Shares in Ocado were down on the FTSE 250 in morning trading after the food delivery company reported a return to profit in the half year ended 15 May.

Net revenue in the period increased 20.1 per cent from the previous year to £276.6 million, while the group reported a pre-tax profit of £0.2 million after reporting a pre-tax loss of £6.7 million in the same period last year.

Net cash at the end of the period was £49.4 million, down from £80.5 million at the end of November.

During the period the number of average orders per week rose 22.6 per cent to 22.6 per cent, while the average order size increased 1.5 per cent to £114.09.

Tim Steiner, Chief Executive Officer of Ocado, said, "Strong customer demand for the Ocado service has delivered profitable growth, limited only by our operational capacity. We are focused on increasing capacity to meet demand and improve delivery timeliness and order accuracy. We are delighted to announce our new supply partnership with Carrefour, an important development in our strategy to offer the broadest and most diverse grocery range to all our customers in the UK."

By 08:40 shares in Ocado were down 2.14 per cent on the FTSE 250 to 183.00 pence per share.

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