FRANKFURT (dpa-AFX) - A surprisingly good profit outlook from Delivery Hero on Monday has calmed the shareholders of the food delivery service to some extent after Friday's share price slump. The share price rose in the morning on the Tradegate trading platform by eleven percent to 18.52 euros compared to the Xetra close.

Before the weekend, the share price had slumped by almost 23 percent to 16.65 euros. The shares had thus closed just above the record low they had reached shortly before. This was triggered by a report in the "Business Times" from Singapore, according to which a deal to sell parts of the Foodpanda business in South East Asia to Grab Holdings had fallen through due to differing price expectations. Delivery Hero said that the rumors were false. However, this did little to help the share price in the end, as there is now uncertainty as to when the Group will receive money from the hoped-for sale.

A sale would significantly improve the company's finances and the shares would once again become more of an issue for many investors, explained analyst Giles Thorne from investment firm Jefferies. A burst would therefore be a major disappointment.

At the start of the week, however, the focus has now shifted to the latest business figures. The management of the MDax group is forecasting earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) adjusted for one-off effects of EUR 725 to 775 million for 2024. This is more than analysts are expecting on average. Segment sales for 2023 also exceeded the consensus estimate.

Analyst William Woods from Bernstein Research also positively emphasized that Delivery Hero reached the free cash flow break-even point in the second half of 2023. The company is aiming for a positive free cash flow in 2024. In addition, the gross merchandise value is expected to increase by 7 to 9 percent compared to the previous year, which is "a strong outlook" according to Woods.

It remains to be seen whether all this will be enough to initiate a turnaround in Delivery Hero's share price. The share price has been on a downward trend for some time. In 2017, the company went public at an issue price of EUR 25.50 per share. During the coronavirus pandemic, it then rose to a record high of over 145 euros at the beginning of 2021. People could hardly eat in restaurants and ordered a lot from delivery services. Delivery Hero was worth EUR 39.5 billion on the stock exchange at the time and the stock was even temporarily listed on the DAX.

However, the share price then fell sharply, especially from the end of 2021. In 2022, it slumped by 54%, and in 2023 by a good 44%. As of Friday's close, the market value was only 4.5 billion euros./mis/tih/men