Ocado has reported a £200,000 (€225,000) pre-tax profit for the six months to 15 May, the online grocer's first move into the black in its ten-year history.
Sales reached £297m (€334m), a 21 per cent increase on a year ago, when it posted a £6.7m (€7.5m) loss.
Tim Steiner, Ocado's chief executive and co-founder, also revealed a plan to increase the number of product lines it offers from 21,500 to 30,000-40,000.
Amid concerns about Ocado's capacity constraints and increasing competition in the online grocery sector, the company, which floated at 180p last July, saw shares slip to 170p, their lowest price this year.
Ocado has been delivering fewer orders on time or early – down a couple of points at 92.7 per cent - but Steiner said it was still 'miles ahead of our competition' and pointed out that another distribution centre is scheduled to open by the end of 2012.
As its agreement to distribute goods from Waitrose comes to an end, Ocado is looking to continental Europe for items to widen its product range and has signed a deal to sell Carrefour's Reflets de France brand.
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