Deliveroo boss sells almost £15m of shares: Will Shu benefits after group makes first half profit

Deliveroo boss Will Shu has sold almost £15m of shares after the food delivery group posted its first half-year profit.

Shu, who co-founded the company more than a decade ago, sold 9.4 million shares worth £14.8 million between September 12 and 16, the company said in a stock market disclosure.

The group said he did so to “cover personal real estate investments” and that he does not participate in the company’s annual bonuses or long-term stock incentive programs.

Shu, a former employee of investment bank Morgan Stanley, still owns 95.8 million shares, or 5.9 percent of the company, after the sale.

It comes a month after Deliveroo posted its first half-year profit, in what bosses say is a “significant milestone”.

The meal delivery group, which was renamed ‘Flopperoo’ after its disastrous IPO in 2021, has seen a performance rebound of late.

Deliveroo shares have risen almost 38 per cent in the past six months. But they are still less than half their initial IPO price of 390p. They closed 0.3 per cent higher, or 0.4p, at 157.3p yesterday.

Profits reached £1.3m for the first half of this year, compared with a loss of £83m recorded for the same period last year. Orders placed rose 2 per cent to 147m in the six months.

Gross transaction value per order – which is the average cost of customers’ food parcels plus delivery charges – was £25, up from £24.20 the year before.

This was mainly due to restaurants and shops raising their prices, although inflation has cooled over the past year.

The company debuted on the London Stock Exchange in March 2021 amid a surge in business during the pandemic, when restaurants were forced to close and many more customers ordered meals online.

But Deliveroo has struggled since then as the company invested heavily in marketing, technology and workforce.

Sales also declined when consumers returned to cafes and restaurants en masse after the end of the lockdown.

Childhood friends Shu and Greg Orlowski joined forces to found the company in 2013. Shu and other executives got their first pay raises since going public this year.

According to Deliveroo’s annual report, published in March, top executives received a 3 percent increase in their base salary earlier this year.

This took Shu’s annual salary to £618,000 and that of finance director Scilla Grimble to £515,000. For 2023, his total salary package, including pension and benefits, was £675,000.

Shu previously sold £47m worth of shares in his company in December 2021 to meet tax obligations. He had been required to pay tax on restricted share units earlier that year as part of the company’s listing on the stock exchange.

In June, Deliveroo was mentioned as one of several London-listed companies set for acquisition this year.

There were reports that the company had been approached by San Francisco rival Doordash.

However, according to Reuters, the talks, which began in May, ended over disagreements over price.

Analysts at Jefferies said at the time that this was “perhaps just the beginning” and that it could open the door to more takeover interest in Deliveroo. They added: “The financial, industrial and strategic logic for a Deliveroo takeover is so strong that we would not be surprised to see headlines like this again in the near term.”