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Ocado venture with M&S

Marks & Spencer (M&S) started to sell its popular food range online for the first time in September 2020, by forming a venture (also known as a joint venture) with Ocado. Ocado is a solely online supermarket that has well-established distribution networks and market-leading advanced technology.

M&S funded its part of the £1.5bn venture by selling £600m of shares to existing shareholders and by cutting shareholder dividends by 40%.

M&S stated that it had always believed M&S branded food should be available online and combining with Ocado was a ‘win-win’ situation that would drive long-term growth of both businesses.

Following the announcement of the venture, Ocado’s share price rose by 3%.

The launch of the venture followed over a year of hard work and required senior managers from both businesses to work together to make it happen.