Deliveroo orders double in latest lockdown but company warns sales boom won’t last

Platform predicts slowdown in growth as restrictions ease

Deliveroo saw orders more than double during the latest coronavirus lockdown but warned the rapid growth will wane as restrictions ease.

The food delivery platform said orders grew 114 per cent to 71 million in the three months to March and the total value of transactions hit £1.65bn compared to £715m in the same period last year.

Deliveroo has benefited from restrictions which have closed down restaurants except for takeaway and delivery business.

Customers in England are now able to dine out again after outdoor hospitality reopened on Monday with the other UK nations also set to relax public health measures in the coming weeks. Under the government’s current roadmap, indoor dining is due to restart from 17 May.

Deliveroo said growth will “decelerate as lockdowns ease” but the pace of that slowdown remains uncertain.

Founder and chief executive officer Will Shu told the PA news agency that the reopening of hospitality across the UK was likely to have some impact, but pointed to strong performance in other markets that have already reopened their hospitality businesses.

He said: “We operate in 12 markets which are all at different stages of restrictions, so we’ve been able to keep an eye on people’s behaviours.

“In Hong Kong, all lockdown restrictions have been lifted and people enjoy eating, but there is still really resilient growth.

“The truth is that we don’t know how things will turn out in the UK and how much these new consumer behaviours will stick, but we are really positive.”

The update comes after a tumultuous few weeks for the company which had set its sights on a valuation as high as $8.8bn (£6.38bn).

That target was cut to $7.9bn before shares began trading on the London Stock Exchange for the first time. Deliveroo’s share price then plunged by one-third in the opening week amid concerns from large investors over workers’ rights and an ownership structure that limited shareholders’ voting rights and kept power in Mr Shu’s hands.