ONLINE grocery firm Ocado and French Groupe Casino have inked a formal partnership in France.

The companies said they had signed a memorandum of understanding to create a joint venture to provide logistics services for grocery retailers in France. The deal also means Ocado will integrate Octopia's marketplace platform into OSP.

Tim Steiner, chief executive officer of Ocado Group, said the online grocery channel in France had "reached an inflection point."

There was growing momentum for "compelling, affordable and efficient grocery ecommerce propositions," Steiner added.

The deal between Groupe Casino - which operates grocery brands Monoprix, Spar and Le Petit Casino - and Ocado would "further support the capital light expansion of our partnership into other French regions," Steiner added.

The deal will mean Ocado's robotic fulfilment solutions will be introduced to aid the operation of autonomous warehouses in France.

Shares in the UK online grocer leaped yesterday morning after the news, stabilising in the afternoon to close up 1.34 per cent.

It comes after shares sunk earlier this month - despite a 7.2 per cent rise in revenue to £2.5bn - when the group warned its profit may be undermined by its international growth.

(c) 2022 City A.M., source Newspaper