Ocado shares soar after £200m settlement with AutoStore

Ocado shares rose to their highest level since January after the online grocer reached a settlement with AutoStore over robot patent claims.

The Norwegian robotics company will pay £200 million to Ocado in 24 monthly installments starting this month, ending a three-year legal battle, the group told investors on Monday.

In March, a UK Supreme Court ruled in favor of Ocado, agreeing that the company had not infringed AutoStore’s patents with its warehouse robots, which are designed to automatically pack store orders for delivery.

The two companies have now agreed to withdraw their actions against each other and will have “complete freedom” to access and use technology covered by each other’s pre-2020 patents.

They will also be allowed to continue to use and market their own existing products without the risk of infringing the patents of others after 2020.

Meanwhile, AutoStore is not allowed to make or use a single-space cavity robot in any jurisdiction where Ocado has patent protection.

The agreement does not allow for collaboration, technology support between the companies or access to actual products, the companies said.

However, it does give both firms access to certain parts of each other’s patent portfolios so that they can use or manufacture their own products.

Tim Steiner, CEO of Ocado, said, “I’m pleased that we worked together to resolve our differences and that we can now continue to focus on what we do best: innovate, develop and provide partners with world-class technology.”

Mats Hovland Vikse, chief executive of AutoStore, said: ‘We are pleased to have reached a solution that gives both companies the opportunity and freedom to commercialize our extensive patent portfolios.

“This settlement resolves our differences and allows us to continue to focus on our respective business goals.”

The legal battle between the two companies began in October 2020, when AutoStore alleged that Ocado had infringed six patents.

Deals the automated supermarket company had with Marks & Spencer and Morrisons and Kroger in the US infringed its patents, AutoStore alleged.

The company had asked the courts to ban Ocado from using the technology in the future and was seeking compensation.

Ocado shares rose 11 percent to 760.80 p in morning trading on Monday.

The latest increase adds to last week’s rally, when Ocado announced it had returned to an underlying gain over the past six months.

Ocado shares are up about 17 percent since the start of the year and are stable compared to 12 months ago.

Ocado shares are up 11% to their highest level since the start of the year