MARKET REPORT: Ocado shares soar as it declares ‘total victory’ in robot wars
MARKET REPORT: Ocado shares are up 25% in past two weeks as online grocery company declares ‘total victory’ in robot wars
Shares in Ocado are back in the spotlight today after it claimed “total victory” in robot wars with a rival.
The stock is up more than 25 percent in the past two weeks, including a jump of 10.3 percent, or 49.2 pence, to 527.2 pence yesterday.
The rally came amid a growing sense that the recent sell-off was overdone and that the company may be in better shape than feared.
The stock could take another step up if trading resumes today after a Supreme Court ruling in its favor.
After the market closed yesterday, Ocado said a judge has dismissed patent infringement claims brought against it by Norwegian rival Autostore.
Automated packaging: Rival Autostore filed a patent infringement suit in 2020 alleging that Ocado had violated six patents related to the robots it uses in its warehouses
The case dates back to 2020, when Autostore alleged that Ocado had infringed six patents related to the robots it uses in its warehouses. But a judge ruled in favor of Ocado – a year after it won a similar victory in the US.
Ocado declared ‘total victory’ and said, ‘As we have said consistently since the day the promotion was launched, we have not infringed any valid Autostore patents.
Once again a judge has proven us right. Autostore’s decision to sue has been a complete waste of time – for us and for them – and will now be a waste of money for them as we intend to seek a significant cost award.”
Moonpig soared after achieving its best sales week in the UK ahead of Mother’s Day.
The online greeting card company said business has been “resilient” in recent months despite postal strikes, rising interest rates and subdued consumer spending.
It reiterated that revenue for the year to April 30 should be around £320m, up from £304m last year, and it expects a further increase in the 12 months to the end of April 2024.
Shares rose 10.7 percent, or 12.1 pence, to 125.7 pence, bringing earnings for the year to nearly 14 percent.
Stock watch – Petrofac
Petrofac rose 69.9% or 34.29p to 83.35p after the rig builder and Hitachi Energy won a contract worth more than £11bn to build six offshore wind projects.
The deal – the largest signed by Petrofac – was awarded by the Dutch-German electricity grid operator Tennet.
Each of the six includes the provision of offshore platforms and onshore converter stations.
Five offshore wind farms will be connected to the Dutch electricity grid, the others to German supplies.
The update marked a change of tone for Moonpig after a rough fall. In December it cut its revenue forecast from £350m to £320m as things became ‘increasingly challenging’.
In the broader market, the FTSE 100 was up 0.7 percent, or 56.16 points, to 7620.43 and the FTSE 250 was up 1.5 percent, or 274.93 points, to 18,907.74.
The Footsie has now turned a profit every day this week amid hopes that the banking crisis that rocked global markets has been brought under control.
Inflation is sliding in Europe. In Spain it fell from 6 percent to 3.1 percent, while in Germany it fell from 9.3 percent to 7.8 percent.
However, this was still higher than expected, giving the European Central Bank another headache in its battle to keep inflation under control.
Separate figures showed that the US economy grew at an annualized rate of 2.6 percent in the fourth quarter of last year. Back in London, a new face arrives at M&C Saatchi.
The ad agency hired Zillah Byng-Thorne as chairman starting June 15. Byng-Thorne, who is stepping down today as CEO of magazine publisher Future and also serves as president of customer review website Trustpilot. Shares rose 1.4 percent, or 2.6 pence, to 192.6 pence.
Defense group Qinetiq won a contract worth up to £75 million to develop night vision goggles for the US military. It came just two months after an £80 million contract with the British Ministry of Defence. It fell 0.7 percent, or 2.4 pence, to 322.4 pence.
S4 Capital was down 6.9 percent, or 12 pence, to 161.4 pence after nearly tripling its losses and warning its markets and clients were likely to grow more slowly this year.
Sir Martin Sorrell’s digital advertising agency increased losses from £56.7m to £159.6m last year and earned £1bn in revenue for the first time.
It said a cocktail of economic woes, from inflation to higher interest rates and geopolitical uncertainty, was likely to hit it this year.