Deliveroo PLC (LSE:ROO) announced a strong performance for 2021, with gross transaction value coming in at the top end of its guidance as food delivery orders remained high and its customer base continued to grow despite the easing of pandemic restrictions.
The food delivery group reported full-year pro-forma gross transaction value (GTV) of £6.6bn year-on-year at constant currencies, a rise of 70%, which was at the top end of its guidance for 60-70% growth.
Deliveroo maintained its guidance on gross profit margin at 7.5%-7.75% for 2021.
In the fourth quarter, GTV totalled £1.7bn, a rise of 36% compared with the same period in 2020, when lockdown restriction were in place in many countries. Compared with the third quarter, GTV grew by 11% and orders by 10%.
Compared with two years ago, before the pandemic, orders increased by 154% in the fourth quarter.
The average number of monthly active customers totalled 8mln in the final three months of the year, up 37% on the previous year and 123% higher than in 2019.
Average order frequency was 3.4 per month despite the easing of lockdown restrictions since the third quarter.
GTV per order up fell by 5% year-on-year in the final three months and rose by 1% versus the previous quarter as order values continued to revert to pre-COVID levels.
In the UK and Ireland, GTV was up 36% year-on-year in the fourth quarter and 12% higher than in the third quarter.
Full-year GTV growth was 71%, while orders rose by 72%.
International GTV rose by 36% year-on-year in the final quarter of 2021, with sequential growth of 10% compared with the third quarter.
On-demand grocery deliveries continued to rise, to 8% of total GTV in the second half of 2021 from 7% in the first six months and 6% in the latter half of 2020. The number of grocery delivery site stood at 11,000 globally at end-2021, up from 10,000 at the end of the third quarter.
Will Shu, founder and CEO of Deliveroo, said: "I am proud of what we achieved in 2021; despite a challenging backdrop, we continued to strengthen our customer proposition, widen our customer base and execute against our strategy.
"We are excited about the opportunity ahead and look forward to making further progress in 2022."
Shares rose 2.35% to 173.58p in early trade.