By Adria Calatayud

Shares in Delivery Hero SE fell after the company's 2022 gross merchandise value and total segment revenue missed its guidance and it didn't provide a top-line outlook for the year ahead.

The German food-delivery company said GMV for the fourth quarter rose 8.8% to 11.35 billion euros ($12.16 billion), growing at a slower rate than the 18% increase it reported for 2022 as a whole. Delivery Hero's full-year GMV of EUR44.61 billion euros fell short of its guidance for a result at the lower end of the EUR44.7 billion to EUR46.9 billion range.

At 0853 GMT, Delivery Hero shares fell 8.1% to EUR49.

The company said total segment revenue for the fourth quarter rose 21% to EUR2.53 billion, taking the full-year total to EUR9.59 billion, up 32% on 2021. It had guided for 2022 total segment revenue to come in at the lower end of the EUR9.8 billion to EUR10.4 billion range.

Delivery Hero said it focused on accelerating its path toward profitability last year and that its efforts paid off in the fourth quarter, with an improvement in its adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization margin relative to GMV of three percentage points to minus 0.3%. The company's full-year adjusted Ebitda to GMV margin was minus 1.4%, in line with guidance.

For 2023, the company targets an adjusted Ebitda to GMV margin of over 0.5%, and remains committed to reaching free cash flow breakeven during the second half of the year.

Delivery Hero said it ended the year with a cash balance of EUR2.4 billion.

Analysts at Citi said in a research note Thursday that this implies the company's cash burn amounted to EUR500 million in the second half of the year which, together with slowing growth and the absence of top-line guidance for 2023, is likely to lead to a negative reaction.

Write to Adria Calatayud at adria.calatayud@dowjones.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

February 09, 2023 04:04 ET (09:04 GMT)

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