Deliveroo grows orders, narrows losses

Deliveroo’s losses narrowed to £104.8m as it continued to invest in growing the delivery company.

The company posted the statutory loss before tax in its 2021 half year report, which compares to a £128.4m loss in H1 2020.

Adjusted EBITDA saw a loss of £27m, down slightly from a loss of £30.3m in H1 2020, as higher gross profit was largely offset by increased investments.

Deliveroo posted year on year growth in transactions of 102% to £3.3bn in its half year results.

The delivery company’s Gross Transaction Value (GTV) was up 131% in Q1 and 81% in Q2 2021.

In the UK & Ireland, GTV was up 110% in H1 2021, which was spread across a broad geography, the company citing “no material impact” from UK reopening milestones during Q2 2021.

Revenues were up 82% to £922.5m, driven by an increase in monthly active consumers compared to H1 2020.

Gross profit was up 75% to £263.9m, with a gross profit margin of 7.8% of GTV, down slightly due to investments to support consumer acquisition and retention, and differentiated restaurant and grocery selection.

Deliveroo expects full year GTV growth of 50-60%, with a full year gross profit margin of 7.5-8.0%, reflecting investments and the expectation that average order value will reverts towards pre-pandemic levels in H2 2021.

The company said the growth was “materially ahead of expectations”, and that it now had the most food merchants of any UK delivery platform.

Will Shu, founder and CEO of Deliveroo, said: “We have reported strong performance in the first half of the year and continued to make good progress in executing our strategy. As a result, I believe that we are well positioned to take advantage of the huge opportunity ahead.

“We are seeing strong growth and engagement across our marketplace as lockdowns continue to ease. Demand has been high amongst consumers. We have widened our consumer base, seen people continuing to order frequently and we now work with more food merchants than any other platform in the UK. At the same time, more riders are choosing to continue to work with the company because they value the work we offer.

“As reflected in our guidance, whilst we expect that consumer behaviour may moderate later in the year, we remain excited about the opportunity ahead and our ability to capitalise on it.”