--John Lewis at liberty to reduce Ocado stake

Internet Business News
01-11-2011
--John Lewis at liberty to reduce Ocado stake

INTERNET BUSINESS NEWS-(C)1995-2011 M2 COMMUNICATIONS

11 January 2011 -- The pension fund of the John Lewis partnership has received the green light to reduce its stake in Ocado (LON:OCDO) after the 180-day period following the online grocery group's initial public offering (IPO) expired on 2 January 2011, the Financial Times reported.
The pension fund offloaded nearly 50% of its holding in Ocado in the GBP800m (USD1.2bn/EUR961m) IPO last July and currently has a stake of some 11%.

Ocado's finance director Andrew Bracey said that the pension fund would not be allowed to axe its stake before the publication of the annual results as it had a director on Ocado's board.

The lock-up expired as Ocado publicly announced that gross sales went up 27.4% to GBP178.9m in the four months to 28 November. Then gross sales for the holiday season to 26 December increased by 26.7% to GBP50.9m. The full-year gross sales to 28 November were GBP551.1m, up 29%.

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