Deliveroo: losing money off nothing
Did you buy shares in Deliveroo, the restaurant food delivery business, perhaps accepting the company’s offer for customers to buy shares via its app? Hard cheese if you did. At one stage, the company’s shares lost 30% of their value on the first day of trading. Boosted by the Covid-19 pandemic, bringing food from restaurants to housebound customers was a good idea. The company lost £244 million last year but revenues soared by 54%. But now that we’re about escape, what’s its unique selling point? And then there is the issue of how Deliveroo treats its workers.
Frances O’Grady, of the Trades Union Congress, got to the root of it:
“There’s nothing stopping Deliveroo from paying their workforce the minimum wage and guaranteeing them basic rights like holiday and sick pay. Plenty of employers are able to provide genuine flexibility and security for their workforce. Deliveroo have no excuse for not following suit. The company’s reluctance to offer benefits now is because they want to dodge wider employment and tax obligations by labelling staff as self-employed.”
And in the US? The FT compares Deliveroo’s debut to that of Doordash, which offers. similar service. Its shares rose over 86% on the first day of trading in New York.
Posted: 31st, March 2021 | In: Money, News Comment | TrackBack | Permalink
