Ocado Retail CEO Hannah Gibson has insisted that Ocado Group and M&S are “absolutely aligned,” despite the wrangling over the latter’s withheld final payment for the joint venture.
Gibson confirmed this morning that “the conversations are ongoing” between Ocado Group and M&S over the payment but she insisted that it was not impacting day-to-day operations at the joint venture.
M&S was due to pay the group the £190.7m payment by August, dependent on the venture’s performance against an undisclosed target in the year to November 2023.
Last month, Ocado Group CEO Tim Steiner said he believed M&S owed it a “substantial amount of money” and if a settlement was not agreed it could pursue litigation against M&S.
“We believe we have a very solid case to get full payment, we know that M&S may not entirely share that view. We’re happily having a conversation with our partners, we would much rather solve this in a nice and constructive way which is what we’re working towards doing,” he said.
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Despite the dispute, Gibson claimed both companies were “working really closely operationally together”.
The grocery boss said: “They were in a board meeting and there were positive conversations and relationships going on focused on what we’re doing now to grow and improve the business.”
She continued: “I think we’re all absolutely aligned. There’s a huge opportunity ahead for Ocado Retail, and we’re super focused on making sure that we’re progressing on those plans.”
The news comes after Ocado reported a 10.6% surge in sales during its first quarter, thanks to an uptick in customer numbers as it continued its investment into strengthening its product offering.
Kantar data released today also showed that Ocado was the fastest growing retailer in Britain for the 12 weeks to 17 March as it reaped the rewards of a sustained voucher campaign which helped attract customers.
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