Ocado shares slide despite profit rise Ocado said it had returned to profit in the first half of the year as it beefs up its warehouse space in a push to sell more non-food items. Pre-tax profit at the online grocer rose 4 per cent to £181,000 in the six months to May 13, on revenue up 11.4 per cent to £308.04m. Ocado posted a £2.4m pre-tax loss for the 12 months to November 27 2011. The grocer said on Tuesday it was starting to see the benefit from improvements at its Hatfield distribution centre, which had been blamed for the loss. "We continue to put in place the building blocks to deliver further improvements in the rest of this year and future periods," said Tim Steiner, chief executive. Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation were up 4.5 per cent to £14.92m, in line with analysts" expectations. Ocado plans to open a second distribution centre in Dordon, Warwickshire, early next year. It is also developing a warehouse dedicated to non-food items, such as toys and health products, as it expands its range to compete with bricks and mortar rivals such as Tesco and Waitrose. The performance was not enough to prevent a 7.22 per cent slide in the retailer's share price to 100.3p in early London trading, however. Pressure on the retailer has intensified since the expiry of an exclusivity deal with Waitrose, the grocery arm of the John Lewis Partnership, a year ago meaning it can now deliver to customers within the M25. Mr Steiner said he would expect to see continued sales growth due to the increasing number of people preferring to shop online but cautioned that "some disruption from the jubilee events" and uncertainty over the effect the Olympic Games would have on trading made forecasting sales difficult. The company also confirmed the appointment of Duncan Tatton-Brown as chief financial officer, five months after Andrew Bracey quit to join recruitment company Michael Page. Mr Tatton-Brown was most recently finance director of Fitness First, the health club group, and has also been finance director of Kingfisher, the DIY retailer. Diluted earnings per share fell to 0.03p in the first half, compared with 0.4p for the same period last year.