Deliveroo made a loss of £232m last year despite a 72% rise in sales to £476m as it doubled the number of towns and cities in which it operates.
The food delivery firm said it had invested heavily in new markets, including Taiwan and Kuwait and works with 80,000 restaurants and 60,000 riders. All its riders work as self-employed contractors without a guaranteed minimum wage, holiday pay or sick pay.
The London-based company plans to expand to another 50 UK towns and cities this yearin addition to the 200 UK towns and cities it already operates in. It is also creating a tech hub in Edinburgh after acquiring the software design and development group, Cultivate.
Deliveroo operates in 500 towns and cities across 13 markets worldwide, including Australia, Belgium, France, Hong Kong, Italy, Ireland, the Netherlands, Singapore, Spain and the United Arab Emirates.
The 2018 loss of £232m was 16% higher than the previous year’s £199m. The group’s expansion is being underpinned by $575m in new funding led by Amazon.
However, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), the UK’s competition regulator, has ordered Amazon and Deliveroo to pause any integration efforts pending an investigation into potential breaches of competition rules.
In July, the CMA issued anenforcement order against the companies saying it had “reasonable grounds for suspecting” Amazon and Roofoods, which trades as Deliveroo, had “ceased to be distinct”.
Amazon has been tipped as a potential buyer of Deliveroo after closing its London-based food delivery service, Amazon Restaurants UK, in December last year, less than three years after it launched.
Will Shu, the co-founder and chief executive of Deliveroo, said: “Deliveroo is growing from strength to strength and expanding across our markets as more and more people want amazing food delivered straight to their door.
“We’re focused on our mission of becoming the definitive food company and we’ve continued to invest heavily in expansion, technology and new products to meet this ambition. We are leading the field in innovation in food delivery, helping our restaurant partners to boost their sales and providing more well-paid work for riders.”
