LONDON, Feb 29 Reuters Ocado, the British online supermarket and technology group, forecast faster growth this year after an improved performance from its automated warehouse technology unit helped to deliver betterthanexpected annual earnings.

FTSE 100listed Ocado operates an online supermarket in Britain through a joint venture with Marks Spencer and also sells its cutting edge warehouse technology to grocery retailers around the world, such as Kroger in the United States, Casino in France and Aeon in Japan.

It is the latter Technology Solutions division that has driven Ocado39;s stock market value, which soared to around 22 billion pounds during the pandemic but has since fallen to 4 billion pounds.

The group said on Thursday it made a pretax loss of 403.2 million pounds for the year to Dec. 3 2023, versus analysts39; average forecast for a loss of 410 million pounds and a loss of 500.8 million pounds in 202122. Revenue rose 9.9 to 2.83 billion pounds.

At the core earnings level, Ocado returned to profit with adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation EBITDA of 54.2 million pounds, versus analysts39; average forecast of 44 million pounds and a loss of 74.1 million pounds in 202122.

That improvement reflected a return to profit at Ocado Retail, the jv with MS, a first profit in Technology Solutions and stable profit in the logistics division.

CEO Tim Steiner said he was confident of faster growth, stronger cash flows, and higher…