Ocado to float after general election

The retailer, which has yet to make a pre-tax profit, has had “very, very good” feedback from potential investors and would like to float on “the other side of the election”, finance director Andrew Bracey told Reuters. Cash raised would be used to fund s second distribution centre.

There has been some scepticism about how an Ocado flotation would be received, partly because of its profitability and partly because its contract to sell Waitrose products expires in 2013 and is not guaranteed to be renewed.

However Bracey was confident the contract would be renewed and that the relationship would continue “for the foreseeable future”.

He maintained there would be appetite for an Ocado IPO and said: “People who have got a differentiated offer, either because they have a unique proposition or because there’s growth – or because there’s both – when they have come to the market [the IPO] has gone well.”

Ocado could raise about £150m from an IPO and would have an enterprise value of about £1bn.