Ocado has revealed a £9 million loss in its half-year report, caused by continued investment in expanding IT systems and warehousing capacity, compared to a pre-tax profit of £7.7 million during the first six months of last year.

Underlying earnings also fell 13.9 per cent year-on-year to £38.9 million, while revenue growth slowed to 11.7 per cent year-on-year, something the delivery retailer blamed on the ‘Beast from the East’ storms earlier this year.

Ocado called the first half a “transformational period” as it also confirmed several major deals, most recently with US grocery giant Kroger in May.

The report promised that retail earnings would “improve significantly” over the remainder of this financial year, as the benefits of the new warehouses start to kick in.

Chief executive Tim Steiner stated: “We have developed unique and proprietary technology to offer retailers an end-to-end operating solution for grocery retail that enables them to meet the changing needs of consumers.

“In order to fully capitalise on the opportunities ahead of us, we are working at pace, investing more and focusing sharply on execution to bring on new capacity in the UK and to achieve successful outcomes for our partners,” he continued.

Retail earnings moved just 0.7 per cent higher to £45.5 million after investment in a new warehouse at Andover in Hampshire, with costs of a new site in Erith, south-east London, effectively deferred to second half earnings.

Ocado said it will still spend another £4 million on its technology division and the Ocado Smart Platform.

Results for the year ended 3 December 2017 - published in February - also showed a substantial drop in pre-tax profits, as it invested £210 million in its technology arm.

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