When Ocado releases its interims next week interest is as likely to be focused on news about international prospects as its domestic market.

When online grocer Ocado releases its interim results next week interest is as likely to be focused on anything it says about international prospects as its domestic market.

Ocado has no overseas operations at present, but has identified foreign partnerships as a big opportunity.

Having enabled online latecomer Morrisons to launch a fully-fledged etail business from scratch, Ocado is convinced its proven expertise and capabilities will also be in demand among retailers in other countries.

The etailer made its ambitions clear at the time of February’s prelims.

Boss and co-founder Tim Steiner said then: “The successful launch and smooth ramp-up of Morrisons.com was particularly encouraging and paves the way for future agreements to commercialise the value of our intellectual property.

“The development of Ocado Smart Platform, enabled by our IT replatforming and fulfilment solutions, positions us well to take advantage of future opportunities as the demand for online grocery shopping increases internationally.”

He said that Ocado was receiving interest from “a broad group of potential international partners to discuss how we might assist them in introducing or improving online business in their own markets”.

Challenging UK market

Welcome as it would be in its own right, especially given the money the Morrisons deal brought in, it is unsurprising that Ocado should be pursuing overseas opportunity.

An international revenue and earnings stream would be a counterweight to Ocado’s UK business.

Although still growing impressively at the time of the last update, Ocado has to contend with what was described as challenging, competitive and uncertain UK market.

Lately there has been mounting speculation that an international tie-up may be nearing for Ocado.

Deutsche Bank last month published a note examining in some detail the likelihood of a deal in the US and how it might be structured.

Ocado said in its prelims that it hoped to strike its first Smart Platform service agreement during 2015, although it emphasised that it could not guarantee that timeline.

The year is now halfway through.

Next week may not necessarily bring news of a deal, but the City will be keen to see how the international partnership treasure hunt is progressing.