Ocado posted a full-year loss of £394m but it returned to profit on an EBITDA level.
The figures, which includes a £187m settlement reached with robotic warehouse AutoStore, represent a £107m improvement on last year.
Adjusted EBITDA hit £51.6m, making it an £125.7m uplift on the year prior.
Ocado insisted its annual results for the 53 weeks to 3 December were in line with or better than its guidance and said the group had made “good progress” in 2023.
Sales at the online group rose almost 10%, with its technology solutions business surging 44% while it’s retail arm advanced 7%.
Ocado Retail, it’s joint venture with M&S, embarked on a turnaround programme over the year, which it said had resulted in “strong trading performance and cost efficiencies” and drove a “positive full-year adjusted EBITDA”.
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Ocado also kick started the year with 1,700 price cuts in January under its Big Price Drop.
CEO Tim Steiner said: “At Ocado Retail, we expect further progress on its trajectory to restore an industry-leading EBITDA margin over the mid-term.”
Steiner asserted that its “technology is transforming the way people shop for food as we help some of the world’s best and most innovative retailers set the bar for excellence in grocery ecommerce worldwide”.
Over the year, it opened three new state-of-the-art robotic CFCs for its partners in Chiba city, near Tokyo, Calgary in Canada, and Luton in the UK and increased the amount of installed capacity for its clients by a quarter.
Steiner said its Partner Success programme, which helps put the firm’s that use Ocado’s technology solutions “well on the path to generating attractive returns from their investment” was the “primary focus for the business”.
Steiner added: “Future success will be driven by the characteristics that have always set Ocado apart: our ability to solve some of the most difficult engineering challenges in the market, our capacity to innovate at pace, and our discipline to turn vision into reality.
“I’m confident that we will turn these qualities into faster growth, stronger cash flows, and higher returns, in the current financial year and beyond”.
The results come after Ocado Intelligent Automation CEO Mark Richardson and group general counsel Neill Abrams stepped down as executive directors amid a “board refresh” earlier this month.
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