After shares in Ocado fell nearly 14% upon the first day of stock market trading, analysts have warned that the business will need an injection of funds before it stands a chance of breaking even.

Online grocer Ocado’s chief executive Tom Steiner dismissed claims that Ocado needs more investment: ‘That’s rubbish. I am sure we have sufficient cash flow to grow the business very, very substantially from where we are today. We’ll see where it will be in two years time. I am quite confident that it will be significantly above the range we went out with’.

Steiner took no prisoners and lashed out at analysts who commented that Ocado’s initial valuation was far too high: “Any self-respecting broker at a major securities house is not allowed to publish a report during the [blackout] period. We saw a number of reports from very small securities houses that don’t observe the rules. Many of them seem very happy to see their name in print”.

Ocado’s customers who have already signed up for shares have just 48 hours to decide whether they still want to go ahead and buy them at 180p.