Published : 4 weeks ago, on 07/11/2024

By Paolo Laudani and Bernadette Hogg

(Reuters) -Delivery Hero said on Thursday it expects annual gross merchandise value (GMV) growth at the upper end of its forecast range, after the German online takeaway food company reported solid growth for the third quarter.

Shares in the company, which owns the Glovo and foodpanda delivery apps, opened 1% higher before trimming some of its gains to trade 0.6% higher at 0859 GMT.

The group now expects its full-year growth in GMV, a common metric for delivery firms measuring the total value of all goods sold, to land at the upper end of its 7%-9% forecast, after a 9% year-on-year rise in the third quarter.

In its Middle-East and Northern-Africa (MENA) region, it posted a 30% growth in GMV. This should bode well for the planned public listing of its lucrative Emirati subsidiary Talabat on the Dubai stock exchange in the fourth quarter, according to analysts at brokerage Stifel.

Delivery Hero reported a GMV of 12.2 billion euros ($13.12 billion) for the quarter, in line with analysts’ expectations in a company-provided consensus.

Outside Asia, its main market, GMV rose 25%.

In Asia, where it grew its presence with the acquisition South Korea’s largest online food delivery platform Woowa in 2021, it posted a 6.6% fall in GMV.

“If opportunities arise along the way, we’re happy to look at it and we’re happy to consider but that’s not the focus,” chief executive Niklas Östberg told Reuters in a call when asked if a revised guidance could lead to more acquisitions.

The company plans to build better in-app ads on its Glovo brand, available in more than 20 countries such as Spain and Italy, to help restaurants to grow their sales, Östberg added.

The company, however, said it expects adjusted core earnings to come at the lower end of its 725 million euros-775 million euros guidance.

($1 = 0.9302 euros)

(Reporting by Paolo Laudani and Bernadette Hogg; Editing by Subhranshu Sahu and Janane Venkatraman)