Thanks to increasing demand, Delivery Hero has accelerated its growth.

On Thursday, the food delivery service therefore forecast full-year growth at the upper end of the targeted range. However, operating profit is expected to be at the lower end of the range. The company would not comment on the planned IPO of the fast-growing Middle East subsidiary Talabat. As a result, the share price fluctuated in a range of around minus four and plus four percent. It recently traded a good three percent lower.

The gross merchandise volume (GMV) traded via the platform rose by a good nine percent to 12.25 billion euros, adjusted for currency effects. If the shrinking Asian business is excluded, the increase would even be 25 percent. Group turnover increased at a similar rate to 3.23 billion euros in the past quarter. "The commitment and loyalty of our customers is steadily increasing," said co-founder and CEO Niklas Östberg.

For the year as a whole, Delivery Hero expects GMV to increase by seven to nine percent and Group revenue by 18 to 21 percent. The company forecasts an operating profit of 725 to 775 million euros. The cash inflow is expected to be between 50 and 100 million euros. Previously, the company had forecast a figure above zero.

Analysts at the bank JPMorgan described the robust growth in the reporting period as encouraging. However, the cautious profit outlook puts a question mark behind necessary investments, especially in the weakening Asian business. GMV there shrank by 6.6 percent.

(Report by Hakan Ersen; with the assistance of Myria Mildenberger. Edited by Olaf Brenner. If you have any queries, please contact our editorial team at berlin.newsroom@thomsonreuters.com (for politics and the economy) or frankfurt.newsroom@thomsonreuters.com (for companies and markets).)