As expected, Ocado’s first annual profit gets significant coverage across the papers this morning.
The Telegraph wonders whether the online supermarket’s improving numbers enough to justify its seemingly lofty valuation, concluding that Ocado is worth is lofty premium “not based on its £7.2m profit but on its profit potential” (The Telegraph).
Meanwhile, despite the fanfare over Ocado’s profit The FT quotes chief exec and ex-Goldman banker Tim Steiner saying that delivering an early profit was never the focus of the business (The Financial Times £). Lex says that making a profit is all well and good, but the online grocer needs many more partners to make it genuinely profitable (The Financial Times £).
Tesco’s climb down over its previous withholding of the £2m-plus payments to former execs Philip Clarke and Laurie McIlwee also receives a lot of column inches. The Times quotes the High Pay Centre, questioning why these clauses were in their contracts in the first place. (The Times £)
Allan Leighton, the businessman tipped to become the Co-operative Group’s first independent chairman is set to donate his six-figure pay deal to charitable causes linked to the mutual. (The Times £)
Almost one in five shops in England’s northern towns and cities are empty, compared with just one in 10 in the south, according to The Local Data Company (LDC) research (The Guardian).
The Times has a look at Cadbury five years on from Kraft’s takeover when “another chunk of middle England fell into the abyss”, concluding that “today all is sweetness and light, amid millions invested [and] unions placated.” (The Times £)
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