Deliveroo H1 losses narrow as orders double

Deliveroo said on Wednesday that its first-half pre-tax losses narrowed as orders doubled despite the easing of Covid restrictions.

In its first results since the IPO in March, the company said statutory pre-tax losses improved to £104.8m from £128.4m in the first half of last year, with gross transaction value up 102% to £3.4bn, "showing continued strength despite reopening effects and an increasingly tough comparison base".

Revenue rose 82% to £922.5m, as orders doubled to 148.8m and monthly active consumers pushed up 81% to 7.8m people.

Deliveroo said it had seen "no material impact" from UK reopening milestones during the second quarter of the year.

The company reiterated full-year guidance for gross transaction value growth of 50% to 60% and gross profit margin in the lower half of the range of 7.5% to 8%.

Founder and chief executive officer Will Shu said: "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."

At 0825 BST, the shares were down 0.9% at 360.01p. They had surged earlier in the week after it emerged that German rival Delivery Hero had taken a 5.1% stake in the company.