British meal delivery company Deliveroo reported better-than-expected core earnings of £85 million (€99.6 million) for 2023, and expected further progress during 2024 with a move into positive cash flow.
The company, which competes with Just Eat Takeaway and Uber Eats, said total orders fell 3% year-on-year but rebounded a touch in the final quarter to being unchanged on the year.
Restaurant and grocery price inflation resulted in a 3% rise in the total value of orders to £7.6 billion (€8.9 billion), it noted.
'A Good Year For Deliveroo'
Will Shu, founder and CEO of Deliveroo said, "2023 was a good year for Deliveroo and I am proud of what we have delivered financially, operationally and for our consumers.
"Our focus on service and value for money continues to build consumer trust, which are fundamental to unlocking future growth in this industry. Alongside this, our restaurant and grocery businesses are performing well, we launched our retail offering,"
Shu added that he expected core earnings to increase this year to between £110 million and £130 million (€128.9 million to €152.3 million).
"On a free cash flow basis, we were on the brink of break even in '23 and we'll improve on that in '24," he said in an interview.
Elsewhere, Europe moved a step closer to giving so-called gig economy workers at online platforms such as Uber and Deliveroo greater social and labour rights, although companies said little would change under the watered-down rules.
The draft rules, first proposed by the European Commission in 2021, are aimed at an estimated 28 million workers in the EU, whose numbers are forecast to rise to 43 million next year.
News by Reuters, additional reporting by ESM.
