Ocado has seen its gross sales increase by 13.6% to £ 1,267.4m for the year ending 27th November 2016.

Pre-tax profits rose by 21.8% to £14.5m.

Chief executive officer Tim Steiner said: 'We are pleased to announce results today which reflect robust trading in our core business and shows continued progress against our strategic objectives in what has been a challenging retail environment. Over the course of the last year, we grew our active customer base by almost 14%, with growth in average orders per week approaching 18%, testament to the strength of our customer proposition, market position and technology.

He continued: 'We commenced operations at our new Customer Fulfilment Centre in Andover, which has the first installation of our new proprietary technology. At the same time, we have made good progress in improving the efficiency and throughput of our existing operations, increasing our capacity from existing facilities by over 20,000 weekly orders. These developments position us well for future growth, whilst improving our returns and enhancing the service we can offer our customers.'