Ocado chief executive Tim Steiner has said he plans to keep the group’s stake in Ocado Retail, its joint venture with M&S.

It comes as the deal, which saw M&S taking a 50% ownership for £750m in 2019, hits its five-year milestone in August, at which point either party will have to option of selling their shares to one another, contingent on specific conditions.

Speaking to the Financial Times, Steiner said: “I don’t want to sell the other half right now, so whether [M&S] want it or not is not massively relevant.”

A source familiar with the agreement said there is no obligation for either company to sell.

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The online supermarket currently holds 1.8% of the UK grocery market and has been the fastest-growing retailer for five consecutive months, according to Kantar.

However, during its latest trading update in May, M&S revealed that the performance of Ocado Retail “remains disappointing”.

M&S said that the online grocer’s “profitability [was] well below original expectations”, however added that there is “enormous opportunity” for it.

Steiner told the FT that is was unclear what the right ownership structure was for Ocado Retail.

“Is the right model that [Ocado Group] continues to own part of it, M&S owns part of it, maybe some part of it is listed or something like that in the future?”