Ocado says trade disrupted by Jubilee celebrations

LONDON: British online supermarket Ocado said trade in its third quarter was disrupted by celebrations to mark Queen Elizabeth II's Diamond Jubilee as it posted a 4.5 percent rise in underlying first half earnings.

"The third quarter is particularly hard to forecast as we have already seen some disruption from the Jubilee events, and there is uncertainty as to the effect of the forthcoming Olympic Games, but we expect sales growth to increase in the second half of 2012 overall," chief executive Tim Steiner said on Tuesday.