The etailer’s chief financial officer Duncan Tatton-Brown said “there is a chance” that Ocado will be able to stock M&S products online before the existing September 2020 switchover date but said any such move would require the consent of Waitrose.

“There is a chance that [transition date] may come forward, but we have a contractual arrangement with Waitrose – so that would require all three parties to agree to that. It’s not in our gift to make happen on our own.”

Tatton-Brown wouldn’t give a new transition date when pressed, and said it was “a possibility, rather than a probability”.