Standard Digital Edition

Deliveroo sales jump eases share price woe

Oscar Williams-Grut @OscarWGrut

THE BOSS of Deliveroo is “disappointed” to see his firm’s share price more than halve since listing last year but said he is focused on running the business.

Will Shu told the Standard: “I’m obviously disappointed. Ultimately, I focus on the business outputs of the company, that’s what I can control.”

Deliveroo went public at 390p a share last March but saw shares crash on debut. They have fallen further since then, reaching a low of 166p this week.

“We’ve obviously seen a big, broadbased technology market decline in the US that’s bled over into the UK but the message I would focus on is: look, we’ve achieved strong growth, despite lapping Covid from last year; we’ve raised GTV [gross transaction value] guidance twice this year and we’ve met the top of that range; and the business continues to just perform very strongly,” Shu said. “That’s really what I’m focused on.”

The comments came as Deliveroo reported strong Christmas sales.The total value of orders on its platform rose by 33% to £1.7 billion in the final quarter of 2021. The strength helped full-year gross transaction value rise by 70% to hit £6.6 billion, the top end of guidance.

Shu said the fourth quarter “capped a really strong year”, adding: “We performed really well compared with a pandemic period.”

Deliveroo was boosted by strong demand for home delivered groceries, which rose from 6% to 8% of orders by value. A tie-up with Amazon, Deliveroo’s largest investor, also helped. The deal, struck in September, saw annual subscriptions for deliver fee-free Deliveroo orders handed out to Prime customers.

Shu said the work from home order introduced in December had little effect on demand: “We always see more people ordering as it gets colder. I wouldn’t say that we say that we saw a significant difference this year, in terms of otheryears.”

Deliveroo said it was on track to meet previous profit margin guidance of between 7.5% and 7.75%.

Shares rose 4,6p, or 2.35%, to 174.5p.

Business

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