M&S’s losses from Ocado tie-up deepen as it pursues turnaround plan

Thanks for joining me. Marks & Spencer has revealed a sharp increase in losses in its partnership with Ocado as it closed a warehouse under its turnaround plan for the tie-up.

M&S suffered an adjusted loss of £23.4m in the six months to September from its share in the Ocado Retail partnership.

However, overall pre-tax profits grew by 56.2pc to £325.6m and sales were up 10.8pc to £6.2bn.

5 things to start your day 

1) The rise and fall of online dating queen Whitney Wolfe Herd | Departure of Bumble’s founder comes at a critical juncture for online dating

2) Winter arrives early for the consultant class as job cuts hit the City | Scandals, falling demand and a worker glut have thrown the professional services industry into crisis

3) City environmental and diversity red tape plans dropped in bid to boost competitiveness | Move follows concerns that the Square Mile is losing its competitiveness to Wall Street

4) JD Sports faces questioning over former chief’s non-compete deal | Peter Cowgill’s exit package is being questioned as he backs sports equipment maker

5) Bungalows near extinction as construction falls to 80-year low | Downturn in construction of the homes is being blamed in part on high interest rates

What happened overnight 

Stocks in Asia fell as investors waited to hear more from Federal Reserve officials who are due to speak this week, including chairman Jerome Powell. 

Tokyo stocks gave up early gains and fell despite Wall Street rallies, as the market was weighed down by losses of bank and steel shares.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 index fell 0.3pc, or 105.34 points, to end at 32,166.48, while the broader Topix index lost 1.2pc, or 26.96 points, to 2,305.95.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng shed 0.5pc to 17,585.60, while the Shanghai Composite declined 0.2pc to 3,049.92. 

Gloom over worse-than-expected export data offset any positive momentum from an upgrade to China’s growth forecast by the International Monetary Fund. It raised its GDP growth forecast for 2023 to 5.4pc from 5pc but forecast that growth will slow next year.

South Korea’s Kospi lost 0.9pc to 2,421.62. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 gained 0.3pc to 6,995.40.

It was a strong day for American stock markets on Tuesday. 

The S&P 500 rose for a seventh day, fuelled by enthusiasm for cloud computing shares. Microsoft hit a all-time high, reaching a record $360.53 a share (up 1.1pc). 

During the day, the S&P 500 gained 0.3pc, the Nasdaq Composite grew 0.9pc and the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.2pc.

Treasury yields fell as US Federal Reserve officials on Tuesday suggested that the central bank could be near the end of its tightening cycle. The two-year’s yield, which reflects interest rate expectations, fell 2.8 basis points to 4.913pc. The 10-year dropped 8.7 basis points at 4.575pc.