Ocado shares plummeted as the group confirmed plans to axe 1,000 jobs as part of a £ 150 million cost-cutting drive.
Around 5 per cent of its global workforce is being cut, with two-thirds of redundancies to take place in the UK – mostly at its headquarters in Hatfield, Hertfordshire.
It comes after Ocado unveiled plans last year to scale back its research and development workforce, and investors are losing patience with the group as new openings with existing partners and further technology deals have failed to materialise.
Shares were down more than 10 per cent on Thursday morning in response to the news, having fallen around 90 per cent over the past five years.
The UK-listed retailer sells technology to retailers to pick and dispatch online food orders from robotic warehouses.
Ocado Group owns robotics warehouses used by other retailers as well as its own online grocery business
It also runs its own grocery firm in partnership with Marks & Spencer, which has turned a corner after online grocery was hit by shoppers returning to physical shops after lockdown.
Chief executive Tim Steiner hailed ‘tangible progress’ for the whole business, as it set out its annual results for the year ended 30 November 2025.
Even though sales across the group jumped 12.1 per cent to £1.4 billion, investors have been left frustrated by disappointing updates about its partnerships with major retailers across the world.
In January, Ocado Canadian supermarket Sobeys would close its fulfilment centre in Calgary after expansion was ‘slower than originally anticipated’ while US retail giant Kroger is also closing three of its robotic warehouses.
Ocado Retail has been a bright spot for the company, with sales rising 15.4 per cent last year.
Steiner said ‘across the UK, people are feeling some of the economic pressures,’ but suggested his supermarket business could benefit from people dining out at restaurants less frequently.
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