Ocado has turned in its first annual profit since the grocery delivery service was founded 15 years ago, making more than £7 million last year as its deals with Waitrose and Morrisons paid off.

The company said with more customers choosing to drop the weekly shop visit in favour of online shopping, it was capitalising on changing of consumer habits.

Ocado made a pre-tax profit of £7.2 million in the year to the end of November, following a £12.5 million loss the previous year.

Tim Steiner, chief executive, said: “Channel shift towards online grocery shopping continued during the period.

“While the broader grocery market was characterised by intense competition with minimal growth in the segment, declining supermarket store sales, competitive price activity and cautious consumer spending we continued to grow ahead of the online grocery market and significantly ahead of the market overall.”

"The successful launch and smooth ramp up of Morrisons.com was particularly encouraging and paves the way for future agreements to commercialise the value of our intellectual property.  The development of Ocado Smart Platform, enabled by our IT replatforming and fulfilment solutions projects, positions us well to take advantage of future opportunities as the demand for online grocery shopping increases internationally.

"Overall, we are well equipped to continue to lead the online grocery revolution, in the UK and overseas, as increasing numbers of customers shift away from traditional forms of retailing. We are confident that we have significant opportunities for growth in sales and shareholder value."