Ocado sales rise hands investors much-needed cheer The company unveiled a jump in sales and orders and expressed renewed optimism about its operational performance, sending its shares up 3.1 to 106.1p. Ocado has been beset by issues at its Hatfield depot over the last 12 months - most recently issuing a profits warning in December on higher staffing costs - but said it was now delivering record numbers of orders from the site. "Evidence suggests we have largely overcome the operational challenges we faced in expanding our Hatfield capacity in the second half of 2011, and are set to meet growing demand through the rest of the year," said Tim Steiner, the retailer's chief executive. We expect to see acceleration in sales growth as the year progresses. The company said sales had risen 10.9pc to £162.1m in the 12 weeks to February 19, with average orders up 13.4pc to 116,987. At Hatfield, the group said it had hit a new high of 134,000 orders delivered in a single week. Peak day volumes ran significantly higher than during the constrained period. Further improvements will come on stream over the next quarter which will increase capacity, operational efficiency, and customer service performance," the company said. In a further fillip for investors, 93.2pc of orders were delivered on time or early against 92.3pc previously. The company is also developing a second distribution site and said preparations were progressing "according to plan" with testing set to begin in the middle part of the year before launch in the first quarter of 2013. Like many other retailers, Ocado reported a decline in average order size, down from £118.06 to £115.49.