A boost in grocery sales has driven Deliveroo to its first full-year profit.

In the full year ending 31 December 2024, the delivery service reported a profit of £2.9m, up from reported loss of £31.8m the previous year. Sales were up by 2%, hitting £2.017bn, marking a rise from £2.03bn in 2023.

In particular, Deliveroo’s grocery business boosted growth, reaching 16% of the Group’s gross transaction value (GTV) in the second half, up from 13% in the second half of 2023. The business said this was achieved by focusing on improving the efficiency of the picking process through features such as mandatory barcode scanning and auto-complete.

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In 2024, Deliveroo reported over 70% of grocery orders were delivered through its own proprietary picking app technology, which helped to reduce inaccurate orders compared to the previous year, while simultaneously increasing the likelihood of suitable substitutions.

Chief executive Will Shu attributed the company’s performance to its expanding grocery and retail offer.

“Over the past year, we have been relentlessly focused on making the Deliveroo experience even better. The robust results we’ve announced today, with our first full year profit and positive free cash flow as well as GTV growth across our verticals, demonstrate that our strategy is working,” said Shu.

“We continued to deliver value to consumers by incentivising partners to reduce mark-ups and by significantly enhancing our loyalty programme. Our dedication to making every order perfect is having a meaningful impact on consumer satisfaction, as reflected in our net promoter score.”

He added: “Whilst the consumer environment remains uncertain, I am confident that we can continue to deliver growth by focusing on the levers in our control: supporting our restaurant partners to meet untapped consumer demand around new occasions, expanding our grocery and retail offering, and continuously improving our CVP (cost volume profit).”

Last month, Deliveroo’s ‘Right to Ride Safely’ campaign, was joined by 30 UK restaurants and supermarket groups including Morrisons, in a letter written to to the Home Secretary, calling for greater protection for delivery riders in the upcoming Crime and Policing Bill.