British food delivery firm Deliveroo announced plans to launch its hotly anticipated London listing on Monday after recording a surge in business during the COVID-19 pandemic, although it still posted a loss for 2020.
The initial public offering (IPO) is expected to value Deliveroo at more than $7 billion, based on a private funding round it completed in January, and will be one of the largest London listings in several years.
The company published a registration document and an expected “intention to float” -- which signals the start of the listing process -- on Monday, capping what has been a busy start to the London IPO season.
In an accompanying trading update, the company said it had grown the total number of transactions processed on its online platform, the so-called Gross Transaction Value, by 64.3% last year to 4.1 billion pounds from 2.5 billion in 2019.
It also narrowed an underlying loss to 223.7 million pounds ($308.93 million), from 317.3 million pounds in 2019.
“Today, Deliveroo is so much bigger than I ever would have thought possible,” founder and chief executive Will Shu said in the trading update. “We are building delivery-only kitchens, delivering groceries, building tools for restaurants to take them into the digital age - things I never contemplated when we launched.”
CLASS SYSTEM
The company confirmed it plans to use a dual-class share structure that will give Shu more control over the company.
This means it will have a “standard” listing upon entry into the London Stock Exchange, rather than a premium one, excluding it from the FTSE indices.
However, this could change if recommendations made in a recent review of listing rules by former EU Commissioner Jonathan Hill are implemented.
“It’s obviously great news that Deliveroo, a global technology leader, born and bred in the UK, has chosen to list here,” Hill said in a statement provided by Deliveroo. “The changes we recommended would make it easier for more companies to follow Deliveroo’s lead, sending out a message that London is open for business.”
Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan are joint global coordinators and bookrunners along with Bank of America, Citi, Jefferies and Numis.
Reporting by Simon Jessop; Editing by Rachel Armstrong, Kirsten Donovan
Source: Reuters