Food delivery firm Deliveroo has reported its loses soared last year as it invested more cash into rapid growth plans.
The company revealed a £298 million pre-tax loss for the year, compared with a £213 million loss in 2020, however, it also stressed that it has a long-term plan for profitability, which aims to reach breakeven in core earnings in the next two years.
Deliveroo said its heavy losses for the past year were driven by significant investment in marketing and technology improvements as it sought to keep momentum after being boosted by Covid-19 pandemic restrictions.
The delivery firm also reported a 67% increase in transaction value to £6.6 billion in 2021, driven by a 73% increase in order numbers and also predicted a slowdown in transactions over the current year.
However, it also expects a rise of between 15% and 25% across its platform.
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Revenues for 2021 increased by 57% to £1.8 billion, driven by the increase in sales transactions, as the group believes it benefited from further strength in its UK business, where orders increased by 72%.
Deliveroo also added around 19,000 more restaurant sites to its UK platform over the year, while it was also boosted by its growing grocery operation, which expanded to almost 6,000 sites.
However, it also highlighted that it will face some struggles this current year from inflation and economic impacts from the conflict in Ukraine.
“We have continued to make good progress in executing our strategy and I am proud of our performance in 2021,” he said.
“Particularly encouraging to me was our performance in the UK and Ireland, where we continued to grow our market share and achieved profitability on an adjusted earnings basis in a competitive environment – highlighting the strength of our consumer value proposition.”
