BERLIN (dpa-AFX) - Food delivery service Delivery Hero is considering further sales of parts of the company following the recent weakness in its share price. In a letter to shareholders published on Tuesday evening, the MDax-listed group expressed its disappointment with the stock market valuation. "We would like to assure our shareholders that the company remains fully committed to addressing this issue." Strategic options are being examined with advisors. This was well received on the stock market.
Delivery shares rose by up to 9 percent in early trading on Wednesday to their highest level since early November. However, they have lost a good fifth of their value in the current year. Since their record high in early 2021 – i.e., during the order boom in the pandemic – the stock market value has plummeted by around 86 percent.
For analyst Giles Thorne of investment firm Jefferies, it is no coincidence that the announcement comes shortly after the recent public pressure from a group of institutional investors. The most important insight from the management's letter to shareholders is not what is to happen, but that something is being done.
On Tuesday, Delivery Hero also specifically mentioned the evaluation of strategic partnerships and the examination of capital market transactions for national subsidiaries. In addition, "value-enhancing measures relating to capital structure and capital allocation" would be examined.
At the end of November, the Bloomberg news agency reported that Delivery Hero was under pressure from several major shareholders to conduct a strategic review and consider selling the company or parts of its business. The reason for this was the increasing consolidation in the delivery industry. However, an industry expert saw little that was essentially new in this at first glance. The industry has been consolidating for some time.
Delivery Hero is seeking to withdraw from unattractive markets, but has suffered setbacks in the process. In March, the planned sale of the Foodpanda business in Taiwan to the ride-hailing and delivery service Uber fell through. Uber terminated the acquisition agreement and was required to pay compensation to Delivery Hero after it became known that competition authorities would not approve the planned sale.
In December 2024, Delivery Hero listed its Middle East subsidiary Talabat < AEE01569T24> on the Dubai Stock Exchange in order to give itself more financial leeway. The group raised the equivalent of just under two billion euros with the 20 percent stake in Talabat it offered.
This year, the management team led by CEO and co-founder Niklas Östberg had to revise its annual forecast downward in August due to negative currency effects. The targets were then confirmed in November. According to these, gross merchandise value growth on a comparable basis is expected to be at the upper end of the range of eight to ten percent in 2025. In 2024, Delivery Hero posted a gross merchandise value of around 48.8 billion euros.
Total revenue across all segments is expected to increase by 22 to 24 percent on a comparable basis, adjusted for currency effects. Adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) are expected to be between €900 million and €940 million. By way of comparison, total revenue in 2024 was €12.8 billion, with adjusted EBITDA of around €750 million./err/mis/tav/mis
