Ocado share price falls after sales warning following warehouse fire
The online grocery delivery company saw its share price fall on Wednesday after one of its warehouses caught fire that will hurt its sales.
Ocado saw its share price fall more than 6% on Wednesday morning after news hit that one of its warehouses had caught fire, leading the company to issue a sales warning.
The fire, which started on Tuesday morning, was battled by around 200 firefighters overnight, with the online grocer expecting a fall in sales growth until it can move operations to other warehouses.
Ocado warehouse fires hits sales
The fire hit Ocado’s Andover warehouse which processes over 30,000 orders a week, with the company taking to Twitter to ask concerned customers to send their postcode to update them on the status of their order.
Orders being dealt with by its Andover warehouse will now be redirected to other units, but the fire is a major blow for the company with it responsible for around 10% of its total capacity.
‘Once we have had time to assess the damage and prepare a plan to return the CFC (customer fulfilment centre) to operation we will update further as appropriate,’ an Ocado spokesman said.
Ocado records 21% fall in full-year earnings
The warehouse fire will apply added pressure on the company after it reported a 21% decline in full-year earnings on Tuesday.
The online supermarket said that investment in its partnership deals will likely hurt its profits in the short term, with rumours flying around about a possible tie-up deal with Marks & Spencer.
‘Creating future value now will involve us continuing to scale the business, enhancing our platform, enabling our UK retail business to take advantage of all its opportunities for growth, and innovating for the future,’ Ocado CEO Tim Steiner said.
‘We look forward to fulfilling these opportunities with excitement and determination.’
This information has been prepared by IG, a trading name of IG Markets Ltd and IG Markets South Africa Limited. In addition to the disclaimer below, the material on this page does not contain a record of our trading prices, or an offer of, or solicitation for, a transaction in any financial instrument. IG accepts no responsibility for any use that may be made of these comments and for any consequences that result. No representation or warranty is given as to the accuracy or completeness of this information. Consequently any person acting on it does so entirely at their own risk. Any research provided does not have regard to the specific investment objectives, financial situation and needs of any specific person who may receive it. It has not been prepared in accordance with legal requirements designed to promote the independence of investment research and as such is considered to be a marketing communication. Although we are not specifically constrained from dealing ahead of our recommendations we do not seek to take advantage of them before they are provided to our clients. See full non-independent research disclaimer and quarterly summary.
Seize a share opportunity today
Go long or short on thousands of international stocks.
- Increase your market exposure with leverage
- Get spreads from just 0.1% on major global shares
- Trade CFDs straight into order books with direct market access
Live prices on most popular markets
- Forex
- Shares
- Indices
Prices above are subject to our website terms and agreements. Prices are indicative only
