M&S is withholding a multi-million-pound payment to Ocado Group after its grocery delivery tie-up failed to meet key performance targets.
The pair partnered in 2019 to create Ocado Retail, a £750m venture that gave Ocado customers access to M&S Food.
As part of the deal, the high street retailer is expected to pay Ocado a final instalment of £190.7m by August, dependent on the venture’s performance against an undisclosed target in the year to November 2023.
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According to The Times, it is understood that M&S is still in negotiations with the online group over the payout as performance hurdles have “not been met”.
The final payout is binary, meaning that the high street retailer must either pay the sum in full or not at all – however, “adjustments” can be made if both sides agree.
It is unclear how much M&S will pay Ocado after the online grocer cut the “fair value” of the payout by £17m to £78m in November, while M&S slashed it to zero.
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