Deliveroo reaches net profit and cash flow milestones
Adds CEO comments in paragraphs 2-3, 6, 8, shares in paragraph 5
By Paul Sandle
LONDON, Aug 8 (Reuters) -British meal delivery company Deliveroo ROO.L said it had achieved the twin milestones of positive netprofit and free cash flow in the first half as demand from customers stabilised, sending its shares up 9% on Thursday.
Chief Executive Will Shu, who co-founded the business in 2013, said the performance overall was "really strong".
"We are improving profitability whilst we're still growing," he said. "Orders returned to year-on-year growth and GTV (gross transaction value) momentum is good."
The group, which has 662 million pounds ($841 million) of cash, said it would buy back 150 million pounds of stock.
Shares in Deliveroo, which competes with Uber Eats and Just Eat Takeaway, rose 9% to 139 pence.
Shu said consumer sentiment was more stable, although it would be a stretch to call it positive. "We're cautiously optimistic, we see less headwinds than we did before," he said.
He said Deliveroo had improved its loyalty programme, adding a 10% credit award on orders over 30 pounds for its Plus Gold members and introducing a Plus Diamond for its top customers, who would be able to access exclusive restaurants.
"Plus customers are much more engaged on our platform than non-Plus customers, and Plus is over 40% of global order volume now," he said.
Deliveroo upgraded its forecast for full-year core earnings to the upper half of 110 million to 130 million pounds range after reporting a better-than-expected 57% rise to 61.7 million pounds in the first half.
It reported net profit of 1.3 million pounds ($1.65 million), compared to an 83 million pounds loss a year ago, and free cash flow of 3.2 million pounds for the period.
($1 = 0.7869 pounds)
Reporting by Paul Sandle; editing by Sarah Young and Sharon Singleton
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