Last time we heard from Ocado Group PLC (LSE:OCDO) it blamed Ocado Retail, its joint venture with Marks and Spencer Group PLC (LSE:MKS), for its ballooning losses.
On Tuesday we get a first-quarter update on the JV, where the online grocery group expects revenue to grow at mid-single digits with an "improving trajectory" during the year.
More recently, M&S guided to "marginally positive" EBITDA for Ocado Retail in the current period.
Over the past year it was forced to warn on profits a number of times as consumers shrunk spending compared to during the pandemic and traded down to cheaper items.
The FTSE 100-listed group said it expects Ocado Retail's improvement in 2023 to reflect "a return to volume growth as the challenging comparison to larger volume basket shopping behaviours that remained in early 2022 fades". Or in other words, the comparisons will be easier.
Most recent industry data from Kantar showed Ocado put in a strong performance, bucking the overall trend in online sales.
These indications suggest that it could have been blessed with a surge of sales around Valentine’s Day as shoppers splashed out on lucrative dinners, including steak and sparkling wine flourished, said Susannah Streeter, head of money and markets at Hargreaves Lansdown.
"This may just be a flash in the plan, particularly as other supermarkets are upping their game with it comes to their retail offering. Online shopping has at a permanently higher base post-pandemic, which bodes well but investors are anxious for signs of more scores on the doors and want to see more partners being brought on board."