(Bloomberg) — The CEO of Ocado Group’s online grocery arm is leaving a few months after warning that revenue will be impacted by Britain’s inflation crisis.
Melanie Smith, who heads Ocado Retail, a joint venture with Marks & Spencer Group Plc, will depart at the end of August. She will be temporarily replaced by deputy CEO Lawrence Hene while the company seeks a permanent replacement, Ocado said in a statement Tuesday.
Smith has been at the helm since the venture with M&S began in 2019 and was one of the retail sector’s few female leaders in Europe.
Ocado Retail, as the venture is called, said earlier this year it’s starting to cut costs across the business after first-quarter sales dropped 5.7%. The business missed out on the boom in online shopping during the pandemic due to capacity constraints, having to temporarily close its website in March 2020 because it was deluged with orders.
Ocado Slumps on Marks & Spencer Online Venture’s Weak Sales
“The last two years have been extremely challenging with a pandemic to contend with affecting the grocery market in ways that we could never have predicted,” Tim Steiner, chairman of Ocado Retail and CEO of Ocado Group Plc, said in the emailed statement.
Ocado Group stock is down about 55% since the start of the year.
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