Ocado Group plc has unveiled its trading statement for the 13 weeks to 2 December 2018, showing strong growth in Revenue (Retail) of 12% at £390.7m up from £348.9m.
The group's new state-of-the-art Customer Fulfillment Centres at Andover (CFC3) and Erith (CFC4) are performing well. There are 1,100 robots working inside the Andover site (pictured), which can put together an order of 50 groceries in just five minutes.
The Erith site, which opened after the one in Andover, has 94 robots in operation, and is now processing over 30,000 orders per week.
Average orders per week rose by 13.1% to 320,000 up from 283,000, and the average order size stood at £104.91, down 1% from £105.94.
As at 2 December 2018 the Group had cash and cash equivalents of £411m and external borrowings of £286m.
Tim Steiner, Ocado's Chief Executive Officer, said, 'Our unrelenting focus on delivering consistent high levels of service and value to our customers in the U.K. has produced another quarter of satisfying growth.
'The new capacity that we have brought on stream in CFCs 3 and 4 in Andover and Erith has enabled us to again report double digit growth in new customer acquisition. Both facilities are performing well and Erith continues to ramp up in line with our expectations.
'Although in many respects 2018 has been a transformative year for Ocado, the story has only just begun. We look forward to the coming year and continuing to turn our substantial opportunities into sustainable value for all our stakeholders.'