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Online grocery retailer Ocado posted a deeper full-year loss, as rising sales were offset by more spending on its logistics technology offering.
Pre-tax losses for the year through December amounted to £176.9 million compared to year-on-year losses of £52.3 million
Revenue rose 7.2% to £2.50 billion, though earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation fell 12% to £61.0 million.
Ocado recently formed a online grocery retailing joint venture with Marks & Spencer and is pinning much of its growth on its robotic logistics technology platform, held in its 'solutions' business.
Looking forward to the 2022 financial year, Ocado said it had an 'ambition' for EBITDA margins in the retail JV to rebuild towards 2021 levels following 'a significant year of investment' in 2022.
In the UK solutions and logistics business, it forecast EBITDA in 2022 to increase by around 50%, while international solutions would be flat versus 2021.
'The past year has further reinforced that demand for online grocery is here to stay,' chief executive Tim Steiner said.
'In the majority of mature markets, the fastest growing channel is online and to truly win here food retailers need to deliver the best offer with the best economics across all customer missions.'