Ocado to increase prices this year due to devaluation of sterling
Ocado has become the latest retailer to say it will be increasing prices this year due to the fall in the value of the pound since the Brexit vote.
Speaking to City PM, Duncan Tatton-Brown, Ocado's chief financial officer, said it was likely that the company would increase prices on certain products "as and when the market does".
He did not say how far prices would rise, but maintained that Ocado was better placed than most to deal with the inflationary pressures from currency movements.
Read more: Ocado's share price jumps eight per cent at the open on profit surge
"We are growing faster than the rest of the industry," he said. "So we can absorb more of the challenges than our competitors, we believe."
Retailers such have Next have warned that prices will increase this year, and suppliers such as Premier Foods have also admitted to increasing prices on goods.
Ocado's share price is up more than six per cent today after it announced a jump in profits in its full year results and said it was searching for new leasing partners for its technology and distribution centres – its so-called Smart Platform.
"In the context of an increasingly competitive environment, Ocado’s full year results are solid rather than spectacular," said Nicholas Hyett, equity analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown. "The group is confident it can deliver numerous deals in the medium term, and the appointment of a new head of the Smart Platform team demonstrates this conviction."