Ocado Retail saw sales jump by 10.9% in the fourth quarter to November 26.

The joint venture between the online supermarket and M&S was boosted by its "highest ever level of sales" over the peak Christmas trading period, selling over 90% of peak slots released by mid-October. Between December 20 and 24, sales overall increased 7%.

For the full year, revenue was up 7% to £2.35bn and average orders per week (Ocado.com) of 393,000 grew 4% year-on-year.

Average basket value rose 2.7%, but basket size (the number of items) fell by 4.5% year-on-year to 44 items per order, "driven by the unwinding of pandemic shopping behaviours and the cost of living crisis".

Hannah Gibson, Ocado Retail's chief executive officer, said: "We made significant progress in 2023. We have focused first and foremost on being a great shopkeeper, improving our unbeatable range, great value and unrivalled experience - all underpinned by improved cost efficiencies.

"Our Perfect Execution programme set a high bar for our performance, and we are pleased to have finished the year with strong momentum. Thank you to everyone at Ocado Retail, M&S and Ocado Group who've worked so hard to deliver the first year of our strategy and these encouraging results.

"We are starting the new year with over one million active customers. Over the next 12-18 months, we will be embedding the foundations we have laid this year and raising the bar again for online grocery shopping. We have a really strong platform to build on in 2024."