Having never turned a profit since it began 10 years ago, online grocery story Ocado is to launch onto the stockmarket in a move that puts a £1 billion price tag on the business.

Set up by three guys – chief executive Tim Steiner, Jason Gissing and Jonathan Faiman – who still retain 13.3% of the company, Ocado has around 1.6 million customers and has just renewed its deal with Waitrose, to sell and deliver its own-brand products for the next ten years. And to be honest, that's probably the real value as many people identify Ocado and their client Waitrose as the same thing.

That trio of former Goldman Sachs bankers now stand to make a massive return on the money they have poured into what must have, at times, seemed a bottomless hole. But being all coy, no-one wants to talk about that.

Anyway, the launch into the great unknown of the stockmarket has long been discussed and now it will finally happen with the aim to raise about £200m so that £45m in debt can be cleared and a new distribution hub built.

As timing is absolutely crucial in a a float like this, there are not many more details, but it does look like Ocado customers who have spent £300 or more so far this year will be offered the chance to buy shares. I guess that is the touchy-feely, 'We Are The World' sort of thing you'd expect from a company that professes a strong ethical bent and is 29%-owned by the John Lewis pension fund.

As for the snide analyst who once declared "Ocado starts with an o, ends with an o and is worth zero", well we're still waiting for his comment on this big, bold move.