City frustration over the lack of Ocado’s progress on signing its elusive first international agreement has seen the online supermarket’s shares hit by about 26% in the first six months of the year. This week, though, progress closer to home almost wiped out those losses.
The new agreement between Morrisons and Ocado - which will see Ocado develop a nationwide store picking solution for the Bradford-based supermarket - sent Ocado shares soaring this week, up 17.7% since Monday to 306.3p, having slumped to 203p in mid-June.
Analysts at HSBC welcomed the renegotiated partnership, arguing: “It removes some uncertainty, covers some fixed and variable costs, and ensures faster capacity utilisation of the new facility at Erith.” Analysts at Jefferies also noted it was “likely that future international partners would view a store pick model as a lower capex option with which to develop an online offering ahead of (or concurrent to) a CFC investment”. Both agreed the deal was a win-win - a view shared by the City, with Morrisons up 2% on Tuesday to 181.7p on top of gains on Monday. Shore Capital concluded: “With the agreement in place, the company can plan for a clear expansion of Morrisons.com across Great Britain on more sensible commercial terms whilst working on store-based improvements and indirect earnings streams.”
Elsewhere, B&M European Value Retail was lifted by a note from investment bank Liberum on Wednesday indicating a 15% potential upside to the current price. Analyst Wayne Brown said B&M “has a superior disruptive multi-price model which should, in a period of uncertainty, lead to out-performance”. The shares got a 3.7% bump to 273.6p as a result.
European Coke bottler Coca-Cola HBC leapt 7.4% to 1,687p on Thursday morning after profits fizzed in the first half of its financial year. Operating profits for the six months to 1 July rose 10.8% to €220.6m and net profit increased 11.8% to €140m as a result of cost efficiencies and lower input costs.
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