Ocado shares soar as it wins US robot wars court battle against Norwegian rival Autostore
Shares in Ocado rose after a legal victory in the US over patents for its robots, but poor sales took the sparkle off.
Norwegian robot company Autostore said it was the inventor and owner of some Ocado patents – but an International Trade Commission judge said that was not the case.
Ocado, which is led by Tim Steiner, said: ‘We have consistently stated that Ocado does not infringe any valid Autostore IP [intellectual property], and we are pleased that the judge has now agreed with us.
Norwegian rival Autostore had accused Ocado of intellectual property breaches, which Ocado said was in an attempt to thwart its US growth.
‘This was a misconceived attempt to interfere with our business in the US.’
Shares jumped 5.5 per cent, or 87p, to 1678p. But Ocado said sales in its latest quarter were dented by labour shortages and a fire at its site in Erith, Kent.
Shopping habits returned to more normal levels though Government ‘plan B’ advice to work from home could result in a boost.
The average order size dropped by 12 per cent from last year to £118 and sales in the three months to November 28 were 3.9 per cent down.
It delivered £547.8million of groceries, up from £416.2million before Covid struck but down on last year.
Almost 30 per cent of all deliveries were items from Marks and Spencer. Ocado plans to expand and analysts think M&S will eventually buy it entirely.
Finance chief Stephen Daintith said that reports that M&S will buy the remaining 50 per cent of Ocado Retail it does not own are ‘pure speculation’.
He said: ‘There are absolutely no plans in that respect.’