Ocado chief executive and founder Tim Steiner has been pushing for investors to view it as a technology company rather than a loss-making online grocer. It struck a joint venture deal over its online grocery business Ocado Retail with Marks & Spencer in 2019.
However, difficulties in making that business profitable have weighed on Ocado Group’s share price in recent years. Both Mr Steiner and M&S bosses have said they are disappointed with the performance of the online grocer.
While there have been signs of improvement in recent months, tensions have been rising between the two partners.
In February, Ocado threatened to sue M&S over a multimillion-pound payment for the venture. M&S claims Ocado should not receive the final instalment of £191m as the venture missed performance targets. Ocado argues the targets were missed because of decisions taken during the pandemic which should be taken into…
