as we invest in value and as food
price inflation continues to normalise
●
Overall revenue growth in FY24 is expected to be in the
mid-high single-digits %
●
FY24 adjusted EBITDA margin* of c.2.5% excluding annual
Hatfield fees of £33m, making further progress on increasing
efficiencies and demonstrating operational leverage, continuing on
our journey towards a high mid-single digit adjusted EBITDA margin*
in the mid-term.
Ocado Group
Group cash flow
Underlying cash outflow* improved by £101m to
£(197)m in 1H24, driven by a strong profit flow-through and lower
capital expenditure, partly offsetting a working capital outflow
due to higher retail and MHE inventories. We now expect our
underlying cash flow* to improve by around £150m for FY24 (vs.
guidance of £100m improvement previously) and we remain well on
target to turn cash flow positive during FY26.
Group capital expenditure
Capital expenditure primarily comprises new site
construction costs and technology development costs to enhance the
OSP. Capital expenditure was £211m in the period (1H23: £284m), a
reduction of £73m, driven by a decrease in the capital expenditure
of CFC sites (£95m vs 1H23 £143m). Capital expenditure on CFC sites
has reduced by £48m primarily driven by the non-repeat/reduction of
certain capital expenditure incurred in the first half of FY23.
This included the capital expenditure incurred on the Aeon CFC in
Chiba City, Tokyo, and Sobeys CFC3 in Calgary, each of which went
live in FY23, and the capital expenditure on Coles CFCs in Sydney
and Melbourne which are approaching completion and readiness for
go-live. CFC site capital expenditure in 1H24 has also benefited
from the draw-down on existing inventory held on hand for new
CFCs.
In 1H23 Jones Food (which is fully consolidated
into the Group) invested £11.9m in their new plant at Lydney and
Ocado Retail invested in their new Luton CFC. Neither investment
has repeated in 1H24.
We are revising our guidance for Group capital
expenditure to around £425m for FY24 (vs guidance of £475m
previously) driven by improved utilisation of inventory and the
delay to Sobeys' fourth CFC.
Deconsolidation of Ocado Retail
Ocado Group plc and M&S are both joint equal
shareholders of Ocado Retail Limited. At present the results of
Ocado Retail Limited are consolidated into the results of Ocado
Group plc, as Ocado Group plc are deemed to be the controlling
shareholder via certain tie-breaking rights. The Shareholder
Agreement signed in August 2019 when the Joint Venture was formed
provides for Ocado Group plc to stop consolidating the results of
Ocado Retail Limited no earlier than the 5th anniversary and
M&S to start consolidating after that time; the parties are
discussing the optimal time for the change. Following that change,
Ocado Retail Ltd will be equity accounted as an investment by Ocado
Group plc. There will be no change in the economic interest of both
shareholders in Ocado Retail Limited, or any consideration paid by
M&S, as a result of any future change.
Sustainability objectives
Ocado Group continues to make progress against
its sustainability objectives. This is reflected in the June 2024
review of the FTSE4Good Index Series where Ocado moved to the 84th
percentile in the global retail sector, from 56th in
2023.
Summary Financial Guidance for FY24
Revenue:
●
Technology
Solutions: 15% to 20% growth
●
Ocado
Logistics: stable revenues; high single-digit %
volume growth offset by a reduction in costs recharged to customers
due to efficiency improvements
●
Ocado
Retail: mid-high single digits %
growth
Adjusted EBITDA*:
●
Technology
Solutions: mid-teens adjusted EBITDA margin*
(vs. greater than 10% previously)
●
Ocado
Logistics: stable at around £30m
●
Ocado
Retail: adjusted EBITDA margin* of c.2.5%
excluding Hatfield fees of £33m p/a
Capital expenditure: around £425m (vs.
around £475m previously)
Underlying cash flow*: around £150m
improvement (vs. around £100m improvement previously)
Results Presentation
A results presentation will be available for
investors and analysts at 9.30 am on 16 July 2024. This can be
accessed online
here. Following the session there will be Q&A, also
accessible via the webcast.
Contacts
Tim Steiner, Chief Executive Officer on +44 20
3805 4822 today or +44 1707 228 000
Stephen Daintith, Chief Financial Officer on +44
20 3805 4822 today or +44 1707 228 000
Nick Coulter, Head of Investor Relations, on +44
20 3805 4822 today or +44 1707 228 000
Lucy Legh at the Headland Consultancy, Media
Relations, on +44 20 3805 4822
Financial Calendar
Ocado Group FY24 Results will be reported on 27
February 2025.
Cautionary statement
Certain statements made in this announcement are
forward‐looking statements. Such statements are based on current
expectations and assumptions and are subject to a number of risks
and uncertainties that could cause actual events or results to
differ materially from any expected future events or results
expressed or implied in these forward‐looking statements. Persons
receiving this announcement should not place undue reliance on
forward‐looking statements. Unless otherwise required by applicable
law, regulation or accounting standard, Ocado does not undertake to
update or revise any forward‐looking statements, whether as a
result of new information, future developments or
otherwise.
Financial Review
Headlines
Revenue increased by 12.6% to £1,543.1m
(1H23: £1,370.7m):
●
Technology
Solutions delivered strong revenue growth, up
21.8% to £241.4m (1H23: £198.2m) with 112 average live modules
during the period (1H23: 101), up by 10.9%. At the end of the
period we had 26 live sites (1H23: 25 sites) and 112 live modules
(1H23: 105 live modules).
●
Logistics revenue grew by 5.6% to £354.0m
(1H23: £335.2m) and primarily represents cost recharges to Ocado
Retail and Wm Morrison Supermarkets Limited ("Morrisons") of
£336.2m (1H23: £318.5m). Orders per week increased by 7.8% to
552,000 (1H23: 512,000); eaches (individual items in the shopping
basket) increased by 9.4% reflecting volume growth in both
retailers.
●
Retail revenue increased by 11.3% in the
period to £1,312.0m (1H23: £1,178.5m) reflecting growth of 8.1% in
active customers to 1,037,000 at the end of the period (1H23:
959,000). Positively, basket sizes remained stable at an average of
44.7 individual items (1H23: 44.6 items) driven by continued
investment in value and improvements in service. Average item price
increased by 1.5% to £2.76 (1H23: £2.72) as we continued our price
investment and inflated prices below market levels. Orders per week
grew by 9.2% to 428,000 (1H23: 392,000), driven mainly by the
increase in active customers.
Adjusted EBITDA* for the period was £71.2m
(1H23: £16.6m), an improvement of £54.6m. Technology Solutions
generated adjusted EBITDA* of £35.0m (1H23: £5.9m), up £29.1m due
to the strong profit flow-through from revenue growth and
disciplined cost management. Logistics delivered adjusted EBITDA*
of £17.2m (1H23: £14.6m) from its resilient cost-plus model with
adjusted EBITDA* increasing year-on-year driven by higher
management fees and lower non-recharged technology and support
costs. Retail generated adjusted EBITDA* of £20.7m (1H23: loss of
£2.5m) driven by a strong trading performance in the
period.
Statutory loss before tax of £153.9m
(1H23: £289.5m loss) includes depreciation, amortisation and
impairment charges of £210.3m (1H23: £192.5m), net finance costs of
£22.1m (1H23: £36.4m) and net adjusting items* of £7.3m income
(1H23: £77.2m expense), which is largely the gain on disposal of
assets held for sale and the unwind of the discount in relation to
the settlement reached in the prior year with AutoStore Technology
AS ("AutoStore"), offset by one-off costs relating to HR and IT
system transformation.
Good
liquidity maintained to support our growth plans,
with cash and cash equivalents of £746.6m at the end of the
period (FY23: £884.8m) and liquidity of £1.05bn (FY23: £1.18bn)
(including the undrawn revolving credit facility ("RCF") of
£300.0m). Net debt* at the end of the period was £(1,222.1)m (FY23:
£(1,075.1)m).
Group summary
£m
|
1H24
|
1H23
|
Change
|
Revenue
|
1,543.1
|
1,370.7
|
12.6%
|
Operating costs
|
(1,472.1)
|
(1,353.2)
|
8.8%
|
Share of results from joint ventures
and associates
|
0.2
|
(0.9)
|
(122.2)%
|
Adjusted EBITDA*
|
71.2
|
16.6
|
£54.6m
|
Depreciation, amortisation and
impairment1
|
(210.3)
|
(192.5)
|
9.2%
|
Finance income2
|
18.1
|
19.6
|
(7.7)%
|
Finance costs
|
(51.1)
|
(47.0)
|
8.7%
|
Other finance gains and
losses
|
10.9
|
(9.0)
|
(221.1)%
|
Adjusted loss before tax
|
(161.2)
|
(212.3)
|
£51.1m
|
Adjusting items*
|
7.3
|
(77.2)
|
£84.5m
|
Loss
before tax
|
(153.9)
|
(289.5)
|
£135.6m
|
* These measures are alternative
performance measures. Please refer to Note 16 to the Condensed
Consolidated Financial Statements.
1. Depreciation,
amortisation and impairment of £210.3m (1H23: £192.5m) excludes
£1.6m (1H23: £20.4m) recognised in adjusting items*.
2. Finance income of
£18.1m (1H23: £19.6m) excludes £6.9m (1H23: £nil) recognised in
adjusting items*.
This commentary is on a pre-adjusting item*
basis to aid understanding of the performance of the business on a
comparable basis. Adjusting items* are detailed in Note 5 to the
Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements. Adjusted EBITDA*
excludes the impact of adjusting items*. Depreciation, amortisation
and impairment, and net finance costs are also shown excluding the
impact of adjusting items*.
Revenue for the period increased by
£172.4m to £1,543.1m (1H23: £1,370.7m).
Technology Solutions revenue increased by 21.8%
from £198.2m to £241.4m mainly driven by the annualisation of the
three sites opened during FY23 (Sobeys' third CFC in Calgary and
our first CFC for AEON in Chiba city, just outside Tokyo, during
the first half of the year and Ocado Retail's Luton CFC in the
second half). The average number of live modules is the key revenue
driver for Technology Solutions and average live modules increased
by 10.9% to 112 (1H23: 101).
Logistics revenue increased by 5.6% to £354.0m
(1H23: £335.2m) and largely comprises cost recharges to its two UK
customers, Ocado Retail and Morrisons.
Retail revenue increased by £133.5m from
£1,178.5m to £1,312.0m, up by 11.3% primarily reflecting strong
growth in active customers and growing order volumes. Basket sizes
remained stable during the period, supported by investment in price
which led to continued slower-than-market inflation. The strong
performance reflects the significant progress the business is
making with its strategy.
Net
cumulative invoiced fees to our partners on our
Balance Sheet and not yet recognised as revenue increased by £3.2m
from £446.7m at FY23 year-end (1H23: £428.2m) to £449.9m at 1H24.
Net cumulative invoiced fees are recognised as contract liabilities
on the Balance Sheet and are an indicator of future revenues as the
balances will be released to the income statement over the life of
our CFC contracts. The net movement of £3.2m during the period is
driven by amounts invoiced of £30.2m less revenue recognised in the
Income Statement of £27.0m. The amounts invoiced of £30.2m were
driven by 1. amounts invoiced to OIA customers, 2. incremental
staged payments and orders from existing partners, and 3. fees from
our new Ocado Smart Platform ("OSP") partner, Panda. The release to
the income statement of £27.0m was mainly driven by revenue
recognised on operational CFCs in line with IFRS 15.
Operating costs include all costs incurred
in the continuing operations of the Group. Operating costs
increased by 8.8% to £1,472.1m (1H23: £1,353.2m). Technology
Solutions operating costs increased by 7.3% to £206.4m (1H23:
£192.3m) due to the increase in average live modules and their
associated operating costs and higher support costs as we continued
to invest in our OIA and Solutions Sales and Partner Success
programmes. The current year includes £5.1m litigation income
received, net of costs, following the settlement reached with
MasterCard and Visa in relation to bank interchange fees. The prior
year included the one-off profit of £5.0m from the sale of the
Dartford spoke. Logistics operating costs increased by 5.1% to
£336.8m (1H23: £320.6m) due to a 7.8% growth in orders that was
offset by improved productivity across our OSP sites. Retail
operating costs increased by 9.3% to £1,291.3m (1H23: £1,181.0m)
largely driven by the growth in orders, continued inflation and
incremental OSP fees year-on-year. Operating costs for Retail
increased at a lower rate than revenue due to 1. improved gross
profit margin, 2. efficiencies in order fulfilment across all
sites, and 3. a year-on-year decrease in wholesale electricity
prices.
Adjusted EBITDA* for the period was £71.2m
(1H23: £16.6m) with all segments delivering a positive adjusted
EBITDA*. The £54.6m year-on-year increase was driven by a £29.1m
improvement in Technology Solutions to £35.0m (1H23: £5.9m), £23.2m
improvement in Retail to £20.7m (1H23: £2.5m loss) and £2.6m
improvement in Logistics to £17.2m (1H23: £14.6m). The improvement
in Technology Solutions adjusted EBITDA* was mainly driven by the
strong flow-through of incremental revenue to adjusted EBITDA*. The
improvement in Retail adjusted EBITDA* was driven by strong growth
in active customers resulting in a 9.2% increase in orders per
week, improved gross profit margin and an improvement in
operational efficiency across the network. This was partly offset
by higher OSP fees reflecting the opening of the Luton CFC in
2H23.
Depreciation, amortisation and impairment
increased by 9.2% to a charge of £210.3m (1H23: £192.5m),
primarily due to the increase in amortisation relating to
internally generated intangible assets (primarily the investment in
OSP) together with the continuing roll-out of OSP hardware and
software at our CFC sites. At the end of the period, there were 26
live sites (1H23: 25 sites) comprising 22 CFCs and four Zooms
(1H23: 21 CFCs and four Zooms; a site is considered live when it
has any modules fully installed and is available for use by our
partner). Property, plant and equipment ("PP&E") held on the
Balance Sheet was £1,790.7m (FY23: £1,794.9m), a decrease of £4.2m
in the period.
Net
finance costs of £22.1m decreased by £14.3m
(1H23: £36.4m). This comprises the net of finance costs of £51.1m
(1H23: £47.0m) primarily related to our gross debt and lease
liabilities, finance income of £18.1m (1H23: £19.6m) primarily
interest on our cash balances, and the net impact of foreign
exchange and revaluation gains of £10.9m reflected in other finance
gains and losses (1H23: £9.0m loss).
Adjusting items* of £7.3m income (1H23:
£77.2m expense) comprise largely 1. profit on the disposal of
Dagenham and Coventry spoke sites of £12.4m, 2. the unwinding of
the discount recognised from the agreement reached with AutoStore
to settle IP patent legal cases of £6.9m, and 3. finance, IT and HR
systems transformation costs of £8.2m. Further details of all
adjusting items* can be found in Note 5 to the Condensed
Consolidated Financial Statements.
Statutory loss before tax of £153.9m
(1H23: loss of £289.5m) reflects an adjusted EBITDA* profit of
£71.2m (1H23: £16.6m), depreciation, amortisation and impairment of
£210.3m (1H23: £192.5m), net finance costs of £22.1m (1H23: £36.4m)
and net adjusting items* of £7.3m income (1H23: £77.2m
expense).
Segmental summary
£m
|
1H24
|
1H23
|
Change
|
Revenue
|
|
|
|
Technology Solutions
|
241.4
|
198.2
|
21.8%
|
Logistics
|
354.0
|
335.2
|
5.6%
|
Retail
|
1,312.0
|
1,178.5
|
11.3%
|
Inter-segment eliminations
|
(364.3)
|
(341.2)
|
(6.8)%
|
Group
|
1,543.1
|
1,370.7
|
12.6%
|
Adjusted EBITDA*
|
|
|
|
Technology Solutions
|
35.0
|
5.9
|
29.1
|
Logistics
|
17.2
|
14.6
|
2.6
|
Retail
|
20.7
|
(2.5)
|
23.2
|
Inter-segment eliminations
|
(1.7)
|
(1.4)
|
(0.3)
|
Group
|
71.2
|
16.6
|
54.6
|
Technology Solutions is the global
technology platform business providing OSP as a managed service to
13 grocery retail partners. This segment also includes the
following:
●
The revenue and costs associated with the Group's non-grocery
business, Ocado Intelligent Automation ("OIA"), including Kindred
and 6RS; and
●
The revenue and costs of our fully consolidated vertical
farming business, Jones Food.
Technology Solutions comprises 1. the revenue
and direct operating costs of the OSP, OIA and Jones Food
businesses, 2. the commercial and technology costs to sustain and
grow these businesses and 3. the support costs for these
businesses, including Technology Operations, Solutions Sales and
Partner Success, OIA Sales, Finance, Legal, HR, Information
Technology and the Board.
Ocado Logistics is our third-party
logistics business providing services to customers in the UK (Ocado
Retail and Morrisons). The Logistics business operates automated
warehouses and provides the associated supply chain and delivery
services to our UK partners, and recharges these costs in full,
together with an additional management fee. The business also
generates revenue from capital recharges relating to certain
historical material handling equipment ("MHE") assets used to
provide logistics services. The segment includes 1. revenue from
cost recharges (primarily CFC and delivery costs incurred), capital
recharges and the management fee for operating all UK sites, 2. the
related CFC fulfilment and delivery costs, 3. technology costs
directly related to sites and any non-OSP customer platform
technology costs, and 4. costs relating to central functions to
support the provision of the logistics business.
Ocado Retail is the UK online grocery
retail business serving a broad range of shopper missions, from
large weekly shops to "dinner-for-tonight" top-up shops. Ocado
Retail is a 50% owned joint venture with Marks & Spencer Group
plc ("M&S") and is fully consolidated into the Group's
results.
Inter-segment eliminations represent the
elimination of inter-segmental revenue and costs. These relate to
transactions between Ocado Retail, and the Technology Solutions and
Logistics businesses. Technology Solutions and Logistics each
generate revenue from services provided to Ocado Retail, which are
included as costs within the Ocado Retail segment. For 1H24,
inter-segmental revenue eliminations were £364.3m (1H23: £341.2m).
The increase of £23.1m is driven by 1. incremental OSP fees charged
to Ocado Retail by the Technology Solutions segment, due to an
increase in the number of average live modules, and 2. incremental
variable and fixed costs recharged to Ocado Retail from the
Logistics business, driven by volume growth. Inter-segmental
adjusted EBITDA* eliminations relate to amortised upfront fees and
CFC pre-go-live services paid for by Ocado Retail to Technology
Solutions, which are included within revenue in Technology
Solutions. Ocado Retail capitalises these charges within fixed
assets relating to the CFC assets; the associated depreciation is
reported outside adjusted EBITDA*. For 1H24, inter-segmental
adjusted EBITDA* eliminations were £1.7m (1H23: £1.4m). The £0.3m
increase is mainly driven by the annualisation of upfront fees and
CFC pre-go-live services following the opening of the Luton CFC in
2H23.
Technology Solutions
£m
|
1H24
|
1H23
|
Change
|
Fees
invoiced*1
|
243.3
|
202.8
|
20.0%
|
Revenue
|
241.4
|
198.2
|
21.8%
|
Direct operating costs
|
(69.6)
|
(58.1)
|
(19.8)%
|
Contribution
|
171.8
|
140.1
|
22.6%
|
Contribution %
|
71%
|
71%
|
0ppts
|
Technology costs
|
(46.8)
|
(45.7)
|
(2.4)%
|
Support costs
|
(90.0)
|
(88.5)
|
(1.7)%
|
Adjusted EBITDA*
|
35.0
|
5.9
|
£29.1m
|
Adjusted EBITDA %*
|
15%
|
3%
|
12ppts
|
1. Fees invoiced
represent design and capacity fees invoiced during the period for
existing and future sites and in-store fulfilment ("ISF"). This
also includes fees invoiced by the OIA business relating to the
provision of MHE and support services to the non-grocery market.
These are recognised in the Income Statement under IFRS
15.
Key performance indicators
The following table sets out a summary of
selected operating information in the period:
|
1H24
|
1H23
|
Change
|
No. of live
modules1,3
|
112
|
105
|
6.7%
|
Average live modules
|
112
|
101
|
10.9%
|
Cumulative no. of modules
ordered2,3
|
232
|
232
|
-
|
Direct operating cost (% of live
sales capacity)4
|
1.56%
|
1.76%
|
0.20ppts
|
1. A module is
considered live when it has been fully installed and is available
for use by our partner. This includes 14 modules for the Hatfield
CFC and Leeds Zoom, which are not actively trading during the
period, but are available for use by Ocado Retail and for which
fees are being received in full.
2. Ordered modules
represent the maximum capacity of sites for which a contractual
agreement has been signed with a partner and an invoice has been
issued for the associated site fees.
3. A module of
capacity is assumed as 5,000 eaches picked per hour and c.£75m per
annum of partner live sales capacity.
4. Direct operating
costs as a percentage of live sales capacity reflects the P6 exit
rate position for all OSP CFCs live at the period end. Direct
operating costs include engineering, cloud and other technology
direct costs.
Technology Solutions is the global
technology platform business providing OSP as a managed service to
13 grocery retail partners.
During the period we continued our focus on
supporting our partners to increase volume growth in order to
improve capacity utilisation in their CFCs, investing in our
partner success programme and scaling the OIA business. Our partner
success teams have been working closely with our partners to
support sales growth, drive operational efficiency and improve
profitability.
Our OIA business continues to perform well and
contributed a positive adjusted EBITDA* during the period. We
remain focused on building a strong pipeline of Ocado Storage and
Retrieval Systems ("OSRS") and 6RS partners.
At the end of the period we had 26 live sites,
comprising 22 CFCs and four Zooms, with a total of 112 live modules
(1H23: 25 sites, 21 CFCs, four Zooms; 105 modules).
The 112 modules include 14 modules of capacity
installed and available for use by Ocado Retail, but on sites where
Ocado Retail has decided to cease operations. The Technology
Solutions business continues to charge Ocado Retail capacity fees
in full for these modules. This follows Ocado Retail carrying out a
network capacity review during FY23 for its CFCs and a strategy and
capacity review for its Zoom sites. At the end of the period,
Technology Solutions has 24 sites, with 98 modules, in which
partners are actively trading (21 CFCs and three Zooms).
Fees and revenue
Fees
invoiced* increased by 20.0% to £243.3m (1H23:
£202.8m). These fees include 1. the design and access fees invoiced
across clients relating to existing and future CFC and ISF
commitments, 2. the ongoing capacity fees associated with the live
operations, primarily Ocado Retail, Kroger, Sobeys, Morrisons, and
Aeon, and 3. fees invoiced by the OIA business.
The 20.0% year-on-year growth in fees invoiced
was lower than the 21.8% year-on-year growth in revenue mainly due
to lower design and access fees invoiced as fewer sites went live
in the year. The 18.4% increase in ongoing capacity fees invoiced
of £206.2m (1H23: £174.1m) was higher than the 16.3% increase in
ongoing capacity fee revenue of £203.3m (1H23: £174.8m) due to the
timing of invoices raised. Fees invoiced by OIA increased
year-on-year mainly driven by the partnership announced in the
prior year with McKesson, Canada and the annualisation of the
acquisition of 6RS in 2H23.
Under revenue recognition rules, design and
access fees are not recognised as revenue until a working solution
is delivered to the partner, i.e. the site goes 'live'. At the end
of the period, cumulative fees not yet recognised as revenue, but
instead recorded on the Balance Sheet within contract liabilities,
were £449.9m (FY23: £446.7m).
Revenue in the period of £241.4m (1H23:
£198.2m) comprises ongoing capacity fees of £203.3m (1H23: £174.8m)
and £17.7m (1H23: £15.9m) relating to the release to the Income
Statement of the design and upfront fees received from our
operational partners, which were included within the contract
liability amount on the Balance Sheet; these primarily relate to
Kroger, Morrisons, Sobeys, ICA, Aeon and Ocado Retail (which is
eliminated on the consolidated Balance Sheet). Ongoing capacity fee
revenue in Technology Solutions is driven by the average number of
live modules in the period. During the period, these grew by 10.9%
to 112 average live modules (1H23: 101). Ongoing capacity fee
revenue grew at a faster rate than the average live modules (+16.3%
compared with +10.9%) due to the increased number and proportion of
live OSP modules, which generate a higher fee per module of sales
capacity than non-OSP sites.
There are 30 legacy non-OSP modules within the
112 modules at the end of the period that primarily relate to the
Hatfield and Dordon CFCs and that generate a lower fee per module
than an OSP module. During FY23 the Hatfield CFC ceased trading;
the Technology Solutions business is entitled to continued capacity
fees of circa £33m per annum at Hatfield and continues to charge
them in full to Ocado Retail. Revenue also includes 1. £17.7m
(1H23: £6.2m) relating to OIA and 2. equipment sales to retail
partners of £2.3m (1H23: £1.3m) recognised as revenue under IFRS 15
(the cost of this equipment is recognised within direct operating
costs).
Direct costs
Direct operating costs largely relate to
the day-to-day costs of operating our CFC and Zoom sites, primarily
engineering support, maintenance and spares, and the costs of
hosting the technology services for partners. Costs increased by
£11.5m (19.8%) to £69.6m (1H23: £58.1m) mainly driven by the 10.9%
growth in average live modules, annualisation of OIA direct costs
following the acquisition of 6RS in the prior year, and Jones Food
operational costs, following the opening of its second vertical
farm in FY23.
The exit rate of direct operating costs as a
percentage of live sales capacity, a key measure of operational
efficiency across OSP sites, decreased from 1.76% in 1H23 to 1.56%.
The decrease was mainly driven by a reduction in cloud costs as we
continued to decommission old environments, rationalise the
retained data and optimise storage.
Technology and support costs
Technology costs mainly
comprise the non-capitalised management time spent on
early-stage research projects and maintaining OSP through ongoing
client support. Other costs include direct legal and professional
fees and non-capitalised software costs. Technology costs in 1H24
were £46.8m (1H23: £45.7m), an increase of £1.1m primarily due to a
higher non-capitalised software and services costs.
Support costs are costs incurred in
supporting the global operations of the business. They include
Solutions Sales and Partner Success, OIA Sales, Technology
Operations, Finance, HR, IT and Legal. Costs increased by £1.5m to
£90.0m during the period (1H23: £88.5m). Cost reduction initiatives
of £5.0m were offset by £4.1m of investment in OIA, Solutions Sales
and Partner Success, which are of critical importance for the group
and £2.5m annualisation of 6RS support costs following its
acquisition during 2H23. Support costs also include the one-off
benefit of a settlement reached with MasterCard and Visa in
relation to interchange fees, which generated a net income of
£5.1m. 1H23 included the one-off benefit of the sale of the
Dartford spoke site, which generated a profit on disposal of
£5.0m.
Board costs of £10.2m (1H23: £13.3m) are
included within Technology Solutions support costs. The
year-on-year decrease of £3.1m was mainly driven by a decrease in
share-based payment charges of £2.4m to £5.0m (1H23: £7.4m)
following the cessation of the Value Creation Plan during the
year.
We invested £4.1m in developing the OIA,
Solutions Sales and Partner Success functions, supported by an
experienced leadership team, which is dedicated to driving growth
for new and existing partners. OIA central costs increased during
the period as we continued to scale the business following the
first OIA deal to provide automated fulfilment solutions to
McKesson Canada and the acquisition of 6RS during 2H23.
Adjusted EBITDA*
Adjusted EBITDA* for the period was £35.0m
(1H23: £5.9m), an improvement of £29.1m. The strong profit
flow-through from the £43.2m growth in revenue was driven by 1. the
benefits of scale as more modules went live in our existing CFC
sites, 2. the ongoing optimisation of direct CFC operating costs
(including maintenance and data costs) which have reduced as a
percentage of sales capacity and 3. the benefit of cost reductions
in support costs.
Ocado Logistics
£m
|
1H24
|
1H23
|
Change
|
Cost recharges
|
336.2
|
318.5
|
5.6
%
|
Fee revenue
|
17.8
|
16.7
|
6.6
%
|
Revenue
|
354.0
|
335.2
|
5.6 %
|
Other income
|
2.3
|
6.9
|
(66.7)%
|
Fulfilment and delivery
costs
|
(305.4)
|
(295.6)
|
(3.3)%
|
Technology and support
costs
|
(33.7)
|
(31.9)
|
(5.6)%
|
Adjusted EBITDA*
|
17.2
|
14.6
|
£2.6m
|
Key performance indicators
The following table sets out a summary of
selected operating information in the period:
|
1H24
|
1H23
|
Change
|
Total eaches (million)
|
651.8
|
595.9
|
9.4%
|
Orders per week (000s)
|
552
|
512
|
7.8%
|
OSP CFC UPH1,2
|
221
|
206
|
7.3%
|
DP83
|
21.0
|
21.4
|
(1.9)%
|
1. Measured as units
picked from the CFC per variable hour worked by operational
personnel.
2. OSP CFCs are all
CFCs excluding Hatfield and Dordon.
3. DP8 represents
the drops per standardised eight-hour shift for Ocado Retail
only.
Ocado Logistics is a wholly-owned third-party
logistics business operating exclusively in the UK. This business
manages and operates automated warehouses and the related supply
chain and online delivery services on behalf of our two partners,
Ocado Retail and Morrisons. Ocado Logistics operates on a cost-plus
model whereby it charges its clients the costs of the operations we
manage on their behalf, plus a management fee of circa
4%.
Given this model, client volumes in the sites we
operate are a key driver of our revenue and costs. During the
period, average orders per week across our two partners increased
by 7.8% to 552,000 (1H23: 512,000) while the volume of eaches
increased by 9.4% to 651.8m (1H23: 595.9m). The increase in eaches
reflects improved trading across both of our partners, as grocery
inflation normalises.
Revenue
This comprises 1. cost recharges, which are the
recharge of variable and fixed costs incurred to provide fulfilment
and delivery services, which are recharged to Ocado Retail and
Morrisons, 2. a 4% management fee charged on rechargeable costs and
3. capital recharges to Ocado Retail for the use of certain
fixtures and fittings, and plant and machinery that were not
transferred to Ocado Retail on its formation as a separate
business.
Cost
recharges increased by £17.7m to £336.2m (1H23:
£318.5m). These costs represent the operational costs that are
recharged to Ocado Retail and Morrisons for the provision of
third-party logistics services. The key cost recharge driver is the
volume processed through the CFC sites. While total eaches
increased by 9.4%, cost recharges increased at a slower rate
increasing by 5.6% with fulfilment efficiencies driven by, 1. the
continued rollout of our Re:Imagined technology, 2. increased
volumes, 3. year-on year reductions to fuel price and utilities
unit costs, and 4. cost savings associated with the closure of the
Hatfield CFC in the prior year. Improved efficiency from the higher
average number of units picked per labour hour ("UPH") in our OSP
sites is demonstrated as UPH increased by 7.3% to 221 (1H23: 206).
Cost recharges are greater than rechargeable costs of £328.4m
(1H23: £312.5m) as cost recharges include lease income for lease
costs in shared sites, where we are providing a service, for which
the cost is included below adjusted EBITDA*.
Fee
revenue of £17.8m (1H23: £16.7m) increased by
6.6% and includes £12.3m of management fees (1H23: £11.6m) and
£5.5m of capital recharges (1H23: £5.1m). The £1.1m increase in fee
revenue is largely due to an increase in management fees, which are
around 4% of rechargeable costs. Management fees increased by 6.0%
in the year.
Capital recharges of £5.5m (1H23: £5.1m) relate
to charges to Ocado Retail for the use of certain assets that are
owned by the Group and utilised by Ocado Retail. For partner-shared
sites (primarily Dordon and Erith), capital recharges are accounted
for (in accordance with IFRS 16) as revenue as we are considered to
be providing a service. For sites that are used exclusively by
Ocado Retail (primarily Purfleet, Bristol and Andover), this income
is accounted for (per IFRS 16) as finance income (below adjusted
EBITDA*) as we are considered to be providing a finance lease. The
£0.4m year-on-year increase was mainly driven by the renewal of LGV
leases during the year.
Recharges and fees to Ocado Retail of £276.8m
(1H23: £264.9m) included within the £354.0m revenue (1H23: £335.2m)
are eliminated on consolidation.
Other income
Other income of £2.3m (1H23: £6.9m) relates to
MHE JVCo asset rental income. 1H23 included £2.2m of CFC rental
income from one of our partners, which in the current year, is
presented within revenue in accordance with IFRS 15. The remaining
year-on-year decrease of £2.4m was mainly driven by the expiry of
asset rental agreements in the year. Other income is presented
within operating costs in the Condensed Consolidated Income
Statement.
Fulfilment and delivery costs
These costs comprise the costs of fulfilment and
delivery operations which are recharged to Ocado Retail and
Morrisons.
Total fulfilment and delivery costs increased by
3.3% to £305.4m (1H23: £295.6m) with eaches increasing by 9.4% to
651.8m (1H23: 595.9m). Costs increased by less than eaches due to
improvements to productivity and benefit from 1. the year-on-year
reduction in utilities unit costs and fuel costs, and 2. fixed cost
savings associated with the closure of the Hatfield CFC, which more
than offset the higher costs of delivery in the year.
Productivity improvements are demonstrated by
the improvement in UPH in OSP CFCs (Erith, Andover, Purfleet,
Bristol and Bicester), which improved year-on-year to an average
UPH of 221 in the period (1H23: 206), significantly exceeding our
target of 200 UPH. The average UPH of 221 also includes the Luton
CFC. A higher UPH results in lower labour intensity and therefore
lower costs for the same volume. The improvement in UPH and
resulting productivity improvements reduced the labour cost
required per each and partially offset the additional hours
required by increased volumes.
The effectiveness of our delivery operations is
measured by DP8. This reduced by 1.9% to an average of 21.0 drops
per standardised 8-hour shift for Ocado Retail (1H23: 21.4 drops).
The decrease was mainly driven by 1. investment in our customer
service through the re-introduction of delivery into homes and
increased slot availability and same-day offering, and 2. the
expected increase in distance to our customers following the
closure of Ocado Retail's Hatfield CFC and opening of the Luton
CFC. This was partly offset by the year-on-year increase in volumes
and improved density of our drops.
Technology and support costs
Technology and support costs comprise 1. head
office and related costs to operate the Logistics business, 2.
technology costs related to the operating of our pre-OSP grocery
fulfilment platform and 3. the non-capitalised element of the
programme costs to transition our UK partners from the pre-OSP
technology platform to OSP. This programme is expected to be
completed in FY25.
Technology and support costs increased by £1.8m
to £33.7m (1H23: £31.9m) primarily due to higher head office
recruitment and training costs. Head office costs and a portion of
technology costs are recharged to our partners as part of our
contractual agreements. The cost of operating the pre-OSP platform
and the transition to OSP is not recharged to partners.
Adjusted EBITDA*
Adjusted EBITDA* for the period was
£17.2m, an increase of £2.6m (1H23: £14.6m); increased cost
recoveries and management fees were partly offset by lower MHE JVCo
asset rental income and higher technology and support costs, each
of which is described above.
Ocado Retail
£m
|
1H24
|
1H23
|
Change
|
Revenue
|
1,312.0
|
1,178.5
|
11.3%
|
Gross profit
|
442.1
|
389.9
|
13.4%
|
Gross profit %
|
33.7%
|
33.1%
|
0.6ppts
|
Fulfilment and delivery
costs
|
(246.8)
|
(237.7)
|
(3.8)%
|
Marketing costs
|
(20.4)
|
(20.1)
|
(1.5)%
|
Support costs
|
(53.4)
|
(49.0)
|
(9.0)%
|
Fees
|
(100.8)
|
(85.6)
|
(17.8)%
|
Adjusted EBITDA*
|
20.7
|
(2.5)
|
£23.2m
|
The results of the Ocado Retail Limited joint
venture (referred to as either "Ocado Retail" or "Retail") are
fully consolidated in the Group.
Key performance indicators
The following table sets out a summary of
selected Ocado.com operating information in the period:
Ocado.com1
|
1H24
|
1H23
|
Change
|
Active customers
(000s)2
|
1,037
|
959
|
8.1%
|
Average orders per week
(000s)
|
428
|
392
|
9.2%
|
Average basket value (£)3
|
123.36
|
121.22
|
1.8%
|
Average selling price (£)4
|
2.76
|
2.72
|
1.5%
|
Average basket size
(eaches)
|
44.7
|
44.6
|
0.2%
|
1. Ocado.com
excludes Zoom by Ocado as Ocado.com represents the core business of
Ocado Retail.
2. Active customers
are classified as active if they have shopped at Ocado.com within
the previous 12 weeks.
3. Average basket
value (£) is defined as product sales divided by total
orders.
4. Average selling
price (£) ("ASP") is defined as product sales divided by total
eaches.
Revenue
Revenue increased by 11.3% to £1,312.0m
(1H23: £1,178.5m) driven by growth in Ocado.com, with 9.2% order
growth to 428,000 orders per week (1H23: 392,000 orders per week)
and 1.8% growth in basket value to £123.36 (1H23:
£121.22).
We continued to win new customers and gain
market share through a continued focus on our 'Perfect Execution'
strategy, with an emphasis on unbeatable choice, reassuringly good
value and unrivalled service. We achieved effective customer
acquisition results through improvements in marketing activity,
driven by channel efficiency activities, and improved customer
retention through our strengthened customer proposition. We
continue to focus on consistent and strong operational performance
and customer service in key areas such as delivering on time and in
full alongside improving product availability; all of which
improved in the half.
Active customers now stand at 1,037,000, up by
8.1% from 959,000 at 1H23. Ocado grew its share of the online
grocery market to 12.3% (1H23: 11.4%, Nielsen revised
methodology**; 1H24 as at 18 May 2024; 1H23 as at 20 May 2023). As
our customer base continued to increase, average orders per week
grew by 9.2% to 428,000 (1H23: 392,000). The increase in average
orders per week of 9.2% was higher than the growth in active
customers of 8.1% due to the higher frequency of orders, with a
greater proportion of mature customers shopping more often with the
business.
** Under the previous methodology
market share was 14.2% (1H23: 13.0%).
The average basket value grew by 1.8% to £123.36
(1H23: £121.22) driven by the increase in selling price of 1.5% to
£2.76 (1H23: £2.72). Average basket size remained broadly stable at
an average of 44.7 items (1H23: 44.6 items).
We remain committed to offering reassuringly
good value to customers and did not pass through the full impact of
food price inflation to our customers; the average selling price on
Ocado.com has increased by 1.5%, well below UK grocery inflation of
4.4% (Nielsen). We continued to invest in the 'Ocado Price
Promise', which we launched in early 2023 matching customers' shops
to Tesco.com on over 10,000 products, including Clubcard prices.
This is a key component of our value strategy to support the growth
and retention of our customers. Alongside this, our 'Big Price
Drop' campaign delivered multiple rounds of price cuts in the year,
as we reduced the prices on thousands of products, to ensure that
we continue to combine our unbeatable range and unrivalled service
with reassuringly good value for our customers.
Gross profit
Gross profit increased by 13.4% to £442.1m
(1H23: £389.9m). Growth was higher than the 11.3% revenue growth
due to improvements in the gross profit margin from 33.1% in 1H23
to 33.7% in 1H24. This improvement was mainly driven by
improvements in promotional effectiveness and investment alongside
improvements in waste.
Gross profit includes the net benefit of
supplier-funded media income of £45.0m (1H23: £40.5m) and the cost
of vouchers of £13.9m (1H23: £12.6m).
Fulfilment and delivery costs
£m
|
1H24
|
1H23
|
Change
|
CFC
|
(90.7)
|
(93.4)
|
2.9%
|
Service delivery
|
(148.1)
|
(130.2)
|
(13.7)%
|
Utilities
|
(8.0)
|
(14.1)
|
43.3%
|
Fulfilment and delivery costs
|
(246.8)
|
(237.7)
|
(3.8)%
|
CFC
costs primarily comprise labour costs in CFCs.
Costs reduced by 2.9% to £90.7m (1H23: £93.4m) despite the 9.2%
growth in average orders per week. This improved efficiency was
achieved by again improving the productivity of our CFC sites and
the closure of the low-productivity Hatfield CFC. The average UPH
for Ocado.com improved by 15.5% from 187 to 216.
The OSP CFCs (Erith, Andover, Purfleet,
Bicester, Bristol) showed robust improvements in productivity
reaching an average of 221 UPH (1H23: 206 UPH), an improvement of
7.3%. Average UPH in 1H24 also includes the Luton CFC.
Service delivery costs comprise labour,
fleet, fuel and related costs to enable the delivery of orders to
customers. Costs increased by 13.7% to £148.1m (1H23: £130.2m),
driven by the growth in the number of orders (+9.2%), as well as
inflation and network reorganisation following the closure of
Hatfield. Service delivery costs are driven by the productivity of
the delivery ('last mile' operations). This productivity is
measured in 'eaches per van', which reduced by 0.2% to 991 eaches
(1H23: 993 eaches). The reduction was mainly due to longer stem
times as a result of the Hatfield CFC closure and an investment in
both time on the doorstep and the training of newly hired Customer
Service Team Members. This resulted in service delivery costs
growing at a higher rate of 13.7% than the growth in orders of
9.2%.
Utilities costs across CFCs and service
delivery decreased by 43.3% to £8.0m (1H23: £14.1m) due to
significantly lower electricity unit costs (1H24: 21.8p per
kilowatt hour; 1H23: 32.4p per kilowatt hour) and the closure of
the Hatfield CFC in 2H23.
Marketing and support costs
Marketing costs comprise the cost of
marketing activities to customers and exclude vouchering costs,
which are included within revenue. Activities focused on driving
increased awareness of the Ocado value proposition through our
'Ocado Price Promise' and 'Big Price Drop' campaigns. Costs
remained broadly flat year-on-year at £20.4m (1H23: £20.1m) as we
continued to optimise the marketing channel mix. As a result,
marketing spend as a percentage of revenue decreased to 1.6% (1H23:
1.7%).
Support costs of £53.4m (1H23: £49.0m)
comprise head office, customer support and other overhead costs for
Ocado Retail. The £4.4m, 8.9%, increase year-on-year whilst lower
than revenue growth was higher driven by 1. cost inflation, 2.
filling senior, strategic vacancies from the prior year, and 3.
incremental costs to hire.
Fees
Fees comprise 1. the OSP fees paid to
Technology Solutions for the operation of OSP, 2. logistics
management fees and 3. capital recharges paid to Ocado Logistics.
Fees of £100.8m (1H23: £85.6m), which include costs in relation to
the closed Hatfield CFC, increased by £15.2m, mainly driven by the
index-linked OSP fees due to Technology Solutions and annualisation
of the Luton CFC opening in FY23.
Adjusted EBITDA*
Adjusted EBITDA* for the Retail business
was £20.7m (1H23: £2.5m loss). The primary drivers for the £23.2m
year-on-year increase were growth in active customers and orders
driving trading performance, partly offset by higher fees paid to
Technology Solutions from indexation and the annualisation of the
opening of the Luton CFC in FY23, and higher service delivery
costs.
Non-segmental items
Depreciation, amortisation and impairment
Total depreciation, amortisation and impairment
costs were £210.3m (1H23: £192.5m), an increase of £17.8m, or 9.2%
year-on-year. This includes 1. depreciation of PP&E of £103.7m
(1H23: £95.8m), 2. depreciation of right-of-use assets of £30.2m
(1H23: £35.5m), 3. amortisation expense of £74.2m (1H23: £59.7m)
and 4. impairment charge of £2.2m (1H23: £1.5m).
The increase was mainly driven by £22.4m additional
depreciation and amortisation due to the annualisation of the three
sites that went live during FY23, and technology projects going
live in the last 12 months. This was partly offset by a £5.3m
reduction in the depreciation of right-of-use assets, as leases on
plant and machinery in respect of our Dordon shared site expired in
the prior year.
Net finance costs
Net
finance costs of £22.1m decreased by £14.3m
(1H23: £36.4m). Net finance costs comprise the net of finance costs
of £51.1m (1H23: £47.0m), finance income of £18.1m (1H23: £19.6m)
and the net impact of foreign exchange and revaluation gains of
£10.9m (1H23: loss of £9.0m). Finance income is primarily interest
income on cash balances.
Finance costs of £51.1m (1H23: £47.0m) mainly
comprise the interest expense of £37.9m (1H23: £33.3m) on
borrowings. The increase in interest expense of £4.6m was primarily
due to the interest expense on the shareholder loan from M&S to
Ocado Retail. This was partly offset by lower interest expense of
£12.5m (1H23: £13.1m) on lease liabilities.
Net foreign exchange and revaluation gains of
£10.9m (1H23: loss of £9.0m) comprise:
●
Gain on revaluation of financial assets of £9.7m (1H23: £4.0m loss). During the year,
Wayve Technologies Limited ("Wayve") successfully completed a
Series C fundraising, following which the Group now holds a 1.5%
interest in Wayve (1H23: 2.5%). The Group has recorded an increase
in the fair value of its outstanding warrants of £9.7m. Further
details of this can be found in Note 9 to the Condensed
Consolidated Financial Statements; and
●
Net foreign exchange gains of £1.2m (1H23: £5.0m loss),
largely in respect of USD balances held.
Total borrowings at the end of the period were
£1,482.2m (FY23: £1,462.1m). Total lease liabilities at the end of
the period were £486.5m (FY23: £497.8m).
Share of results from joint ventures and
associates
The Group has accounted for a £0.2m profit
(1H23: £0.9m loss) for the share of results from joint
ventures and associates.
The Group has two joint ventures (Ocado Retail
and MHE JVCo) and one associate (Karakuri, a robotics business
involved in the development of automation for quick-service
restaurants). The results of the Ocado Retail joint venture are
fully consolidated within the Ocado Group.
●
MHE
JVCo is a 50:50 joint venture with Morrisons
and holds the Dordon CFC MHE assets which Ocado Retail and
Morrisons use to service their online businesses. The Group's share
of the MHE JVCo profit after tax in the period amounted to £0.2m
(1H23: £0.1m loss); and
●
Karakuri
Limited is an associate and the Group's 26.3%
interest in Karakuri contributed £nil in the period (1H23: £0.8m
loss). Karakuri appointed administrators in June 2023 and the
remaining investment in Karakuri was written down to £nil in the
prior period.
Adjusted loss before tax
Adjusted loss before tax of £161.2m (1H23:
loss of £212.3m) reflects an adjusted EBITDA* profit of £71.2m
(1H23: £16.6m), depreciation, amortisation and impairment of
£210.3m (1H23: 192.5m), and net finance costs of £22.1m (1H23:
£36.4m).
Loss before tax
Loss
before tax of £153.9m (1H23: loss of £289.5m)
is stated after net adjusting items* of £7.3m income (1H23: £77.2m
expense).
Taxation
The Group reported a total tax credit in the
Income Statement for the period of £0.6m (1H23: £14.1m). This
amount includes a corporation tax charge of £1.7m (1H23: £0.4m). A
deferred tax credit of £2.3m (1H23: credit of £14.5m) was
recognised in the period.
Deferred tax assets increased due mainly to the
availability of future R&D tax relief in Poland. Deferred tax
liabilities increased due to the increased valuation of the
investment in Wayve Technologies Limited.
At the end of the period, the Group had
£1,608.4m (1H23: £1,165.6m) of unutilised carried-forward tax
losses.
Dividend
During the period, the Group did not declare a
dividend (1H23: £nil).
Loss per share
Basic and diluted loss per share were 16.65
pence (1H23: 28.65 pence).
Capital expenditure
Capital expenditure for the period totalled
£210.5m (1H23: £283.6m), a reduction of £73.1m, primarily driven by
a decrease in capital expenditure of CFC sites. Capital expenditure
largely comprises new site construction costs and technology
development costs to enhance OSP.
An analysis of capital expenditure by key
categories is presented below:
£m
|
1H24
|
1H23
|
Change
|
CFC sites
|
94.7
|
142.6
|
33.6%
|
Technology
|
97.9
|
102.6
|
4.6%
|
Group support and other
|
11.0
|
21.5
|
48.8%
|
Technology Solutions
|
203.6
|
266.7
|
23.7%
|
|
|
|
|
Logistics
|
5.2
|
6.6
|
21.2%
|
Retail
|
3.0
|
12.7
|
76.4%
|
Eliminations1
|
(1.3)
|
(2.4)
|
(45.8)%
|
Group capital expenditure
|
210.5
|
283.6
|
25.8%
|
1. The elimination
of capital expenditure comprises the design and set up fees charged
to Ocado Retail by Technology Solutions (those fees charged to
Ocado Retail are eliminated on consolidation of the
Group).
Technology Solutions
CFC
sites capital expenditure relates to the
construction of new sites and costs associated with upgrading our
live sites, and totalled £94.7m in the period, a decrease of £47.9m
(1H23: £142.6m). The investment primarily relates to seven sites
under construction and Ocado Retail's Luton CFC which went live in
2H23. The year-on-year reduction is primarily driven by higher
capital expenditure in the prior year on the three sites that went
live in FY23, and sites that are near completion and due to go live
in FY24. CFC sites capital expenditure in 1H24 also benefited from
the draw-down on existing inventory held on hand for new
CFCs.
Technology development spend decreased to
£97.9m (1H23: 102.6m). During the period, we continued to invest in
OSP with a focus on delivering the Re:Imagined product innovations
announced in January 2022. Re:Imagined includes seven key
innovations: the 600 series bot, the 600 grid and optimised site
design, Automated Frameload ("AFL"), On-Grid Robotic Pick ("OGRP"),
Ocado Orbit, Ocado Swift Router and Ocado Flex.
£m
|
1H24
|
1H23
|
Change
|
CFC technologies
|
48.4
|
60.5
|
20.0%
|
Ecommerce
|
18.1
|
14.9
|
(21.5)%
|
Logistics and supply chain
|
13.2
|
10.5
|
(25.7)%
|
Other
|
18.2
|
16.7
|
(9.0)%
|
Technology
|
97.9
|
102.6
|
4.6%
|
We continue to enhance our customer proposition
delivering world-class end-to-end grocery ecommerce and fulfilment
solutions. OSP includes ecommerce, order management, forecasting,
routing and delivery, automated storage and retrieval systems
("ASRS"), dexterous robotics and other material handling
elements.
●
CFC
technologies are at the core of our OSP
proposition. This capital expenditure encompasses the ongoing
development of our grid and bots (our ASRS and the robots on the
grid), its peripheral MHE and the enhancement of these
propositions. This element of our capital expenditure is focused on
reducing both the capital cost and the ongoing running costs of the
CFC for the partner and Ocado Group.
We invested £48.4m in CFC technologies during
the period (1H23: £60.5m) in several key propositions that aim to
increase energy efficiency and reduce build and running costs.
These include: the development of our lowest-cost and lightest bot
ever and its associated grid, the 600 series; an automated freezer
solution ("autofreezer"); and AFL. AFL reduces partner labour hours
and allows higher productivity per employee by removing the
challenging process of manually loading ready-for-customer orders
onto delivery frames.
During the period, we launched the first of our
600 series bots into Ocado Retail's Bicester CFC and deployed AFL
into the Luton CFC.
●
Ecommerce: we invested £18.1m (1H23:
£14.9m) in developing our ecommerce platform, a core element of the
OSP end-to-end solution. These additional OSP ecommerce innovations
continue to enhance every aspect of the shopper journey. They
include improvements to the search and browse experience, and
specific developments to bolster the range of products our partners
can sell.
●
One of the core benefits of OSP is our expertise in
Logistics and
supply chain as part of our end-to-end
solution. We invested £13.2m in these propositions in 1H24 (1H23:
£10.5m), with the focus of our investment on the optimisation of
the grocery supply chain and efficiency of the last mile delivery.
This includes ensuring strong product availability to customers,
whilst maintaining low waste and stock holding days in our
partners' CFCs. Our last-mile solution aims to deliver excellent
slot availability to end customers.
●
The balance of the spend predominantly relates to our teams
creating tooling and development systems necessary to deliver for
the wider Technology function where we invested £18.2m (1H23:
£16.7m).
Group support and other capital expenditure
comprise projects relating to support costs systems and
infrastructure. Other capital expenditure of £11.0m is £10.5m lower
year-on-year (1H23: £21.5m) following completion of Jones Food's
second vertical farm in Lydney, Gloucestershire which opened in
FY23.
Logistics
Capital expenditure of £5.2m (1H23: £6.6m)
largely relates to technology system development of £4.8m (1H23:
£6.6m) to transition our UK partners from our legacy platforms onto
OSP.
Retail
Capital expenditure of £3.0m (1H23: £12.7m)
largely comprises CFC automation costs recharged from Ocado Group
and IT project costs. The year-on-year decrease of £9.7m is due to
a reduction in new CFC investment following the opening of the
Luton CFC in 2H23.
Design and set-up fees of £1.3m (1H23: £2.4m) to
Ocado Retail from Technology Solutions are eliminated on
consolidation of the Group and principally relate to the Luton CFC.
This reduced year-on-year as no new sites have been committed to in
the period.
Cash flow
£m
|
1H24
|
1H23
|
Adjusted EBITDA*
|
71.2
|
16.6
|
Movement in contract
liabilities
|
22.1
|
23.7
|
Other working capital
movements
|
(23.8)
|
(9.5)
|
Finance costs paid
|
(27.8)
|
(28.1)
|
Taxation paid
|
(2.9)
|
1.4
|
Adjusting items*
|
39.3
|
(21.1)
|
Other non-cash items
|
(9.0)
|
0.6
|
Operating cash flow
|
69.1
|
(16.4)
|
Capital expenditure
|
(214.2)
|
(288.8)
|
Net proceeds from interest-bearing
loans and borrowings
|
0.2
|
4.3
|
Repayment of lease
liabilities
|
(27.7)
|
(32.1)
|
Net proceeds from share
issues
|
1.1
|
1.3
|
Other investing and financing
activities
|
34.6
|
18.5
|
Movement in cash and cash equivalents (excl. FX
changes)
|
(136.9)
|
(313.2)
|
Effect of changes in FX
rates
|
(1.3)
|
(6.3)
|
Movement in cash and cash equivalents (incl. FX
changes)
|
(138.2)
|
(319.5)
|
Cash
and cash equivalents (including FX changes)
reduced by £138.2m (1H23: reduction of £319.5m). There was a
decrease in cash outflow of £181.3m year-on-year.
Adjusted EBITDA* (as detailed in the
alternative performance measures in Note 16 of the Consolidated
Financial Statements) improved by £54.6m to £71.2m (1H23:
£16.6m).
Operating cash flow improved by £85.5m to
an inflow of £69.1m (1H23: outflow of £16.4m). The movement can be
analysed as follows:
●
Contract
liabilities: cash inflow of £22.1m (1H23:
£23.7m inflow) relating to upfront design and access
fees paid by our grocery retail partners and advances received by
our OIA business. Design fees are typically paid in instalments
during the CFC construction process.
●
Working capital:
cash outflow of £23.8m (1H23: £9.5m
outflow)
o Trade and other
receivables increased by £9.8m mainly due to the timing of
prepayments relating to insurance premiums, rates and software
maintenance and the timing of cash receipts from our Technology
Solutions partners. This was partially offset by a decrease in
receivables for Ocado Retail mainly due to the timing of receipt of
media and promotional income.
o Inventories
increased by £14.6m mainly driven by the timing of stock receipts
in Ocado Retail (adjusted by accruals for goods received not
invoiced) and increase in bots and spares inventory as we scale the
OIA business.
o Trade and other
payables increased by £0.6m.
●
Finance costs:
cash outflow of £27.8m (1H23: £28.1m outflow)
comprises £15.3m interest and charges on borrowings (1H23: £15.0m)
and £12.5m for the interest element of assets held under finance
leases (1H23: £13.1m).
●
Taxation: cash
outflow of £2.9m (1H23: inflow of £1.4m)
reflects taxation payments by foreign subsidiaries. No UK tax was
paid in the period.
●
Adjusting items*:
cash inflow of £39.3m (1H23: outflow of £21.1m)
relates to cash-settled adjusting items* and primarily comprises
the following:
o £49.8m proceeds
from the settlement of AutoStore patent litigation and
cross-licence pre-2020 patents;
o £(8.2)m (1H23:
£(4.2)m) relating to Finance, HR and Retail IT system
transformation costs;
o £(1.2)m (1H23:
£(7.8)m) relating to organisational restructuring costs;
and
o £nil (1H23:
£(9.1)m) relating to litigation costs
●
Other non-cash
items: outflow of £(9.0)m (1H23: inflow of
£0.6m) relates to adjustments for the following non-cash elements
of adjusted EBITDA*:
o £(27.1)m (1H23:
£(13.1)m) revenue recognised from long-term contracts;
o £19.9m (1H23:
£16.1m) of share-based payments;
o £(1.8)m (1H23:
£1.2m) movement in provisions.
o £(0.2)m share
of profit from joint ventures and associates (1H23: £0.9m share of
loss);
o £0.2m (1H23:
£0.4m) non-cash write-off of property, plant and equipment;
and
o £nil (1H23:
£(5.0)m) gain on the disposal of property, plant and equipment, as
this is recognised in adjusting items* in the Condensed
Consolidated Income Statement but the proceeds from the disposal
are included in other investing and financing
activities.
The movements above result in an
operating cash
inflow of £69.1m (1H23: cash outflow of
£16.4m). The following movements explain the overall movement in
cash and cash equivalents outflow of £138.2m (1H23: outflow of
£319.5m):
●
Capital
expenditure of £214.2m (1H23: £288.8m)
primarily relates to the continued investment in OSP and new CFCs
in the UK and internationally. Capital expenditure also includes
investment in Group support activities. The year-on-year reduction
of £74.6m reflects higher capital expenditure in the prior year on
the three sites that went live in FY23 and sites that are near
completion and due to go live in FY24. The prior year also included
Jones Food's investment in their new plant in Lydney. Cash capital
expenditure of £214.2m is higher than accounting capital
expenditure of £210.5m mainly due to the timing of cash spend on
capital items. This difference is reflected in accruals and
prepayments on the balance sheet.
●
Net proceeds from
interest-bearing loans and borrowings of £0.2m
(1H23: £4.3m) reflect a loan drawn down by Jones Food. Jones
Food is fully consolidated into Ocado Group and this represents the
portion of a £5.0m loan that was lent by entities outside of the
Group.
●
Lease liability
repayments of £27.7m (1H23: £32.1m), decreased
by £4.4m year-on-year mainly driven by the expiry of certain plant
and machinery leases in the prior year.
●
Net proceeds from
share issue of £1.1m (1H23: £1.3m) in respect
of employee share schemes.
●
Other investing
and financing activities of £34.6m (1H23:
£18.5m) include £18.6m (1H23: £9.4m) proceeds from the disposal of
assets held for sale, £15.0m (1H23: £18.2m) of interest received on
treasury deposits, and £1.0m (1H23: £0.9m) cash contingent
consideration received in respect of the sale of Fabled to Next
plc.
●
Effect of changes
in FX rates of £1.3m
(1H23: £6.3m loss) relates to the FX loss (reported under
other finance gains and losses) and translation FX on our
non-sterling cash balances (predominantly USD cash balances held to
fund the expansion of our Technology Solutions business in the
US).
£m
|
1H24
|
1H231
|
Movement in cash and cash equivalents
|
(138.2)
|
(319.5)
|
Adjusting items*
|
(39.3)
|
21.1
|
Proceeds from disposal of assets held
for sale
|
(18.6)
|
(9.4)
|
Purchase of unlisted equity
investments and loans to investee companies
|
-
|
10.0
|
Cash received in respect of
contingent consideration
|
(1.0)
|
(0.9)
|
Financing2
|
(1.3)
|
(5.6)
|
Effect of changes in FX
rates
|
1.3
|
6.3
|
Underlying cash outflow*
|
(197.1)
|
(298.0)
|
1. Underlying cash
outflow for 1H23 has been re-presented to exclude proceeds from the
disposal of assets held for sale of £(9.4)m and cash received in
respect of contingent consideration of £(0.9)m as these are not
recurring, core business items. Underlying cash outflow for 1H23
was previously reported as £287.7m
2. Financing of
£1.3m (1H23: £5.6m) includes net proceeds from share issues of
£1.1m (1H23: £1.3m) and net proceeds from interest-bearing loans
and borrowings of £0.2m (1H23: £4.3m).
Underlying cash outflow* is £197.1m (1H23:
£298.0m) and improved by £100.9m year-on-year. Underlying cash
flow* is the movement in cash and cash equivalents excluding the
impact of adjusting items*, proceeds from the disposal of assets
held for sale, cash received in respect of contingent
consideration, costs of new financing activity, investment in
unlisted equity investments and FX movements.
Balance Sheet
£m
|
1H24
|
1H23
|
FY23
|
Assets
|
|
|
|
Goodwill
|
157.9
|
161.8
|
158.6
|
Other intangible assets
|
480.8
|
413.6
|
461.3
|
Property, plant and
equipment
|
1,790.7
|
1,832.9
|
1,794.9
|
Right-of-use assets
|
414.5
|
460.8
|
428.1
|
Investment in joint venture and
associates
|
9.7
|
14.6
|
9.5
|
Trade and other
receivables
|
405.3
|
308.9
|
427.8
|
Cash and cash equivalents
|
746.6
|
1,008.5
|
884.8
|
Other financial assets
|
138.6
|
194.8
|
127.7
|
Inventories
|
123.5
|
85.7
|
127.1
|
Other assets
|
16.2
|
7.2
|
9.2
|
Total assets
|
4,283.8
|
4,488.8
|
4,429.0
|
|
|
|
|
Liabilities
|
|
|
|
Contract liabilities
|
(449.9)
|
(428.2)
|
(446.7)
|
Trade and other payables
|
(449.8)
|
(456.7)
|
(470.4)
|
Borrowings
|
(1,482.2)
|
(1,393.2)
|
(1,462.1)
|
Lease liabilities
|
(486.5)
|
(516.0)
|
(497.8)
|
Other Liabilities
|
(43.2)
|
(48.2)
|
(41.0)
|
Total liabilities
|
(2,911.6)
|
(2,842.3)
|
(2,918.0)
|
|
|
|
|
Net
assets
|
1,372.2
|
1,646.5
|
1,511.0
|
|
|
|
|
Total equity
|
(1,372.2)
|
(1,646.5)
|
(1,511.0)
|
Assets
Goodwill of £157.9m (FY23: £158.6m) arises
on the acquisition of a business where the purchase cost exceeds
the fair value of the tangible assets, the liabilities and the
intangible assets acquired. It therefore represents the expected
future benefit to Ocado Group of businesses that have been
acquired. Goodwill of £157.9m arises from the prior acquisitions of
Kindred Systems Inc., Haddington Dynamics Inc., Myrmex Inc. and
Jones Food Company. This future benefit derives from the
development of new technology, the ability to attract new customers
and cost synergies. Goodwill decreased by £0.7m in the period
mainly due to the foreign exchange impact of the revaluation of the
goodwill (predominantly USD-denominated).
Other intangible assets net book value of
£480.8m increased by £19.5m (FY23: £461.3m). The movement was
driven by:
●
£88.4m (1H23: £79.8m) internal development costs capitalised
during the period that related to the development of our technology
capabilities for our partners, across our CFC, Zoom and ISF
solutions;
●
£8.8m (1H23: £15.3m) of intangible assets acquired primarily
relating to software and patents;
●
Amortisation charge for the period of £74.2m (1H23: £59.7m);
and
●
Other smaller movements of £(3.5)m.
Other intangible assets are typically
depreciated over five years.
Property, plant and equipment net book
value decreased by £4.2m to £1,790.7m (FY23: £1,794.9m) and
comprise fixtures, fittings, plant and machinery of £1,588.4m
(FY23: £1,586.3m), land and buildings of £199.9m (FY23: £206.0m)
and motor vehicles of £2.4m (FY23: £2.6m).
●
Fixtures, fittings, plant and machinery predominantly
comprise the material handling and other operating equipment within
our sites.
o This increased
by £2.1m to £1,588.4m driven by £99.9m of additions (1H23: £169.6m)
primarily relating to client sites currently under
construction.
o Internal
development costs of £11.7m (1H23: £17.2m) were capitalised and
relate to OSP technology development and deployment.
o These increases
were partly offset by depreciation for the period of £99.1m (1H23:
£94.5m), net foreign exchange movements of £(11.4)m (1H23: £26.9m)
and impairments of £3.8m (1H23: £8.5m) and other smaller movements.
Impairments recognised largely relate to the strategy and capacity
review of the Zoom network.
●
Land and buildings comprise CFC and Zoom sites in the UK,
spokes and offices. The net book value decreased by £6.1m to
£199.9m.
●
Motor vehicles primarily comprise the vehicles owned by Ocado
Group relating to CFC and head office operations.
●
Tangible assets are typically depreciated over eight to ten
years.
Right-of-use assets of £414.5m (FY23:
£428.1m) represent the value of assets held under long-term leases,
comprising land and buildings of £349.4m (FY23: £359.9m), motor
vehicles of £48.6m (FY23: £50.5m) and fixtures, fittings, plant and
machinery of £16.5m (FY23: £17.7m).
During the period, the Group entered into new
leases for assets of £11.8m:
●
£8.8m of which is motor vehicles;
●
£1.7m of which is fixtures, fittings, plant and machinery;
and
●
£1.3m of which is land and buildings.
The Group recognised a depreciation charge for
the period of £30.2m (1H23: £35.5m).
Investment in joint ventures and associates
includes the Group's 50% investment in MHE JVCo and the
Group's 26.3% investment in Karakuri (both no change in percentage
holding from the prior year). The Group's investment in Karakuri
was written off in the prior year and the carrying amount at the
end of the period of £9.7m relates solely to the investment in MHE
JVCo (FY23: £9.6m).
Trade and other receivables decreased by
£22.5m to £405.3m (FY23: £427.8m). The balance comprises the
following:
●
Trade receivables (net of expected credit loss allowance) of
£116.9m (FY23: £126.8m) primarily comprise receivable balances due
from Technology Solutions retail partners and amounts due to Ocado
Retail from suppliers as part of commercial and media
income.
●
Other receivables of £146.3m (FY23: 190.4m). Other
receivables largely comprise amounts receivable from AutoStore
following the settlement of patent litigation, tax refunds due and
receivables expected from contract manufacturers for components
sourced on their behalf. The decrease of £44.1m is mainly driven by
cash receipts from AutoStore.
●
Accrued income of £72.4m (FY23: £54.8m) relates to accrued
income for media and promotions, solutions capacity fees, and
volume-related rebates. The increase is mainly driven by higher
accrued media and promotional income due to the timing of
invoicing.
●
Prepayments of £69.7m (FY23: £55.8m) include CFC components,
software maintenance payments, and business rates and utilities
payments. The £13.9m increase was mainly driven by the timing of
utilities and rates prepayments.
●
Amounts due from suppliers relating to commercial income are
£40.4m (FY23: £91.5m). £15.2m (FY23: £59.1m) of the total is within
trade receivables and £25.2m (FY23: £32.4m) is within accrued
income.
Cash
and cash equivalents were £746.6m (FY23:
£884.8m) at the end of the period. Gross debt (including lease
liabilities) at the period end was £1,968.7m (FY23: £1,959.9m),
with net debt* at the end of the period of £1,222.1m (FY23:
£1,075.1m). Current borrowing facilities include a £600m
convertible bond that matures in December 2025, a £500m senior
unsecured note that matures in October 2026 and a £350m convertible
bond that matures in January 2027. These facilities are expected to
be refinanced on a timely basis to maintain appropriate
liquidity.
The Group also has access to a £300m undrawn RCF
that is due to expire in June 2025.
Other financial assets of £138.6m (FY23:
£127.7m) comprise:
●
£94.8m (FY23: £82.7m) unlisted equity investments held by the
Group in Oxa Autonomy, Wayve and 80 Acres;
●
£28.4m (FY23: £29.4m) total contingent consideration
receivable
●
£14.7m (FY23: £14.4m) loans receivable held at amortised
cost; and
●
£0.7m (FY23: £1.2m) other items.
The increase of £10.9m is mainly due to 1. the
revaluation of the Group's unlisted equity investments, principally
Wayve (as detailed below) and 2. cash received in respect of
contingent consideration due from Next.
Unlisted equity investments,
loans and other items
The fair value of unlisted equity investments
increased by £12.1m to £94.8m (FY23: £82.7m).
During the period, Wayve completed a Series C
fundraising, following which the Group now holds a 1.5% interest in
Wayve (FY23: 2.5%). The Group has recorded an increase in fair
value of its equity investment in Wayve of £11.7m, and an increase
in the value of its outstanding warrants of £9.7m.
Contingent consideration
receivables
Contingent
consideration due from M&S
The fair value of the contingent consideration
due from M&S in relation to the disposal of 50% of Ocado Retail
in 2019 is estimated to be £28.0m (FY23: £28.0m).
Contingent
consideration due from Next
The fair value of the contingent consideration
due from Next is estimated to be £0.4m (FY23: £1.4m). During the
period, the Group received cash consideration of £1.0m (1H23:
£0.9m).
Further details can be found in Note 9 to the
Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements.
Inventories of £123.5m (FY23: £127.1m)
comprise Ocado Retail grocery inventory, Technology Solutions grid
and bots spares and 6RS Chuck robots. Inventories decreased by
£3.6m during the period mainly driven by the seasonal reduction in
Ocado Retail's grocery stock.
Other assets of £16.2m (FY23: £9.2m)
comprise:
●
Share warrants that have a carrying value of £13.0m (FY23:
£3.3m). The £9.7m increase during the period reflects an increase
in the value of warrants outstanding in respect of Wayve as noted
above and;
●
Deferred tax assets of £3.2m (FY23: £0.9m).
Liabilities
Contract liabilities of £449.9m (FY23:
£446.7m) primarily relate to the consideration received in advance
from Technology Solutions and OIA customers. Revenue is recognised
when the performance obligation is satisfied, typically when a site
goes live or OIA products and services are provided. The £3.2m
increase in the year is driven by:
●
£30.2m (1H23: £18.8m) invoiced to partners for their
contracted contribution towards the initial MHE investment made in
a site, or build and design of MHE; and
●
£(27.0)m (1H23: £(13.5)m) in respect of prior receipts
recognised as revenue in the year.
The current liabilities portion of the contract
liabilities balance of £37.5m (FY23: £38.6m) represents amounts due
to be recognised as revenue within 12 months of the half-year end.
Long-term liabilities of £412.4m (FY23: £408.1m) make up the
balance.
Trade and other payables of £449.8m (FY23:
£470.4m) reduced by £20.6m. The balance comprises the
following:
●
Trade payables of £186.0m (FY23: £181.0m). Trade payables at
the end of the period predominantly relate to amounts payable by
Ocado Retail to suppliers.
●
Accrued expenses £191.2m (FY23: £213.3m). Accrued expenses at
the end of the period largely relate to 1. accrued payroll
expenses, 2. CFC site support and maintenance costs, and 3. accrued
capital expenditure. Ocado Retail accrued expenses largely relate
to goods received and not yet invoiced. Accrued expenses reduced by
£22.1m during the period largely due to the seasonal reduction in
purchases in Ocado Retail and an acceleration in invoice processing
during the year.
●
Tax and social security payables of £58.3m (FY23: £61.1m).
Tax and social security payables at the end of the period
predominantly relate to amounts due to HM Revenue and Customs in
respect of VAT and Pay As You Earn.
●
Deferred income of £14.3m (FY23: £15.0m). Deferred income
primarily relates to advance receipts of ongoing capacity fees and
R&D tax credits by Technology Solutions. Deferred income also
includes amounts received by Ocado Retail in respect of annual
delivery passes not yet recognised as revenue, in accordance with
IFRS 15.
Borrowings of £1,482.2m (FY23: £1,462.1m)
comprise the liability element of the two unsecured convertible
bonds, the senior unsecured bond and the shareholder loan provided
by M&S (the non-controlling interest) to Ocado Retail. The
increase of £20.1m is due to:
●
£35.2m accrued interest on loans and borrowings held at
amortised cost;
●
£0.2m loan drawn by Jones Food; and
●
£(15.3)m interest repayments;
Lease liabilities of £486.5m (FY23:
£497.8m) comprise land and buildings of £420.2m (FY23: £426.9m),
motor vehicles of £49.1m (FY23: £51.6m) and fixtures, fittings,
plant and machinery of £17.2m (FY23: £19.3m). New lease liabilities
of £11.7m were entered into during the year (1H23: £18.3m) and
largely comprised motor vehicles. Lease liabilities decreased by
payments made of £40.2m (1H23: £45.2m), partly offset by £12.5m of
accrued interest (1H23: £13.1m) and £4.7m of other
movements.
Lease liabilities of £486.5m (FY23: £497.8m)
include £14.0m (FY23: £16.5m) payable to MHE JVCo, a company in
which the Group holds a 50% interest.
Other liabilities of £43.2m (FY23: £41.0m)
comprise:
●
£39.8m (FY23: £40.8m) of provisions largely in respect of 1.
dilapidation of properties and vehicles 2. employers NIC on taxable
equity-settled schemes and cash-settled employee long-term
incentive schemes, and 3. Onerous contracts in relation to
unavoidable costs expected to be incurred in exiting manufacturing
contracts as a result of changes to design and
production;
●
£0.5m (FY23: £0.2m) derivative financial liabilities
primarily related to diesel hedges; and
●
£2.9m (FY23: £nil) of deferred tax liabilities. The £2.9m
increase is due to the deferred tax liability arising from the
increase in the fair value of the Group's unlisted equity
investments and is recognised in the Condensed Consolidated
Statement of Comprehensive Income.
Condensed Consolidated Financial
Statements
Condensed Consolidated Income
Statement
for
the 26 weeks ended 2 June 2024
|
|
26 weeks
ended
2 June 2024
(unaudited)
|
26 weeks
ended
28
May 2023 (unaudited)1, 2
|
|
|
Before adjusting
items
|
Adjusting
items
(Note 5)
|
Total
|
Before
adjusting items
|
Adjusting
items
(Note
5)
|
Total
|
|
Notes
|
£m
|
£m
|
£m
|
£m
|
£m
|
£m
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Revenue
|
4
|
1,543.1
|
-
|
1,543.1
|
1,370.7
|
-
|
1,370.7
|
Insurance and legal settlement
proceeds
|
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
Operating costs
|
|
(1,682.4)
|
0.4
|
(1,682.0)
|
(1,545.7)
|
(77.2)
|
(1,622.9)
|
Operating loss before results from joint ventures and
associate
|
|
(139.3)
|
0.4
|
(138.9)
|
(175.0)
|
(77.2)
|
(252.2)
|
Share of results from joint ventures
and associate
|
|
0.2
|
-
|
0.2
|
(0.9)
|
-
|
(0.9)
|
Operating loss
|
|
(139.1)
|
0.4
|
(138.7)
|
(175.9)
|
(77.2)
|
(253.1)
|
Finance income
|
6
|
18.1
|
6.9
|
25.0
|
19.6
|
-
|
19.6
|
Finance costs
|
6
|
(51.1)
|
-
|
(51.1)
|
(47.0)
|
-
|
(47.0)
|
Other finance gains and
losses
|
6
|
10.9
|
-
|
10.9
|
(9.0)
|
-
|
(9.0)
|
Loss before tax
|
|
(161.2)
|
7.3
|
(153.9)
|
(212.3)
|
(77.2)
|
(289.5)
|
Income tax credit
|
|
0.6
|
-
|
0.6
|
14.1
|
-
|
14.1
|
Loss for the period
|
|
(160.6)
|
7.3
|
(153.3)
|
(198.2)
|
(77.2)
|
(275.4)
|
Attributable to:
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Owners of Ocado Group plc
|
|
|
|
(136.3)
|
|
|
(233.7)
|
Non-controlling interests
|
|
|
|
(17.0)
|
|
|
(41.7)
|
|
|
|
|
(153.3)
|
|
|
(275.4)
|
1. In FY23, the Group changed the
presentation of other finance gains and losses. See Note 3 for
details.
2. In 1H24, Revenue includes £2.4m
of CFC rent revenue. In 1H23, the equivalent amount is offset
within Operating costs. If 1H23 was presented in line with the
classification in 1H24, Revenue would be £1,372.9m in
1H23.
Loss per share
|
|
|
|
Pence
|
|
|
Pence
|
Basic and diluted loss per share
|
7
|
|
|
(16.65)
|
|
|
(28.65)
|
Refer to Note 16 Alternative
Performance Measures for a reconciliation
of operating loss to adjusted earnings before interest, taxation,
depreciation, amortisation, impairment and adjusting items
(adjusted EBITDA*).
Condensed Consolidated Statement of Comprehensive
Income
for
the 26 weeks ended 2 June 2024
|
|
26 weeks
ended
2 June 2024
|
26 weeks
ended
28 May
2023
|
|
|
£m
|
£m
|
|
|
(unaudited)
|
(unaudited)
|
Loss for the period
|
|
(153.3)
|
(275.4)
|
Other comprehensive income:
|
|
|
|
Items that may be reclassified to profit or loss in subsequent
years:
|
|
|
|
Fair value movements in cash flow
hedges
|
|
(0.5)
|
(1.0)
|
Foreign exchange loss on translation
of foreign subsidiaries
|
|
(14.7)
|
(28.8)
|
Net
other comprehensive expense that may be reclassified to profit or
loss in subsequent periods
|
|
(15.2)
|
(29.8)
|
Items that will not be reclassified to profit or loss in
subsequent periods:
|
|
|
|
Gains on equity instruments
designated as fair value through other comprehensive
income
|
|
8.7
|
-
|
Net
other comprehensive income that will not be reclassified to profit
and loss in subsequent periods
|
|
8.7
|
-
|
Other comprehensive expense for the period, net of
tax
|
|
(6.5)
|
(29.8)
|
Total comprehensive expense for the period
|
|
(159.8)
|
(305.2)
|
Attributable to:
|
|
|
|
Owners of Ocado Group plc
|
|
(142.8)
|
(263.5)
|
Non-controlling interests
|
|
(17.0)
|
(41.7)
|
|
|
(159.8)
|
(305.2)
|
Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheet
as
at 2 June 2024
|
|
2 June 2024
|
28 May
2023
|
3 December
2023
|
|
|
£m
|
£m
|
£m
|
|
Notes
|
(unaudited)
|
(unaudited)
|
(audited)
|
Non-current assets
|
|
|
|
|
Goodwill
|
|
157.9
|
161.8
|
158.6
|
Other intangible assets
|
|
480.8
|
413.6
|
461.3
|
Property, plant and
equipment
|
|
1,790.7
|
1,832.9
|
1,794.9
|
Right-of-use assets
|
|
414.5
|
460.8
|
428.1
|
Investment in joint ventures and
associate
|
|
9.7
|
14.6
|
9.5
|
Other financial assets
|
9
|
95.5
|
193.3
|
84.0
|
Trade and other
receivables
|
|
7.8
|
-
|
50.9
|
Deferred tax assets
|
|
3.2
|
1.4
|
0.9
|
Derivative financial
assets
|
10
|
13.0
|
5.8
|
3.3
|
|
|
2,973.1
|
3,084.2
|
2,991.5
|
Current assets
|
|
|
|
|
Other financial assets
|
9
|
43.1
|
1.5
|
43.7
|
Inventories
|
|
123.5
|
85.7
|
127.1
|
Trade and other
receivables
|
|
394.7
|
308.9
|
375.4
|
Current tax assets
|
|
2.8
|
-
|
1.5
|
Cash and cash equivalents
|
8
|
746.6
|
1,008.5
|
884.8
|
Derivative financial
assets
|
10
|
-
|
-
|
0.1
|
|
|
1,310.7
|
1,404.6
|
1,432.6
|
Asset held for sale
|
|
-
|
-
|
4.9
|
|
|
1,310.7
|
1,404.6
|
1,437.5
|
Total assets
|
|
4,283.8
|
4,488.8
|
4,429.0
|
Current liabilities
|
|
|
|
|
Contract liabilities
|
|
(37.5)
|
(32.0)
|
(38.6)
|
Trade and other payables
|
|
(447.6)
|
(456.3)
|
(468.4)
|
Current tax liabilities
|
|
(1.1)
|
-
|
(0.9)
|
Borrowings
|
8
|
(4.9)
|
(0.4)
|
(2.6)
|
Provisions
|
|
(11.1)
|
(20.0)
|
(13.2)
|
Lease liabilities
|
8
|
(55.1)
|
(59.4)
|
(52.9)
|
Derivative financial
liabilities
|
10
|
(0.5)
|
(1.8)
|
(0.2)
|
|
|
(557.8)
|
(569.9)
|
(576.8)
|
Net
current assets
|
|
752.9
|
834.7
|
860.7
|
Non-current liabilities
|
|
|
|
|
Contract liabilities
|
|
(412.4)
|
(396.2)
|
(408.1)
|
Provisions
|
|
(28.7)
|
(26.4)
|
(27.6)
|
Borrowings
|
8
|
(1,477.3)
|
(1,392.8)
|
(1,459.5)
|
Lease liabilities
|
8
|
(431.4)
|
(456.6)
|
(444.9)
|
Trade and other payables
|
|
(1.1)
|
(0.4)
|
(1.1)
|
Deferred tax liabilities
|
|
(2.9)
|
-
|
-
|
|
|
(2,353.8)
|
(2,272.4)
|
(2,341.2)
|
Net
assets
|
|
1,372.2
|
1,646.5
|
1,511.0
|
Equity
|
|
|
|
|
Share capital
|
|
16.6
|
16.5
|
16.6
|
Share premium
|
|
1,944.0
|
1,940.6
|
1,942.9
|
Treasury shares reserve
|
|
(112.9)
|
(112.9)
|
(112.9)
|
Other reserves
|
|
84.1
|
134.2
|
90.6
|
Retained earnings
|
|
(566.2)
|
(385.2)
|
(449.8)
|
Equity attributable to owners of
Ocado Group plc
|
|
1,365.6
|
1,593.2
|
1,487.4
|
Non-controlling interests
|
|
6.6
|
53.3
|
23.6
|
Total equity
|
|
1,372.2
|
1,646.5
|
1,511.0
|
Condensed Consolidated Statement of Changes in
Equity
for
the 26 weeks ended 2 June 2024 (unaudited)
|
Equity attributable to owners
of Ocado Group plc
|
|
|
|
Share
capital
|
Share
premium
|
Treasury shares
reserve
|
Other
reserves
|
Retained
earnings
|
Total
|
Non-
controlling
interests
|
Total
equity
|
|
£m
|
£m
|
£m
|
£m
|
£m
|
£m
|
£m
|
£m
|
Balance at 3 December 2023 (audited)
|
16.6
|
1,942.9
|
(112.9)
|
90.6
|
(449.8)
|
1,487.4
|
23.6
|
1,511.0
|
Loss for the period
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
(136.3)
|
(136.3)
|
(17.0)
|
(153.3)
|
Other comprehensive
expense
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
(6.5)
|
-
|
(6.5)
|
-
|
(6.5)
|
Total comprehensive expense for the period ended 2 June 2024
(unaudited)
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
(6.5)
|
(136.3)
|
(142.8)
|
(17.0)
|
(159.8)
|
Transactions with owners:
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
- Issue of ordinary
shares
|
-
|
0.9
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
0.9
|
-
|
0.9
|
- Allotted in respect of share
option schemes
|
-
|
0.2
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
0.2
|
-
|
0.2
|
- Share-based payments
charge
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
19.9
|
19.9
|
-
|
19.9
|
Total transactions with owners
|
-
|
1.1
|
-
|
-
|
19.9
|
21.0
|
-
|
21.0
|
Balance at 2 June 2024 (unaudited)
|
16.6
|
1,944.0
|
(112.9)
|
84.1
|
(566.2)
|
1,365.6
|
6.6
|
1,372.2
|
for the 26 weeks ended 28 May 2023
(unaudited)
|
Equity
attributable to owners of Ocado Group plc
|
|
|
|
Share
capital
|
Share
premium
|
Treasury
shares reserve
|
Other
reserves
|
Retained
earnings
|
Total
|
Non-
controlling interests
|
Total
equity
|
|
£m
|
£m
|
£m
|
£m
|
£m
|
£m
|
£m
|
£m
|
Balance at 27 November 2022
(audited)
|
16.5
|
1,939.3
|
(112.9)
|
164.0
|
(169.0)
|
1,837.9
|
96.4
|
1,934.3
|
Loss for the period
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
(233.7)
|
(233.7)
|
(41.7)
|
(275.4)
|
Other comprehensive
expense
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
(29.8)
|
-
|
(29.8)
|
-
|
(29.8)
|
Total comprehensive expense for the
period ended 28 May 2023 (unaudited)
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
(29.8)
|
(233.7)
|
(263.5)
|
(41.7)
|
(305.2)
|
Transactions with owners:
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
- Issue of ordinary
shares
|
-
|
1.1
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
1.1
|
-
|
1.1
|
- Allotted in respect of share
option schemes
|
-
|
0.2
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
0.2
|
-
|
0.2
|
- Share-based payments charge
(net of tax)
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
16.1
|
16.1
|
-
|
16.1
|
- Additional investment in
Jones Food Company Limited1
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
1.4
|
1.4
|
(1.4)
|
-
|
Total transactions with
owners
|
-
|
1.3
|
-
|
-
|
17.5
|
18.8
|
(1.4)
|
17.4
|
Balance at 28 May 2023
(unaudited)
|
16.5
|
1,940.6
|
(112.9)
|
134.2
|
(385.2)
|
1,593.2
|
53.3
|
1,646.5
|
1. In April 2023, the Group
exercised warrants in Jones Food Company Limited ("Jones Food
Company") to acquire 2.3 million shares for £3.7m and therefore,
the Group's shareholdings in Jones Food Company is 54.6%. The Group
retains control of Jones Food Company.
Condensed Consolidated Statement of Cash
Flows
for
the 26 weeks ended 2 June 2024
|
|
26 weeks
ended
2 June 2024
|
26 weeks
ended
28 May
2023
|
|
|
£m
|
£m
|
|
Note
|
(unaudited)
|
(unaudited)
|
Cash generated from operations
|
11
|
50.0
|
10.3
|
Cash received from the AutoStore
settlement
|
5
|
49.8
|
-
|
Corporation tax
(paid)/received
|
|
(2.9)
|
1.4
|
Interest paid
|
|
(27.8)
|
(28.1)
|
Net
cash flows (used in)/from operating activities
|
|
69.1
|
(16.4)
|
Cash flows from/(used in) investing
activities
|
|
|
|
Purchase of property, plant and
equipment
|
|
(120.5)
|
(194.8)
|
Purchase of intangible
assets
|
|
(93.7)
|
(94.0)
|
Purchase of unlisted equity
investment at FVTOCI
|
|
-
|
(10.0)
|
Proceeds from disposal of asset held
for sale
|
|
18.6
|
9.4
|
Cash received in respect of
contingent considerations receivable
|
|
1.0
|
0.9
|
Interest received
|
|
15.0
|
18.2
|
Net
cash flows used in investing activities
|
|
(179.6)
|
(270.3)
|
Cash flows from/(used in) financing
activities
|
|
|
|
Proceeds from issue of ordinary
share capital
|
|
0.9
|
1.1
|
Proceeds from allotment of share
options
|
|
0.2
|
0.2
|
Proceeds from interest-bearing loans
and borrowings
|
|
0.2
|
14.3
|
Repayment of borrowings
|
|
-
|
(10.0)
|
Repayment of principal element of
lease liabilities
|
|
(27.7)
|
(32.1)
|
Net
cash flows used in financing activities
|
|
(26.4)
|
(26.5)
|
Net
decrease in cash and cash equivalents
|
|
(136.9)
|
(313.2)
|
Cash and cash equivalents at the
beginning of the period
|
|
884.8
|
1,328.0
|
Effects of changes in foreign
exchange rates
|
|
(1.3)
|
(6.3)
|
Cash and cash equivalents at the end of the
period
|
|
746.6
|
1,008.5
|
Notes to the condensed consolidated interim
financial statements
1. General information
Ocado Group plc (hereafter the "Company") is
incorporated in the United Kingdom under the Companies Act 2006
(company number: 07098618). The address of its registered office is
Buildings One & Two Trident Place, Mosquito Way, Hatfield,
Hertfordshire, AL10 9UL, United Kingdom. The condensed consolidated
interim financial information (hereafter "Financial Information")
comprises the results of the Company and its subsidiaries
(hereafter the "Group").
The financial period represents the 26 weeks
ended 2 June 2024. The prior financial periods represent the 26
weeks ended 28 May 2023 and the 53 weeks ended 3 December
2023.
2. Basis of preparation
These condensed consolidated interim financial
statements for the half-year reporting period ended 2 June 2024 has
been prepared in accordance with the UK-adopted International
Accounting Standard 34, 'Interim Financial Reporting' and the
Disclosure Guidance and Transparency Rules sourcebook of the UK's
Financial Conduct Authority.
The Financial Information does not amount to
full statutory accounts within the meaning of Section 434 of the
Companies Act 2006 and does not include all of the information and
disclosures required for full annual financial statements. It
should be read in conjunction with the Annual Report and Accounts
of Ocado Group plc for the 53 weeks ended 3 December 2023 which was
prepared in accordance with the Listing Rules and the Disclosure
Guidance and Transparency Rules of the United Kingdom Financial
Conduct Authority (where applicable), International Accounting
Standards in conformity with the requirements of the Companies Act
2006 and UK-adopted International Financial Reporting Standards
('IFRS'), including the interpretations issued by IFRS
Interpretation Committee ('IFRIC'). This report is available either
on request from the Company's registered office or at
www.ocadogroup.com. The Independent Auditor's Report on these
accounts was unqualified, did not contain an emphasis of matter
paragraph and did not contain any statement under Section 498 of
the Companies Act 2006.
The Financial Information is presented in
pounds sterling, rounded to the nearest hundred thousand unless
otherwise stated. It has been prepared under the historical cost
convention, as modified by the revaluation of financial asset
investments and certain financial assets and liabilities, which are
held at fair value.
Going concern
The Directors are satisfied that the Group has
sufficient resources to continue in operation for the foreseeable
future, a period of not less than 12 months from the date of this
report. Accordingly, they continue to adopt the going concern basis
in preparing the condensed consolidated financial
statements.
In assessing going concern, the Directors take
into account the Group's cash flows, solvency and liquidity
positions and borrowing facilities. At the end of the period, the
Group had Cash and cash equivalents of £746.6m (3 December 2023:
£884.8m) and net current assets of £752.9m (3 December 2023:
£860.7m), which the Directors believe would be sufficient to
maintain the Group's liquidity over the going concern period,
including continued investment to meet existing financial
commitments and to deliver future growth.
The Directors considered a range of scenarios
as part of their assessment, each of which showed positive cash
headroom throughout the 18 month period from the balance sheet
date. In addition, the Directors considered mitigating actions
available in the event of either a deterioration in trading
performance or the crystallisation of one or more of the Group's
principal risks, notably the ability to reduce capital expenditure
in the short term or to make cost efficiencies where
appropriate.
The Directors also considered the maturity
profile of the Group's debt facilities, with particular focus on
the Revolving Credit Facility ("RCF") which matures in June 2025
(currently includes an option to extend to June 2027) and
Convertible Bonds which mature in December 2025. Whilst the
scenarios modelled indicate no draw down of the RCF would be
required and the maturity of the convertible bonds is outside of
the going concern assessment period, the Directors have considered
the risk that the Group has insufficient ability to access the
capital markets to refinance debt as it approaches maturity. The
Directors are comfortable, based on the Group's previous record in
raising finance, that an extension to the RCF and refinance of the
convertible bonds ahead of maturity will be successfully achieved
and will therefore not impact the ability of the Group to continue
to meet existing financial commitments as they fall due.
Taking these factors together, the Directors
believe that it is appropriate to continue to adopt the going
concern basis in preparing the condensed consolidated financial
statements.
3. Material accounting policies
Accounting policies
The accounting policies applied by the Group in
these interim financial statements are consistent with those
applied by the Group in its consolidated financial statements for
the 53 weeks ended 3 December 2023.
Judgements and estimates
The preparation of interim financial
information requires management to make judgements, estimates and
assumptions that affect the application of accounting policies and
the reported amounts of assets, liabilities, income and expense.
Actual results may differ from these estimates. In preparing these
interim financial statements, the critical accounting judgements
made by management in applying the Group's accounting policies and
the key sources of estimation uncertainty were the same as those
that applied to the Annual Report and Accounts for the 53 weeks
ended 3 December 2023.
New
standards, amendments and interpretations
The following new standards, interpretations
and amendments to published standards and interpretations are
relevant to the Group and have been deemed to have an immaterial
effect on these interim financial statements:
|
|
Effective
date
|
IFRS 17
|
Insurance Contracts
|
1 January
2023
|
IAS 1
|
Disclosure of Accounting Policies
(amendments)
|
1 January
2023
|
IAS 8
|
Disclosure of Accounting Estimates
(amendments)
|
1 January
2023
|
IAS 12
|
Deferred Tax related to Assets and
Liabilities arising from a Single Transaction
(amendments)
|
1 January
2023
|
IAS 12
|
Income taxes - International Tax
Reform - Pillar Two Model Rules (amendments)
|
3 May
2023
|
IFRS 10
|
Consolidated Financial Statements
(amendments)
|
Deferred
|
IAS 28
|
Investments in Associates and Joint
Ventures (amendments)
|
Deferred
|
Change in presentation of other finance gains and losses in
the Condensed Consolidated Income Statement
In FY23 the Group reclassified gains and losses
relating to foreign exchange and on revaluation of financial
instruments from Finance Income and Finance Costs to Other Finance
Gains and Losses. Comparative amounts for 1H23 have been
represented to align to this presentation which resulted in £9.0m
being reclassified from Finance Costs to Other Finance Gains and
Losses.
The revised presentation provides an Income
Statement that is more relevant for the Group and is in line with
the Annual Report and Accounts for the 53 weeks ended 3 December
2023.
4. Segmental reporting
In accordance with IFRS 8 "Operating Segments",
an operating segment is defined as a business activity whose
operating results are reviewed by the chief operating
decision-maker ("CODM") and for which discrete information is
available. Operating segments are reported in a manner consistent
with the internal reporting provided to the CODM, as required by
IFRS 8. The CODM, who is responsible for allocating resources and
assessing performance of the operating segments, has been
identified as the Board. The Board assesses the performance of all
operating segments on the basis of adjusted
EBITDA*.
The Group reports its operating segments to
align with the three underlying business models: Retail, Logistics
and Technology Solutions:
●
The Retail segment provides online grocery and general
merchandise offerings to customers within the United Kingdom, and
relates entirely to the Ocado Retail joint venture.
●
The Logistics segment provides the CFCs and logistics
services for customers in the United Kingdom (Wm Morrison
Supermarkets Limited and Ocado Retail Limited).
●
The Technology Solutions segment provides end-to-end online
retail and automated storage and retrieval solutions for general
merchandise to corporate customers both in and outside of the
United Kingdom.
The 1H24 segmental disclosures have been
prepared to reflect the above structure.
Inter-segment eliminations relate to revenues
and costs arising from inter-segment transactions, and are required
to reconcile segmental results to the consolidated Group
results.
Any transactions between the segments are
subject to normal commercial terms and market conditions. Segmental
results include items directly attributable to a segment as well as
those that can be allocated on a reasonable basis.
The Group is not currently reliant on any major
customer for 10% or more of its revenue.
|
Technology
Solutions
|
Logistics
|
Retail
|
Inter-segment
eliminations
|
Total
|
Segmental revenue and
EBITDA*
|
£m
|
£m
|
£m
|
£m
|
£m
|
26
weeks ended 2 June 2024 (unaudited)
|
|
|
|
|
|
Revenue
|
241.4
|
354.0
|
1,312.0
|
(364.3)
|
1,543.1
|
Adjusted
EBITDA*
|
35.0
|
17.2
|
20.7
|
(1.7)
|
71.2
|
26
weeks ended 28 May 2023 (unaudited)
|
|
|
|
|
|
Revenue
|
198.2
|
335.2
|
1,178.5
|
(341.2)
|
1,370.7
|
Adjusted
EBITDA*
|
5.9
|
14.6
|
(2.5)
|
(1.4)
|
16.6
|
53
weeks ended 3 December 2023 (audited)
|
|
|
|
|
|
Revenue
|
429.0
|
680.5
|
2,408.8
|
(693.3)
|
2,825.0
|
Adjusted
EBITDA*
|
15.6
|
30.8
|
12.1
|
(4.3)
|
54.2
|
* See Alternative performance
measures in Note 16 for further information.
No measure of total assets and total
liabilities is reported to each reportable segment, as such amounts
are not provided to the CODM.
5. Adjusting items*
Adjusting items*, as disclosed on the face of
the Condensed Consolidated Income Statement, are items that are
considered to be significant due to their size and/or nature, not
in the normal course of business or are consistent with items that
were treated as adjusting in prior periods or that may span
multiple financial periods. They have been classified separately in
order to draw them to the attention of the readers of the financial
statements, and facilitate comparison with prior periods to assess
trends in financial performance more readily. The Group applies
judgement in identifying the items of income and expense that are
recognised as adjusting.
|
|
26 weeks
ended
2 June 2024
|
26 weeks
ended
28 May
2023
|
|
|
£m
|
£m
|
|
Ref.
|
(unaudited)
|
(unaudited)
|
Litigation costs net of
recoveries
|
A
|
-
|
(9.1)
|
Litigation settlement income and
unwind of discount
|
A
|
6.9
|
-
|
Ocado Group Finance
transformation
|
B
|
(2.6)
|
(3.5)
|
Ocado Retail IT and Finance systems
transformation
|
C
|
(2.1)
|
(0.7)
|
Change in fair value of contingent
consideration receivable and related costs
|
D
|
(1.0)
|
(17.4)
|
Organisational
restructure
|
E
|
(1.2)
|
(7.8)
|
Ocado Group HR systems
transformation
|
F
|
(3.5)
|
-
|
UK network capacity
review
|
G
|
-
|
(38.7)
|
Zoom by Ocado network capacity and
strategy review
|
H
|
(1.6)
|
-
|
Gain on disposal of assets held for
sale
|
I
|
12.4
|
-
|
Net
adjusting income/(expense)
|
|
7.3
|
(77.2)
|
* Adjusting items are alternative
performance measures. See Note 16 for further
information.
A.
Litigation costs and litigation settlement
Litigation costs are costs incurred on patent
infringement litigation between the Group and AutoStore Technology
AS ("AutoStore"). The net cumulative costs to date amount to £66.7m
and include £9.1m incurred in 1H23.
On 22 July 2023, the Group reached an agreement
with AutoStore to settle all patent litigation and cross-licence
pre-2020 patents, for which AutoStore undertook to pay the Group a
total of £200m in 24 monthly instalments, beginning July 2023. The
settlement was recorded as a receivable measured initially at fair
value and subsequently at amortised cost. The settlement receivable
initially recognised was £180.4m. The unwinding of the discount
over the life of the receivable is recorded as finance income with
£6.9m recorded in the current period (1H23: £nil). During the
period, payments totalling £49.8m (1H23: £nil) have been received.
All amounts are classified as adjusting items, in line with the
Group's adjusting items policy, as the amounts are material, and
represent income unrelated to operating activities of the
Group.
B.
Ocado Group Finance transformation
Subsequent to the Group's implementation of
various Software as a Service ("SaaS") solutions in 2H21, the Group
has undertaken a multi-year programme which focuses on optimising
and enhancing the existing SaaS solutions and related finance
processes to improve efficiency across the business. This programme
completed in 1H24. The cumulative finance transformation costs
expensed to date amount to £17.2m and includes £2.6m in 1H24 which
largely relates to spend on external consultants and contractors.
These amounts have been disclosed as adjusting items because the
total costs associated with this programme are significant and
arise from a strategic project that is not considered by the Group
to be part of the normal operating costs of the
business.
C.
Ocado Retail IT systems transformation
In FY21, Ocado Retail initiated its IT Roadmap
programme which focuses on delivering IT systems and services that
will enable ORL to meet its obligation to transition away from
Ocado Group IT services, tools and support. The IT Roadmap
programme, which is expected to run until the end of FY24, includes
the development of both on-premises and SaaS solutions. IT Roadmap
programme costs that meet assets recognition criteria will be
recognised as intangible assets, and implementation costs that do
not meet assets recognition will be expensed. The cumulative costs
expensed to date amount to £11.6m, which includes costs incurred
during the current period of £1.5m (1H23: £0.7m). These costs have
been classified as adjusting items because they are expected to be
significant and result from a transformational activity which is
considered only incremental to the core activities of the
Group.
During 2H23, Ocado Retail implemented a finance
system transformation programme as part of which it replaced the
current Enterprise Resource Planning ("ERP") with Oracle Fusion.
The cumulative costs incurred to date are £1.7m which includes
costs incurred during the current period of £0.6m and the programme
will continue during FY24.
D.
Change in fair value of contingent consideration receivable and
related costs
In 2019, the Group sold Marie Claire Beauty
Limited ("Fabled") to Next plc and 50% of ORL to Marks and Spencer
Group plc ("M&S"). Part of the consideration for these
transactions was contingent on future events. The Group holds
contingent consideration at fair value through profit or loss, and
revalues it at each reporting date. In the prior period, a loss on
revaluation of £17.4m was reported through adjusting items,
primarily driven by the reduction in the contingent consideration
receivable from M&S. Refer to Note 9 for details.
During the period, the Group has incurred
consultancy costs of £1.0m (1H23: £nil) in relation to the above..
As these costs have been incurred in the process of securing an
adjusting income item, these costs have been classified as
adjusting.
E.
Organisational restructure
During the current period, the Group undertook
a final reorganisation of its head office and support function
resulting in redundancy and related costs of £1.2m. This followed
an initial reorganisation in 2H22 which incurred costs of £3.0m,
and a further partial reorganisation of its head office and support
functions in the prior period resulting in redundancy and related
costs of £15.5m, bringing net cumulative costs to date of £19.7m.
These costs have been classified as adjusting on the basis that the
aggregate costs are considered to be significant and resulted from
a strategic restructuring which is only incremental to the normal
operating activities of the Group.
F.
Ocado Group HR systems transformation
Following a review of the Group's Human Capital
Management ("HCM") and payroll systems in FY23 the Group has
commenced a plan to implement new HCM and payroll systems for its
Logistics business and to optimise and enhance its existing payroll
solutions for the Technology Solutions business.
This programme is expected to complete in 1H25.
The cumulative HR systems transformation costs expensed to date
amount to £5.5m, including £3.5m in 1H24 (1H23: £nil) which largely
relate to spend on external consultants and contractors. These
amounts have been disclosed as adjusting items because the total
costs associated with this programme are expected to be in the
region of £15.0m and arise from a strategic project that is not
considered by the Group to be part of the normal operating costs of
the business.
G.
UK network capacity review
On 25 April 2023, the Group announced the plan
to cease operations at its Customer Fulfilment Centre ("CFC") in
Hatfield as part of a wider review of UK network
capacity.
As a result, in the prior period the Group
recorded provisions for restructuring costs of £11.0m, onerous
contracts of £4.1m and other costs of £3.2m, as well as an
impairment charge of £20.4m (RoU assets £13.3m; PP&E
£7.1m).
These costs have been classified as adjusting
items on the basis that they are expected to be material and relate
primarily to a site where no ongoing trading activities will take
place.
H.
Zoom by Ocado network capacity and strategy
review
During 2H23, Ocado Retail undertook a strategy
and capacity review for the Zoom network, which resulted
in
the Group recording impairment charges
totalling £27.2m, of which £12.5m related to property, plant and
equipment, £14.5m to right-of-use assets and £0.2m to other
intangible assets, and other costs of £0.2m.
In the current period the Group has recognised
an additional impairment of £1.6m relating to property, plant and
equipment.
These costs have been classified as adjusting
on the basis that they are material and part of a significant
strategic review.
I.
Gain on disposal of assets held for sale
During the period the Group disposed of two
spoke sites for net proceeds of £18.6m which resulted in a gain on
disposal of £12.4m. One of the sites was held for sale as at FY23
and had a carrying value of £4.9m. The gain on disposal has been
treated as an adjusting item because it is material and has arisen
on a transaction that is considered to be outside the normal
operations of the business.
Tax
impact on adjusting items
The change in fair value of contingent
consideration receivable is not subject to tax. The remaining
adjusting items are taxable or tax deductible and give rise
to a tax credit of £0.6m of which £nil (1H23: £nil)
has been recognised. The tax credit has not been
recognised as it relates to tax losses which are not
recognised for deferred tax purposes.
6. Finance income and costs
|
|
26 weeks
ended
2 June 2024
|
26 weeks
ended
28 May
2023
|
|
|
£m
|
£m
|
|
|
(unaudited)
|
(unaudited)
|
Interest income on cash
balances
|
|
17.6
|
19.1
|
Interest income on loans
receivable
|
|
0.4
|
0.5
|
Unwind of discount on AutoStore
receivable
|
|
6.9
|
-
|
Other finance income
|
|
0.1
|
-
|
Finance income
|
|
25.0
|
19.6
|
Interest expense on
borrowings
|
|
(37.9)
|
(33.3)
|
Interest expense on lease
liabilities
|
|
(12.5)
|
(13.1)
|
Interest expense on
provisions
|
|
(0.6)
|
(0.6)
|
Other finance costs
|
|
(0.1)
|
-
|
Finance costs
|
|
(51.1)
|
(47.0)
|
Gain/(loss) on revaluation of
financial assets designated at FVTPL
|
|
9.7
|
(4.0)
|
Foreign exchange
gain/(loss)
|
|
1.2
|
(5.0)
|
Other finance gains and losses
|
|
10.9
|
(9.0)
|
Net
finance cost
|
|
(15.2)
|
(36.4)
|
7. Loss per share
Basic loss per share is calculated by dividing
the loss attributable to equity holders of the Company by the
weighted average number of ordinary shares in issue during the
period, excluding ordinary shares held pursuant to the Group's
Joint Share Ownership Scheme ("JSOS"), and linked jointly-owned
equity ("JOE") awards under the Ocado Group Value Creation Plan
("Group VCP"), which are accounted for as treasury
shares.
The diluted loss per share is calculated by
adjusting the weighted average number of ordinary shares
outstanding to assume conversion or vesting of all dilutive
potential shares. The Company has five classes of instruments that
are potentially dilutive: share options, share interests held
pursuant to the Group's JSOS, linked JOE awards under the VCP,
shares under the Group's staff incentive plans and convertible
bonds.
There was no difference in the weighted average
number of shares used for the calculation of basic and diluted loss
per share as the effect of all potentially dilutive shares
outstanding was anti-dilutive.
The basic and diluted loss per share has been
calculated as follows:
|
|
26 weeks
ended
2 June 2024
|
26 weeks
ended
28 May
2023
|
|
|
(unaudited)
|
(unaudited)
|
|
|
Million
|
Million
|
Weighted average number of shares at
the end of the period
|
|
818.9
|
815.8
|
|
|
£m
|
£m
|
Loss for the period attributable to
the owners of Ocado Group plc
|
|
(136.3)
|
(233.7)
|
|
|
Pence
|
Pence
|
Basic and diluted loss per share
|
|
(16.65)
|
(28.65)
|
8. Movements in net debt*
Net debt* is calculated as cash and
cash equivalents less total debt (borrowings and lease
liabilities).
|
|
|
Cash
movements
|
|
Non-cash
movements
|
|
|
|
3
December
2023
£m
|
Cash flows excluding
interest
£m
|
Interest
received
£m
|
Interest
paid
£m
|
|
Interest
income/
(charge)
£m
|
Net new
lease
liabilities
£m
|
Foreign
exchange
£m
|
2 June
2024
£m
|
Cash and cash equivalents
|
|
884.8
|
(151.9)
|
15.0
|
-
|
|
-
|
-
|
(1.3)
|
746.6
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Liabilities from financing activities:
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Borrowings
|
|
(1,462.1)
|
(0.2)
|
-
|
15.3
|
|
(35.2)
|
-
|
-
|
(1,482.2)
|
Lease liabilities
|
|
(497.8)
|
27.7
|
-
|
12.5
|
|
(12.5)
|
(16.4)
|
-
|
(486.5)
|
Gross debt*
|
|
(1,959.9)
|
27.5
|
-
|
27.8
|
|
(47.7)
|
(16.4)
|
-
|
(1,968.7)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Net
debt*
|
|
(1,075.1)
|
(124.4)
|
15.0
|
27.8
|
|
(47.7)
|
(16.4)
|
(1.3)
|
(1,222.1)
|
|
|
|
Cash
movements
|
|
Non-cash
movements
|
|
|
|
27
November 2022
£m
|
Cash flows
excluding interest
£m
|
Interest
received
£m
|
Interest
paid
£m
|
|
Interest
income/ (charge)
£m
|
Net
new
lease
liabilities
£m
|
Foreign
exchange
£m
|
28
May
20231
£m
|
Cash and cash equivalents
|
|
1,328.0
|
(331.5)
|
18.2
|
-
|
|
-
|
-
|
(6.2)
|
1,008.5
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Liabilities from financing activities:
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Borrowings
|
|
(1,372.8)
|
(4.3)
|
-
|
15.0
|
|
(31.1)
|
-
|
-
|
(1,393.2)
|
Lease liabilities
|
|
(532.3)
|
32.0
|
-
|
13.1
|
|
(13.1)
|
(15.7)
|
-
|
(516.0)
|
Gross debt*
|
|
(1,905.1)
|
27.7
|
-
|
28.1
|
|
(44.2)
|
(15.7)
|
-
|
(1,909.2)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Net
debt*
|
|
(577.1)
|
(303.8)
|
18.2
|
28.1
|
|
(44.2)
|
(15.7)
|
(6.2)
|
(900.7)
|
* Gross debt and net debt are
alternative performance measures. See Note 16 for further
information.
1. Consistent with the FY23
financial statements, the prior period movements have been amended
to provide additional information on the split between cash and
non-cash movements during the period.
In accordance with its financial strategy, at
the latest Ocado plans to refinance outstanding debt maturities
prior to an instrument becoming current and more broadly continues
to evaluate opportunities related to addressing its 2025, 2026 and
2027 debt maturities. In connection with potential refinancing
opportunities, Ocado continues to monitor market conditions and
evaluate potential near term new issuance alternatives, including
in the high yield bond market (including evaluating currencies and
medium term tenors to appropriately manage its capital structure)
and related liability management options. The Company has a
preference not to issue equity in the near term.
9. Other financial assets
Other financial assets comprise contingent
consideration receivable, unlisted equity investments, loans
receivable and contributions towards dilapidations costs
receivable.
|
|
2 June 2024
|
28 May
2023
|
3 December
2023
|
|
|
£m
|
£m
|
£m
|
|
|
(unaudited)
|
(unaudited)
|
(audited)
|
|
|
|
|
|
Contingent consideration
receivable
|
|
28.4
|
80.1
|
29.4
|
Unlisted equity investments held at
FVTOCI
|
|
94.8
|
99.2
|
82.7
|
Loans receivable held at
FVTPL
|
|
-
|
0.5
|
0.5
|
Loans receivable held at amortised
cost
|
|
14.7
|
14.3
|
14.4
|
Contribution towards dilapidation
costs receivable
|
|
0.7
|
0.7
|
0.7
|
Other financial assets
|
|
138.6
|
194.8
|
127.7
|
Disclosed as:
|
|
|
|
|
Current
|
|
43.1
|
1.5
|
43.7
|
Non-Current
|
|
95.5
|
193.3
|
84.0
|
|
|
138.6
|
194.8
|
127.7
|
Contingent consideration receivable
Total contingent consideration receivable at
the balance sheet date is £28.4m (FY23: £29.4m; 1H23: £80.1m), and
comprises two amounts: £28.0m (FY23: £28.0m; 1H23: £78m) due from
Marks and Spencer Holdings Limited ("M&S") relating to the
part-disposal of Ocado Retail Limited ("Ocado Retail") in August
2019; and £0.4m (FY23: £1.4m; 1H23 £2.1m) due from Next Holdings
Limited ("Next") relating to the disposal of Marie Claire Beauty
Limited ("Fabled") in July 2019.
Contingent consideration due
from M&S
At FY23, the IFRS 13 fair value was estimated
using the expected present value technique and was based on several
probability-weighted possible scenarios that a market participant
would consider and was determined to be £28.0m. Management has
reviewed this valuation and considered the weightings ascribed to
each of the possible scenarios in light of the current
circumstances and facts and have determined that the value of
£28.0m remains appropriate at 1H24.
Unlisted equity investments held at FVTOCI
The Group holds a number of long-term,
strategic investments that are accounted for as fair value through
other comprehensive income ("FVTOCI").
During the period, Wayve Technologies Limited
("Wayve") successfully completed a Series C fundraising, following
which the Group now holds a 1.5% interest in Wayve (FY23: 2.5%).
The Group has recorded an increase in fair value of its equity
investment in Wayve of £11.7m (£8.7m net of tax), and an increase
in the value of its outstanding warrants of £9.7m. At 1H24 the fair
value of the Group's equity investment in Wayve was £21.7m and the
fair value of the Group's warrants was £10.0m.
During the period, Inkbit Corporation
("Inkbit") completed a qualifying fundraising that resulted in the
conversion of the Group's convertible loan note into equity.
Following the fundraise and conversion of the loan note the Group
holds a 4.6% interest in Inkbit (FY23: 5.0%).
Refer to Note 10 for further details on the
valuation techniques and key inputs utilised in the fair value
measurement of the financial instruments.
10. Financial instruments
Financial assets and liabilities at fair
value
Financial instruments carried at fair value on
the Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheet comprise contingent
consideration, unlisted equity investments and the derivative
assets and liabilities. The Group uses the following hierarchy for
determining and disclosing the fair value of these financial
instruments:
●
quoted prices (unadjusted) in active markets for identical
assets or liabilities (level 1);
●
inputs other than quoted prices that are observable for the
asset or liability, either directly or indirectly (level 2);
and
●
inputs for the assets or liabilities that are not based on
observable market data (level 3).
The Group's derivative financial assets and
liabilities in relation to commodity swaps are classified as level
2. The Group' warrants, contingent consideration and unlisted
equity investments are classified as level 3.
Financial assets and liabilities held at fair
value have been valued as follows:
|
|
2 June 2024
|
28 May
2023
|
3 December
2023
|
|
|
£m
|
£m
|
£m
|
|
|
(unaudited)
|
(unaudited)
|
(audited)
|
Financial assets held at fair value
|
|
|
|
|
- Contingent consideration
receivable
|
Level
3
|
28.4
|
80.1
|
29.4
|
- Unlisted equity
investments
|
Level
3
|
94.8
|
99.2
|
82.7
|
- Loans receivable held at
FVTPL
|
Level
3
|
-
|
0.5
|
0.5
|
- Derivative assets:
warrants
|
Level
3
|
13.0
|
5.8
|
3.3
|
- Derivative assets: commodity
swaps
|
Level
2
|
-
|
-
|
0.1
|
Total financial assets held at fair value
|
|
136.2
|
185.6
|
116.0
|
Financial liabilities held at fair value
|
|
|
|
|
- Derivative financial liabilities: commodity swaps
|
Level
2
|
(0.5)
|
(1.8)
|
(0.2)
|
Total financial liabilities held at fair
value
|
|
(0.5)
|
(1.8)
|
(1.6)
|
There were no transfers between the levels of
the fair value hierarchy during the period. There were also no
changes made to any of the valuation techniques during the
period.
The following table provides information about
how the fair values of financial instruments classified as level 3
are determined:
Description
|
Valuation techniques and key inputs
|
Significant unobservable inputs
|
Unlisted equity
investments
|
Probability weighted expected return
method ("PWERM")
Forecasted revenue, revenue
multiples, exit date, discount rate and probabilities
Option pricing model method
("OPM")
|
Probabilities of expected revenue in
a number of different scenarios.
Discount rate
Time to exit
Volatility
|
11. Cash generated from operations
|
|
26 weeks
ended
2 June 2024
|
26 weeks
ended
28 May
2023
|
|
|
£m
|
£m
|
|
Note
|
(unaudited)
|
(unaudited)
|
Cash flows from operating
activities
|
|
|
|
Loss before tax
|
|
(153.9)
|
(289.5)
|
Adjustments for:
|
|
|
|
- Revenue recognised from
long-term contracts
|
|
(27.1)
|
(13.1)
|
- Depreciation, amortisation
and impairment losses1
|
|
211.8
|
213.0
|
- Property, plant and
equipment write-off
|
|
0.2
|
0.4
|
- Gain on disposal of asset
held for sale
|
5
|
(12.4)
|
(5.0)
|
- Litigation settlement income
and interest unwind
|
5
|
(6.9)
|
-
|
- Other non-cash adjusting
items
|
|
-
|
17.4
|
- Share of results from joint
ventures and associate
|
|
(0.2)
|
0.9
|
- Movement in
provisions
|
|
(1.8)
|
19.5
|
- Share-based payments
charge
|
|
19.9
|
16.1
|
- Net finance
cost2
|
6
|
22.1
|
36.4
|
Changes in working
capital:
|
|
|
|
- Movement in
inventories
|
|
(14.6)
|
16.0
|
- Movement in trade and other
receivables
|
|
(9.8)
|
10.9
|
- Movement in trade and other
payables
|
|
0.6
|
(36.4)
|
- Cash received from contract
liabilities (upfront fees)
|
|
22.1
|
23.7
|
Cash generated from operations
|
|
50.0
|
10.3
|
1 Included within depreciation, amortisation and impairment
losses in the prior year is an adjusting impairment charge of
£20.4m relating to the UK network capacity review. Refer to Note 5
for further details.
2 Excludes £6.9m interest unwind on AutoStore litigation
settlement, which is included within litigation settlement income
and interest unwind line item.
12. Capital expenditure and commitments
During the period, the Group acquired property,
plant and equipment of £101.6m (1H23: £171.3m, FY23: £281.6m) and
intangible assets of £8.8m (1H23: £15.3m, FY23: £38.2m). Internal
development costs of £100.1m (1H23: £97.0m, FY23: £167.8m) were
capitalised. Capital expenditure relates to CFCs in the UK,
investment in international CFCs and technology
expenditure.
At 2 June 2024 capital commitments
contracted, but not provided for by the Group, amounted to £74.0m
(1H23: £187.4m, FY23: £105m).
13. Impairment review
The Group has determined that assets directly
associated with individual Technology Solutions contracts (i.e.
partner by partner) represent the lowest-level group of assets at
which impairment can be assessed, i.e. the CGU. The Group has
undertaken a review for indicators of impairment for each
Technology Solutions contract, and determined that no additional
indicators of impairment exist at the half year from those
identified at the year end.
Further to disclosure in the FY23 Annual
Report, the corporate restructuring and change of majority
ownership envisaged in relation to the Groupe Casino CGU ("Casino")
has been completed. The Group has engaged with, and will continue
to work with Casino's new majority owner to determine how best to
move forward together with their online grocery retail business.
The Group will continue to monitor indicators of impairment that
may result from these discussions and potential decisions taken by
Casino's majority owners, and undertake full impairment assessments
as and when they are deemed necessary.
14. Related party transactions
Key
management personnel
Only members of the Board (the Executive and
Non-Executive Directors) are recognised as being key management
personnel. It is the Board which has responsibility for planning,
directing and controlling the activities of the Group.
With the exception of remuneration, there were
no related party transactions with key management personnel (1H23:
£nil). At the end of the period, there was £nil (1H23: £nil) owed
by key management personnel to the Group.
Joint venture
The following transactions were carried out
with MHE JVCo Limited ("MHE JVCo"), a company incorporated in the
United Kingdom in which the Group holds a 50% interest:
|
|
26 weeks
ended
2 June 2024
|
26 weeks
ended
28 May
2023
|
53 weeks
ended
3 December
2023
|
|
|
£m
|
£m
|
£m
|
|
|
(unaudited)
|
(unaudited)
|
(audited)
|
Dividend received from MHE
JVCo
|
|
-
|
-
|
5.1
|
Reimbursement of supplier invoices
paid on behalf of MHE JVCo
|
|
1.3
|
0.8
|
4.1
|
Lease liability additions from MHE
JVCo
|
|
0.5
|
-
|
11.4
|
Capital element of lease liability
instalments accrued or paid to MHE JVCo
|
|
3.5
|
8.6
|
12.5
|
Interest element of lease liability
instalments accrued or paid to MHE JVCo
|
|
0.6
|
0.3
|
0.5
|
During the period, the Group incurred lease
instalments (including interest) of £4.1m (1H23: £8.9m) to MHE
JVCo. Of the lease instalments incurred, £1.9m was recovered
directly from WM Morrison SuperMarkets Limited in the form of other
income (1H23: £4.3m).
Included within trade and other receivables is
a balance of £4.9m (1H23: £1.9m; FY23: £0.7m) owed by MHE JVCo.
Included within trade and other payables is a balance of £1.3m
(1H23: £12.5m; FY23: £0.7m) owed to MHE JVCo. Included within lease
liabilities is a balance of £14.0m (1H23: £9.0m; FY23: £16.5m) owed
to MHE JVCo.
No other transactions that require disclosure
under IAS 24 "Related Party Disclosures" have occurred during the
current financial period. There are no changes in the related party
transactions described in the last annual report that could have a
material effect on the financial position or performance of the
group in the first six months of the current financial
year.
15. Post-Balance Sheet events
Update on Sobeys Partnership
On 20 June 2024, Empire Company Limited
announced a pause to the planned go-live of Sobeys' CFC4 in
Vancouver, Canada, which was originally planned for 2025. The
go-live timeline for the Vancouver CFC will be under regular
review, and the site will be able to commission and scale quickly
when required.
Aeon Update
On 8 July 2024, the Group and AEON announced
the continued expansion of their partnership, with plans to
construct a third Customer Fulfilment Centre ("CFC") in
Kuki-Miyashiro, the Saitama prefecture of Japan. In addition to the
network expansion, AEON will also upgrade its live operations with
the latest Ocado technologies including On-Grid Robotic Pick
("OGRP").
16. Alternative performance measures
The Group assesses its performance using a
variety of alternative performance measures ('APMs'), which are not
defined under IFRS and are, therefore, termed "non-GAAP" measures.
These measures provide additional useful information on the
underlying trends, performance and position of the Group. The APMs
used are:
●
Adjusting items;
●
Adjusted EBITDA;
●
Adjusted EBITDA margin;
●
Gross debt and external gross debt;
● Net
debt;
●
Technology Solutions fees invoiced;
●
Underlying cash flow.
Definitions of these APMs, together with
reconciliations of these APMs with the nearest measures prepared in
accordance with IFRS are presented below. The APMs used may not be
directly comparable with similarly titled measures used by other
companies.
Adjusting items
The Consolidated Income Statement separately
identifies trading results before adjusting items. Adjusting items
are items that are considered to be significant due to their
size/nature, not in the normal course of business or are consistent
with items that were treated as adjusting in the prior periods or
that may span multiple financial periods. They have been classified
separately in order to draw them to the attention of the readers of
the financial statements, and facilitate comparison with prior
periods to assess trends in the financial performance more
readily.
The Directors believe that presentation of the
Group's results in this way is important for understanding the
Group's financial performance. This presentation is consistent with
the way that financial performance is measured by management and
reported to the Board.
The Group applies judgement in identifying
items of income and expense that are recognised as adjusting to
help provide an indication of the Group's underlying business. In
determining whether an event or transaction is adjusting in nature,
management considers quantitative as well as qualitative factors
such as the frequency or predictability of occurrence.
Examples of items that the Group considers
adjusting include corporate reorganisations, material litigation,
and any other material costs outside of the normal course of
business as determined by management.
The Group has adopted a three-columned approach
to the Consolidated Income Statement to aid clarity and allow users
of the financial statements to understand more easily the
performance of the underlying business and the effect of adjusting
items.
Adjusting items are disclosed in Note 5 to the
consolidated financial statements.
Adjusted EBITDA
In addition to measuring its financial
performance based on operating profit, the Group measures
performance based on adjusted EBITDA. Adjusted EBITDA is defined as
the Group's earnings before depreciation, amortisation, impairment,
net finance cost, taxation and adjusting items. EBITDA is a common
measure used by investors and analysts to evaluate the operating
financial performance of companies. A reconciliation of operating
profit to adjusted EBITDA is set out below.
The Group considers adjusted EBITDA to be a
useful measure of its operating performance because it approximates
the underlying operating cash flow by eliminating depreciation and
amortisation. Adjusted EBITDA is not a direct measure of liquidity,
which is shown by the Consolidated Statement of Cash Flows, and
needs to be considered in the context of the Group's financial
commitments.
Adjusted EBITDA reconciliation
|
|
26 weeks
ended
2 June 2024
|
26 weeks
ended
28 May
2023
|
|
|
£m
|
£m
|
|
Note
|
(unaudited)
|
(unaudited)
|
Operating loss
|
|
(138.7)
|
(253.1)
|
Adjustments for:
|
|
|
|
Adjusting items*
|
5
|
(0.4)
|
77.2
|
Amortisation of intangible
assets
|
|
74.2
|
59.7
|
Impairment of intangible
assets
|
|
-
|
0.1
|
Depreciation of property, plant and
equipment
|
|
103.7
|
95.8
|
Impairment of property, plant and
equipment
|
|
2.2
|
1.4
|
Depreciation of right-of-use
assets
|
|
30.2
|
35.5
|
Adjusted EBITDA
|
|
71.2
|
16.6
|
The financial performance of the Group's
segments is measured based on adjusted EBITDA, as reported
internally. A reconciliation of the adjusted EBITDA of the Group
with the adjusted EBITDA by segment is disclosed in Note 4 of the
consolidated financial statements.
Adjusted EBITDA margin
Adjusted EBITDA margin is calculated as the
adjusted EBITDA divided by revenues.
Gross debt and external gross debt
Gross debt is calculated as borrowings and
lease liabilities as disclosed in Note 8 of the consolidated
financial statements. External gross debt is calculated as gross
debt less lease liabilities payable to joint ventures of the Group.
External gross debt is a measure of the Group's indebtedness to
third parties which are not considered related parties of the
Group.
A reconciliation of gross debt with external
gross debt is set out below:
|
|
26 weeks ended 2 June
2024
|
26 weeks
ended 28 May 2023
|
3 December
2023
|
|
Note
|
£m
|
£m
|
£m
|
Gross debt
|
8
|
1,968.7
|
1,909.2
|
1,959.9
|
Lease liabilities payable to joint
ventures
|
|
(14.0)
|
(9.0)
|
(16.5)
|
External gross debt
|
|
1,954.7
|
1,900.2
|
1,943.4
|
Net
debt
Net debt is calculated as cash and cash
equivalents, less gross debt.
Net debt is a measure of the Group's net
indebtedness that provides an indicator of the overall strength of
the Consolidated Balance Sheet. It is also a single measure that
can be used to assess the combined effect of the Group's cash
position and its indebtedness.
The most directly comparable IFRS measure is
the aggregate of borrowings and lease liabilities (current and
non-current) and cash and cash equivalents. A reconciliation of
these measures with net debt can be found in Note 8 to the
consolidated financial statements.
Technology Solutions fees invoiced
Technology Solutions fees invoiced is used as a
key measure of performance of the Technology Solutions business in
addition to revenue and represents design and capacity fees
invoiced during the period for existing and future CFC and in-store
fulfilment commitments.
Underlying cash flow
Underlying cash flow is the movement in cash
and cash equivalents excluding the impact of adjusting items,
proceeds from the disposal of assets held for sale, cash received
in respect of contingent consideration, costs of financing,
purchase of unlisted equity investments and foreign exchange
movements, as these are not recurring, core business items. A
reconciliation of the movement in cash and cash equivalents to
underlying cash outflow is detailed within the Financial
Review.
Principal risks and uncertainties
The Group faces a number of risks and
uncertainties that may have an adverse impact on the Group's
operation, performance or future prospects.
The Board regularly assesses and monitors the
principal risks of the business. Set out in the Group's Annual
Report and Accounts for the 53 weeks ended 3 December 2023 were
details of the principal risks and uncertainties for the Group and
the key mitigating activities used to address them, applicable at
that time.
The Board considers that the principal risks
and uncertainties for the Group have not changed, and remain
relevant for the remaining six months of the 2024 financial
year.
●
Market Proposition (OSP & OIA): Our OSP and OIA product
offer, features, implementation schedule, pricing or terms may not
be sufficiently attractive to potential partners or may not be
commercially attractive to them at a level that delivers adequate
and sustainable returns for us.
●
Partner Success (OSP): We invest in robots and MHE alongside
our partners in the CFCs that we develop for them and we rely on
the growth of our partners' online businesses to generate
appropriate economic returns from this investment. If our partners
do not achieve sustainable returns from their investment then they
may not expand their utilisation of the capacity that we have
jointly invested in, in which case we may fail to generate our
planned returns. It is also possible that if our partners are
unable to generate acceptable returns themselves they may close
existing CFC facilities.
●
Product Innovation, protection and performance: Our
innovation and development processes may not meet partner needs, or
we may fail to provide protected, reliable and commercially viable
products. This could undermine our ability to attract and retain
partners.
●
Supply Chain: Disruption in our extended and complex supply
chain may adversely affect product availability and responsible
sourcing. This could result in increased costs and fines, delays to
contractual commitments and loss of revenue.
●
Talent & Capability: Difficulty in filling key positions,
a loss of top performers and an inability to embed diversity could
undermine business operations and growth plans.
●
Cyber Security & Data: The disruption or loss of critical
assets and sensitive information as a result of a cyber attack,
insider threat or a data breach within our Group network or our
supply chain could result in business interruption, reputational
damage or regulatory impacts, for both Ocado and our
partners.
●
Fire & Safety: Fire, or injury to a worker or customer,
caused by product design or operating failures could result in
business disruption, loss of assets and reputational
loss.
●
Regulatory & Compliance: Failure to comply with local and
international regulations could lead to loss of trust, penalties,
and undermine our ability to operate.
●
Climate, Environment and Geopolitical: Transformation
pressures and adverse external events could increase cost, disrupt
our supply chain and operations, and the demand for our
product.
●
Liquidity & Cash Management: Insufficient liquidity (cash
balances plus undrawn facilities) to deliver our business goals
and/or settle our liabilities.
This principal risks section should be read in
conjunction with the rest of this statement as the impact of the
current market conditions and trading patterns on the business are
explained there and help provide an understanding of the risks and
opportunities facing Ocado. In particular:
●
Partner Success: The announcement on 20 June 2024, after the
period end, of the pause to the planned go-live of Sobeys' CFC4 in
Vancouver, Canada highlights the significance and the risks of the
Partner Success programme. This statement outlines that we continue
to focus on partner success work; in 1H24, we restructured Ocado
Solutions to provide more dedicated resources. Where our partner
success work is already well advanced, it has had a positive impact
on both operational performance and customer growth, and this
restructuring will enable us to deliver these benefits to all our
live partners. There is much work still to do to further support
our partners and we remain reliant on the growth of our partners'
online businesses to generate appropriate returns on our investment
and to continue to draw CFC capacity in future.
●
Liquidity & Cash Management: As outlined in the Notes to
the condensed consolidated interim financial information, the
Group's debt facilities include a Revolving Credit Facility (RCF)
(undrawn) which matures in June 2025, and borrowing facilities with
repayment due in December 2025 (£600m convertible bond), October
2026 (£500m SUNs) and January 2027 (£350m convertible bond). The
Group will need to obtain replacement funding to refinance existing
facilities. The Directors anticipate any refinancing would take
place well in advance of maturity, in line with normal market
practice. Given current market conditions, the coupon rates on any
refinancing are expected to be significantly higher than the coupon
rates on current facilities. The Group has a previous track record
of successful refinancing, and is confident in delivering the
refinancing as described. The risk remains though that a
refinancing cannot be successfully achieved.
As part of the ongoing risk management process,
emerging risks for the Group are identified and assessed. These
risks are deemed to be significant but are not listed as one of the
Group's principal risks.
More information on these principal risks and
uncertainties and emerging risks, together with an explanation of
the Group's approach to risk management is set out in Ocado Group
plc's Annual Report and Accounts for the 53 weeks ended 3 December
2023, a copy of which is available on the Group's corporate
website, www.ocadogroup.com.
Independent Review Report to Ocado Group plc
Conclusion
We have been engaged by the company to review
the condensed set of financial statements in the half-yearly
financial report for the 26 weeks ended 2 June 2024 which comprises
the condensed consolidated income statement, the condensed
consolidated statement of comprehensive income, the condensed
consolidated balance sheet, the condensed consolidated statement of
changes in equity, the condensed consolidated statement of cash
flows and related notes 1 to 16.
Based on our review, nothing has come to our
attention that causes us to believe that the condensed set of
financial statements in the half-yearly financial report for the 26
weeks ended 2 June 2024 is not prepared, in all material respects,
in accordance with United Kingdom adopted International Accounting
Standard 34 and the Disclosure Guidance and Transparency Rules of
the United Kingdom's Financial Conduct Authority.
Basis for Conclusion
We conducted our review in accordance with
International Standard on Review Engagements (UK) 2410 "Review of
Interim Financial Information Performed by the Independent Auditor
of the Entity" issued by the Financial Reporting Council for use in
the United Kingdom (ISRE (UK) 2410). A review of interim financial
information consists of making inquiries, primarily of persons
responsible for financial and accounting matters, and applying
analytical and other review procedures. A review is substantially
less in scope than an audit conducted in accordance with
International Standards on Auditing (UK) and consequently does not
enable us to obtain assurance that we would become aware of all
significant matters that might be identified in an audit.
Accordingly, we do not express an audit opinion.
As disclosed in note 2, the annual financial
statements of the group are prepared in accordance with United
Kingdom adopted international accounting standards. The condensed
set of financial statements included in this half-yearly financial
report has been prepared in accordance with United Kingdom adopted
International Accounting Standard 34, "Interim Financial
Reporting".
Conclusion Relating to Going Concern
Based on our review procedures, which are less
extensive than those performed in an audit as described in the
Basis for Conclusion section of this report, nothing has come to
our attention to suggest that the directors have inappropriately
adopted the going concern basis of accounting or that the directors
have identified material uncertainties relating to going concern
that are not appropriately disclosed.
This Conclusion is based on the review
procedures performed in accordance with ISRE (UK) 2410; however
future events or conditions may cause the entity to cease to
continue as a going concern.
Responsibilities of the directors
The directors are responsible for preparing the
half-yearly financial report in accordance with the Disclosure
Guidance and Transparency Rules of the United Kingdom's Financial
Conduct Authority.
In preparing the half-yearly financial report,
the directors are responsible for assessing the group's ability to
continue as a going concern, disclosing as applicable, matters
related to going concern and using the going concern basis of
accounting unless the directors either intend to liquidate the
company or to cease operations, or have no realistic alternative
but to do so.
Auditor's Responsibilities for the review of the financial
information
In reviewing the half-yearly financial report,
we are responsible for expressing to the company a conclusion on
the condensed set of financial statements in the half-yearly
financial report. Our Conclusion, including our Conclusion Relating
to Going Concern, are based on procedures that are less extensive
than audit procedures, as described in the Basis for Conclusion
paragraph of this report.
Use
of our report
This report is made solely to the company in
accordance with ISRE (UK) 2410. Our work has been undertaken so
that we might state to the company those matters we are required to
state to it in an independent review report and for no other
purpose. To the fullest extent permitted by law, we do not accept
or assume responsibility to anyone other than the company, for our
review work, for this report, or for the conclusions we have
formed.
Deloitte LLP
Statutory Auditor
London, UK
16 July 2024
Statement of Directors' Responsibilities
The Directors confirm that, to the best of their
knowledge:
●
the condensed set of financial statements gives a true and
fair view of the assets, liabilities, financial position, and
profit or loss of the issuer, or undertakings included in the
consolidation, as required by DTR 4.2.4R and prepared in accordance
with UK adopted IAS 34 "Interim Financial Reporting";
●
the interim management report includes a fair review of the
information required by DTR 4.2.7R, namely:
o an indication of
important events that have occurred during the first six months and
their impact on the condensed set of financial statements;
and
o a description of
the principal risks and uncertainties for the remaining six months
of the financial year;
●
the interim management report includes a fair review of the
information required by DTR 4.2.8 R, namely:
o material related
party transactions that have taken place in the first six months of
the financial year and that have materially affected the financial
position or performance of the enterprise during that period;
and
o any material
changes in the related party transactions described in the last
annual report and that could have a material effect on the
financial position or performance of the enterprise in the first
six months of the current financial year.
The Directors of Ocado Group plc as at the date
of this announcement are as follows:
Executive Directors
Tim Steiner, Chief Executive Officer
Stephen Daintith, Chief Financial
Officer
Non-Executive Directors
Richard Haythornthwaite, Chairman
Andrew Harrison, Senior Independent
Director
Jörn Rausing
Emma Lloyd
Julie Southern
Nadia Shouraboura
Julia M. Brown
Rachel Osborne
Gavin Patterson
Approved by the Board and signed on its behalf
by:
Stephen Daintith
Chief Financial Officer
16 July 2024
Person responsible for arranging the release of
this announcement:
Neill Abrams
Group General Counsel and Company
Secretary
Ocado Group plc
Buildings One & Two, Trident Place, Mosquito
Way,
Hatfield, Hertfordshire AL10 9UL
Fax: +44 (0)1707 227 997
email: company.secretary@ocado.com
Ocado Group plc LEI:
213800LO8F61YB8MBC74
Glossary