44 Wednesday April 13 2022 | the times
Business
Appetite for Deliveroo fades
after fall in average spending
Dominic WalshDeliveroo’s stock market slide con-
tinued as even a robust trading update
could not prevent the shares falling just
short of a new low.
Shares of the food delivery group,
which was floated in March last year,
lost 1¼p, or 1.1 per cent, to close at 108¼p,
less than a third of the 390p at which
they were listed and not far above the
all-time low plumbed four weeks ago.
Analysts said the market remained
concerned over the group’s reliance on
discretionary spending, pointing out
that although gross transaction value
(GTV) in the first quarter had risen by a
robust 12 per cent, there were concerns
that customers were tightening their
belts as average spend per order fell by
6 per cent to £21.70.
The GTV — the total amount spent
on orders — rose from £1.62 billion to
£1.79 billion across all its territories;
while in the UK, its biggest market,
GTV rose by 12 per cent to £956 million,
but spend per head declined by 7 per
cent to £23.50.The fall in spend per order, which was
attributed to comparisons that
included lockdown, was offset by
growth in the number of orders.
In the UK orders rose by 20 per cent
to 40.7 million, while its international
operations lifted orders by 16 per cent to
41.7 million.
At the end of the period, Deliveroo
worked with more than 160,000 restau-
rants and close to 13,000 grocery sites.
Its financial guidance for the full year
remained unchanged at growth of 15-
25 per cent in GTV.Share price
Source: Refinitiv
Apr Jul Oct Jan Apr400p300200100(^2021220)
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thetimes.co.uk/tenRenault may
move sports
car to Lotus
Russell HottenRenault is considering moving future
production of its Alpine sports cars
from France to the UK’s Lotus.
Luca de Meo, the French carmaker’s
chief executive, confirmed the
possibility at a news conference but said
no decision had been made.
Lotus, owned by China’s Geely, and
the French carmaker have an engineer-
ing and design partnership looking at a
future electric Alpine model.
France’s La Tribune reported before
De Meo’s news briefing that Renault
wanted to free up production space at
its factory in Dieppe to manufacture a
new electric SUV.
Renault revived the historic Alpine
marque in 2017 with the aim of turning
it into the company’s premium high-
performance sports car arm. De Meo
has rebranded Renault’s Formula One
team as Alpine F1.
A successor to the current Alpine
A110 two-seater has long been in the
pipeline, with the new vehicle expected
to be the first of several fully-electric
sports cars being planned.
The A110 is due to be phased out by
2025 due to tighter European emissions
regulations, with its successor expected
to be launched in 2026.
Lotus, founded by the racing engi-
neer Colin Chapman and one of the
most famous names in motor racing,
wants all its future models to be electric.
Under Geely’s ownership Lotus’s
future model line-up has been backed
by a £2 billion investment plan to triple
production and expand abroad.
The company said its latest car, the
Emira, will be its last conventionally
powered car. Last week Lotus, known
for building lightweight sports cars,
revealed its first SUV, the Eletre, which
goes into production later this year.
De Meo said yesterday that Renault’s
plan to create a separate division for its
electric vehicle assets could eventually
lead to a separate stock market listing.
Last month he warned that Renault’s
exit from Russia could hit profits and
sales. However, he said yesterday he
was “very confident” about delivering
Renault’s turnaround plans.Honda presses
the button on
$64bn project
to turn electric