Deliveroo said on Thursday it had achieved the twin milestones of positive net profit and free cash flow in the first half as demand from customers stabilised.
The news sent shares for the British meal delivery company up 9%.
Chief executive of the company Will Shu – who co-founded the business in 2013 – said the performance overall was “really strong.”
Shu said, “We are improving profitability whilst we’re still growing.
“Orders returned to year-on-year growth and GTV (gross transaction value) momentum is good.”
The group, which has £662 million of cash, said it would buy back £150 million of stock.
Shares in Deliveroo, which competes with Just Eat Takeaway and Uber Eats, rose 9% to 139 pence.
Shu said consumer sentiment was more stable, although it would be a stretch to call it positive.
He said, “We’re cautiously optimistic, we see less headwinds than we did before.”
He added that Deliveroo had improved its loyalty programme, adding a 10% credit award on orders over 30 points from its Plus Gold members.
It also introduced a Plus Diamond for its top customers, who would be able to access exclusive restaurants.
Shu said, “Plus customers re much more engaged on our platform than non-Plus customers, and Plus is over 40% of global order volume now.”
Deliveroo upgraded its forecast for full-year core earnings to the upper half of £110 to £130 million range after reporting a better-than-expected 57% rise to £61.7 million in the first half.
It reported net profit of £1.3 million, compared to an £83 million loss a year ago, and free cash flow of £3.2 million for the period.
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