(New: Price development updated, UBS analyst.)

FRANKFURT (dpa-AFX Broker) - A surprisingly good earnings outlook from Delivery Hero only briefly boosted the recently battered shares on Monday. The share price quickly turned negative in the course of trading. The focus remained on the Group's balance sheet risks, explained analyst Jo Barnet-Lamb from the major Swiss bank UBS.

After a rise of up to a good eleven percent, the shares were last quoted 1.3 percent down at 16.44 euros. In the meantime, they hit another record low of 16.13 euros.

The shares closed the weekend down almost 23 percent at 16.65 euros. The slide in the share price 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. If the sale were to fall through, it would therefore be a major disappointment.

At the start of the week, the focus 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.

UBS analyst Barnet-Lamb was also positive about the Group's outlook, although he did not find it particularly surprising. Nevertheless, he pointed out that Delivery Hero's transition to profitable growth is progressing as planned.

However, according to Barnet-Lamb, an above-average share price performance seems unlikely until the concerns regarding the balance sheet, i.e. the company's financial strength, are resolved.

The share price has been on a downward trend for some time. In 2017, the company went public at an issue price of 25.50 euros per share. During the coronavirus pandemic, it then rose to a record high of just over 145 euros at the start 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%. The current market value is only around 4.5 billion euros./mis/tih/men