Ocado shares slide as Canadian partner Sobeys to shut CFC in Calgary

(Sharecast News) - Ocado shares tanked on Thursday after it said Canadian supermarket Sobeys, one of its partners, has decided to close its customer fulfilment centre in Calgary. Sobeys attributed the planned closure to the Alberta grocery e-commerce market's size and the rate of expansion being slower than originally anticipated.

Sobeys will continue to serve customers through its Ocado-enabled Voilà banner in those regions, supported by its two existing CFCs in the Greater Toronto and Montreal areas. As previously announced, the companies will continue the pause on development of its CFC located in the Vancouver area.

Ocado said it expects to receive compensation of £18m during the current financial year for the closure of the CFC in Alberta, which is expected to reduce fee revenue by £7m in FY26.

Chief executive Tim Steiner said: "Sobeys is an important partner to Ocado, and we have taken a pragmatic approach to refining the network and placing our partnership on the right footing to secure long-term, sustainable growth in the Canadian market. This has meant addressing some key challenges from early network planning decisions, in particular where the market has not developed as anticipated. It has also led to agreement on deepening our partnership in key markets.

"Online grocery in North America has continued to develop, and Ocado's technology has evolved significantly since our first CFCs were launched in the region. The changes we have made in our relationships with both Sobeys and Kroger represent a reset of our North American business, placing those partnerships in the best position to secure long-term growth, while reopening a substantial market for Ocado's much evolved technology."

At 0815 GMT, the shares were down 8.8% at 224.20p.

Shares in Ocado tumbled last November after it said the closure of three customer fulfilment centres in US partner Kroger's live network would reduce its FY26 revenues by around $50m (£38m).