Three years ago, Ocado’s market capitalisation of £23bn exceeded that of Marks & Spencer, Morrisons and Sainsbury’s combined, as the Covid-19 outbreak took hold and there was a massive switch to online shopping.

Now, it is valued at £5bn and a recent share price rise owed more to speculation that Amazon was poised to snap up Ocado, rather than any belief in the intrinsic merits of its digital knowhow and grocery business – a joint venture with Marks & Spencer.