Ocado Group Plc's (LSE:OCDO) share price was up 3% after it said its food retail partnership with Marks & Spencer had maintained its annual guidance while reporting a 10.6% rise in first-quarter revenue, boosted by an increase in customer numbers.
The 13 weeks to March 3 saw retail revenue hitting £645.3 million with active customers growing by 6.4% to 1.02 million, alongside an 8.1% increase in total items sold.
Ocado Retail CEO Hannah Gibson said the shopping offering was "resonating well" with customers.
Looking ahead, the tone was optimistic with the retailer projecting "mid-high single digits per cent" revenue growth for the full year.
Clive Black, the respected retail analyst at Shore Capital, seems to have become somewhat jaded by the Ocado story, one that has seen it make consistent losses over the "best part of 25 years".
"As such, we finish with our long-standing view on Ocado, if one cannot be good, be lucky, a mantra than can apply to a number of seemingly transformational online consumer technology platforms where the expectation to be appreciated regardless of financial performance is quite staggering," Black said in a note.
There was no update on the status of the fractious partnership with M&S, which has been the source of friction between the two retailers.
At 8.26 am, the shares were up 12.86p at 465.46p.