Ocado set to crash out of FTSE 100 after share fall

OCADO stands on the brink of dropping out of the FTSE 100 today, in the latest blow to investors already hit by a 90% drop in the value of their shares in four years.

- Michael Hunter

The lingering slump has also come amid threats of legal action with its joint-venture partner Marks and Spencer. That piled more pressure on the stock and Ocado's combative boss, Tim Steiner, amid controversy over high pay and a five-year package worth up to £100 million.

Ocado's looming demotion to the FTSE 250 would end a six-year spell among the UK's biggest firms, amid unease over Steiner's package at the company he founded. A former Goldman Sachs banker, he hauled in £59 million in 2020 around the stock's peak.

In 2022, nearly 30% of shareholders voted against the £100 million, five-year pay plan for the CEO. That proposal came even as hopes were fading that Ocado's robotic warehouses would become Britain's answer to the world's biggest names in e-commerce.