Best to keep hold of those hard hats August 11, 2011 Hang on to those hard hats for a little bit longer. To the relief of all concerned in the financial markets, yesterday saw stocks rally in most parts of the world. But these are anything but safe times. In Europe rumours of some form of ban on short-selling, confirmed late last night, lifted stocks. Such [...]
Ocado growth forecasts slashed August 11, 2011 Goldman Sachs has cut its sales and earnings forecasts for online grocery group Ocado after the firm said its lack of warehouse capacity was continuing to hinder growth. Goldman, one of Ocado’s two brokers, revised its 2011 sales forecast down two per cent, and cut its 2012 forecasts by five per cent. It said forecast [...]
Ocado adds new Oxford base August 4, 2011 Online retailer Ocado is to open a new regional depot near Oxford to tackle capacity problems at the online grocer. Due to open in November this year, the 43,000 sq ft warehouse will be able to process 10,000 orders a week. The new site will take pressure off existing sites in Weybridge and Coventry, as [...]
BEST OF THE BROKERS July 6, 2011 ASSOCIATED BRITISH FOODS Deutsche Bank rates the food-to-fashion conglomerate as a “hold” and raises its target price from 950p to 1,050p, seeing extremely favourable dynamics in European sugar as likely to keep prices high and generate a major windfall for the group. The broker upgrades its 2011-12 earnings per share forecast by £70m or around [...]
Ocado slumps despite profit June 27, 2011 OCADO shares took a hit yesterday, falling 9.1 per cent despite the company reporting its first profit and unveiling a deal to deliver a range from French supermarket giant Carrefour. Chief executive Tim Steiner admitted the online delivery retailer had issues with capacity but said its growth plan was on track. In the six months [...]
ANALYST VIEWS: CAN OCADO LIVE UP TO ITS EXPANSION PLANS? June 27, 2011 CLIVE BLACK | SHORE CAPITAL In its half-year update Ocado disappointed the market. With a very challenging consumer economic environment and Waitrose’s challenge to come, we believe there are few tailwinds to support Ocado’s momentum. Hence, unsurprisingly with downgrades, we remain cautious on Ocado stock. ANNA SMEE | HUNDRED The fundamental question mark above Ocado [...]
FTSE up but investors jittery over Greek crisis June 27, 2011 The FTSE 100 was up this morning but investors remained wary ahead of yet another chapter in the Greek financial crisis. Greek MPs are due to debate a fresh package of austerity measures later. The euro slipped as confidence in the eurozone continued to be sapped by Greece’s debt pile. Meanwhile France’s Christine Lagarde was [...]
Ocado sees slim profit as it seals Carrefour deal June 27, 2011 Online grocery delivery company Ocado has announced a deal to sell products supplied by French supermarket giant Carrefour, while reporting a small half-year profit. Its new Carrefour range will be in addition to its Waitrose lines. In the six months to 15 May, Ocado made a pre-tax profit of £200,000, compared with a loss of [...]
THE WEEK AHEAD in association with GFT June 26, 2011 COMPANIES ● Today, Ocado releases its half-year results. Its share price suffered last week on the back of JP Morgan Cazenove cutting its rating and the news that Waitrose is gearing up to compete with it directly in London. ● Tomorrow, Daisy will deliver its preliminary earnings release. The company sells internet and telecommunications services. [...]
Ocado hit by broker downgrade June 23, 2011 Shares in online shopping service Ocado tumbled by more than six per cent after JPMorgan Cazenove downgraded its rating for the shares and J Sainsbury hired the group’s head of retail Jon Rudoe to run its online operation. JPMorgan downgraded its rating on the online retailer to “neutral” from “outperform”. But the broker added: “We [...]