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Rabu, 31 Maret 2021

Amazon-backed Deliveroo's shares slump 30% on London stock market debut - MarketWatch

Shares in Deliveroo slumped by as much as 30% as the U.K. food delivery company made its highly-anticipated stock market debut on the London Stock Exchange, dealing a blow to the city’s efforts to attract more technology listings post-Brexit.

The stock dropped as low as 275 pence a share within the first 20 minutes of trading on Wednesday, down from the initial public offering price of 390 pence a share, wiping more than £2 billion off the company’s initial £7.6 billion valuation.

The poor performance dragged down shares in rival online food ordering and delivery company Just Eat Takeaway.com TKWY, +1.45% by 1.75% in early European trading on Wednesday.

Read: Amazon-Backed Deliveroo Trims IPO Price Range Ahead of London Debut, Citing ‘Volatile’ Market Conditions

Earlier this week, Deliveroo narrowed its pricing range to between £3.90 and £4.10, indicating a valuation of up to £7.85 billion, compared with its initial valuation of £8.9 billion.

The company cited “volatile” market conditions for the decision, but the flotation has been overshadowed by concerns over workers’ rights, leading several of the U.K.’s top fund managers, including Aberdeen Standard Life SLA, -0.24%, Aviva AV, -0.97%, Legal & General Investment Management and M&G, to say that they wouldn’t participate in the IPO.

Hundreds of Deliveroo riders are planning a protest next week to lobby for better pay and conditions.

Read: Big investors shun Amazon-backed Deliveroo’s $12 billion IPO over workers’ rights concerns

“It’s certainly a disappointing outcome for an IPO that initially generated a lot of enthusiasm,” wrote Michael Hewson, chief market analyst at CMC Markets U.K., in a research note on Wednesday. “However recent weakness in the share price of a number of its peers in the U.S., like DoorDash, appears to have taken some of the shine off the sector,” he added.

Shares in third-party delivery service DoorDash DASH, +0.41% have fallen by 8.51% so far this year, according to data from FactSet. Shares in Just Eat Takeaway.com have fallen by 21.26% in the year to date, as the rollout of COVID-19 vaccines has raised hopes of economies reopening and people returning to restaurants.

Hewson noted that other investors may have also been deterred by Deliveroo’s dual-class structure that restricts the voting rights of ordinary shareholders, and gives Chief Executive Will Shu majority control over any significant board decisions for the first three years of the listing.

Dual-class structures are more common in the U.S., where they are used by companies including tech giants Google parent Alphabet GOOGL, +0.78% and Facebook FB, +2.27%, but U.K. investors are wary of them because they give executives outsize influence on shareholder votes relative to their stake sizes.

Deliveroo sold shares worth £1.5 billion in the IPO, of which £1 billion will go to the company itself, and £500 million will go to existing shareholders, including Shu.

Sophie Lund-Yates, equity analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, said that Deliveroo has yet to turn a profit, which makes it very difficult to value the company on a traditional basis.

Founded in 2013, Deliveroo lost £244 million in 2020 but revenues rose 54%, fueled by a surge in takeout orders during COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns in the U.K. and Europe. The company competes with Uber Eats and Just EatTakeaway, which is planning to increase operations in the U.K.

“But a market cap of £7.6 billion means the company’s worth 6.4 times last year’s revenue, which is some way above rival Just Eat’s 4.8 times, despite the lower price. That means there’s pressure for Deliveroo to deliver the goods, or its share price will be in the firing line,” Lund-Yates added.

Read: British biotech Oxford Nanopore prepares for $3 billion London IPO

The poor performance of Deliveroo’s flotation — which is London’s biggest since miner Glencore’s GLEN, -0.63% in 2011, will deal a blow to the U.K. government’s efforts to attract more tech companies to London to enable it to better compete with New York or European bourses such as Amsterdam and Frankfurt.

However, on Monday, British biotech Oxford Nanopore said it was preparing for a potential $3 billion London flotation later this year.

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2021-03-31 19:50:00Z
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Disaster strikes as Deliveroo becomes ‘worst IPO in London’s history’ - Financial Times

Short sellers, an unfortunate roadshow and terrible timing were all blamed as Deliveroo lost more than a quarter of its value on its first day of trading, becoming in the words of one of its bankers: “the worst IPO in London’s history”.

Shares in the food delivery app closed on Wednesday at 287p, 26 per cent down, wiping almost £2bn from its opening £7.6bn market capitalisation, despite frantic efforts by its lead bankers Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan to shore up the stock.

The dramatic failure of London’s biggest tech IPO is likely to dampen the hopes of the British government to attract other high-growth companies to list in the UK, ahead of growing competition from exchanges such as Amsterdam.

“I really hope that this doesn’t shut down the IPO market” in London, said one person close to the listing, pointing to the long hangover from Funding Circle’s dismal debut in 2018. “It’s a big risk.”

Several of Deliveroo’s advisers, bankers and investors were quick to blame short sellers for the opening plunge. “At least three hedge funds have very actively gone short this morning, enabled by banks outside of the syndicate [of the IPO],” said one person directly working on the deal. “The opening move was very sharp.”

But others in the market raised questions about the company’s roadshow and said Deliveroo had priced its offering badly, especially after encountering a rebellion from several large British fund managers against its dual-class share structure.

Deliveroo’s advisers, who collected £49m in fees from the company and several million more from Deliveroo’s selling shareholders, unnerved some buyers by refusing to identify the three “anchor investors” who they said were supporting the IPO.

These anchors were said to be based outside the UK, with one of them already a shareholder in Deliveroo through private investment ahead of the IPO, according to a person familiar with the situation.

“We were told throughout that the institutional book was four or five times covered but the maths of that seem doubtful now,” said another person close to the process.

The roadshow ran into further trouble over the dual-class shares that gave Will Shu, the chief executive, outsized voting rights, but which meant Deliveroo would not debut into the FTSE 100 index, depriving it of investment from passive tracker funds, and which triggered outrage from a several large British fund managers.

“A lot of this could have been avoided if Will hadn’t insisted on a dual-class share structure,” said one tech investor. “That was driving a lot of the pushback in London.”

Meanwhile, the market’s appetite for racy tech stocks waned dramatically after the company launched its IPO, as bond yields rose and investors began to rotate out of the sector. Share prices for Deliveroo’s peers DoorDash and Delivery Hero have both weakened over the past month.

Deliveroo’s record of heavy losses, even as growth was turbocharged during the pandemic, and uncertainty about whether online food delivery will continue to thrive after lockdowns are lifted, was enough to put off some investors. Others were concerned about the rising cost of regulation on the gig economy.

But London listing rules meant that, even as bankers steered the price to the bottom of the target range earlier this week, they were unable to go any lower than the final 390p per share level without pulling the IPO altogether.

That was not an option for Deliveroo, which lost £224m last year in a highly competitive market and warned regulators a year ago that it had come close to bankruptcy. Despite the first-day drop, Deliveroo raised £1.5bn from the IPO for the company and its investors, giving it firepower to take on rivals such as Uber and Just Eat Takeaway.com.

Finally, the timing of the IPO was also blamed by James Bevan, chief investment officer at CCLA, an investment manager for religious and charitable organisations, who pointed to the low volumes of trading and noted that fund managers tend to shy away from taking new positions ahead of the end of a quarter.

“Very few people are exhibiting any appetite to buy the shares,” he said, noting that only 50m of shares have traded so far.

Bevan added that very few institutional investors who hadn’t already taken a position in Deliveroo would want to buy a potentially volatile stock on the final day of March, because they have to produce quarterly reports on performance.

“At the end of quarter there is a lack of enthusiasm by institutional investors to take positions,” he said. “Institutions are typically unwilling to take new positions knowing that it could be a downdraft.”

Whatever the reason for Wednesday’s performance, and how Deliveroo trades over the longer term, several tech investors privately expressed frustration.

They accused fund managers of posturing over ethical issues such as worker treatment in order to attack the UK government’s plans to ease more dual-class listings. They suggested more UK entrepreneurs would be likely to follow the example of Cazoo, one of London’s fastest-growing internet companies, which this week agreed a deal to go public in New York via a special purpose acquisition company.

Rishi Sunak, the UK chancellor, who is keen to lure more tech companies to London and who hailed Deliveroo as a “true British success story” was forced to deny that he was embarrassed by the stock’s performance.

“Gosh, no . . . share prices go up, share prices go down,” he told ITV, pointing to the eventual success of Facebook, which also had a rocky start to life as a public company in 2012.

Optimists also pointed to Ocado, another food delivery company that had a turbulent start to its IPO in 2010. Subsequently, its share price has increased more than tenfold.

“Founders shouldn’t be deterred from listing their businesses in London,” said Mark Tluszcz, chief executive at tech investor Mangrove Capital Partners. “Deliveroo is just an overpriced company.”

Additional reporting by Siddharth Venkataramakrishnan, Daniel Thomas and Katie Martin

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2021-03-31 17:57:58Z
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Deliveroo shares sink 30% in London debut - The Irish Times

Shares in Deliveroo plunged by as much as 30 per cent in their trading debut on Wednesday, slicing more than £2 billion (€2.35 bn) off the company’s valuation in a blow to Britain’s ambitions to attract fast-growing tech companies to the London market.

The highly-anticipated listing, the biggest on the London market in a decade, had been hailed by British finance minister Rishi Sunak as a “true British tech success story” that could clear the way for more initial public offerings (IPO) by technology companies.

But the debut had already been overshadowed as some of Britain’s biggest investment companies shunned the listing, citing concerns about gig-economy working conditions and the share structure.

The 390 pence price tag gave an overall valuation of £7.6 billion ($10.46 billion) and was already set at the bottom of a target range.

Within minutes of the market opening on Wednesday, it lost £2.28 billion of its value, which equity capital markets bankers said could undermine the market for some IPOs in Britain and Europe.

Fabian de Smet, head of investment banking at Berenberg, called it a “sector problem”.

“Investors are turning away from the work-at-home play and putting their money into the economic recovery play. Deliveroo got caught in the middle of a huge rotation. It was the last IPO of the old Covid world,” he said.

Having hit a low of 271 pence, the stock recovered to 289 pence by 11.30am Irish time.

Shares often rebound on their market debuts as the managing banks make use of the over-allotment, or greenshoe - a percentage of the offer reserved to stabilise the price.

One trader, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Reuters he had seen no buyers for the stock at 10am.

Deliveroo customers, who were allocated £50 million pounds of shares, are only able to trade on April 7th, when unconditional trading begins.

Amsterdam high

The stock’s fall follows a poor run for many growth stocks. Its main peers Just Eat Takeaway. com and Delivery Hero have fallen around 12 per cent each in the past month.

US peer Doordash – which doubled in value on its stock market debut last year – has fallen as much as 40 per cent over the last month.

But those stocks have steadied in the last two sessions, and the Amsterdam stock exchange hit a record high on Wednesday, led by tech stocks.

A source familiar with the Deliveroo deal, asking not to be named, said it was not just about one day’s trade and the company had raised 1 billion pounds to invest in the business and new technologies.

Pandemic boom

Deliveroo’s self-employed drivers have seen a boom in demand during the pandemic, bringing food from otherwise-shuttered restaurants to house-bound customers.

But the Amazon-backed company has been running at a hefty loss; it said it narrowed an underlying loss to £223.7 million, from £317.3 million pounds in 2019.

Irrespective of profitability, there has been a clamour for growth companies over the last year as the Covid-19 crisis has pushed interest rates and government bond yields to all-time lows.

But with US Treasury yields rising, this trade has lost allure and many tech stocks on both sides of the Atlantic have fallen in recent weeks, leading to questions over inflated valuations.

“That comes back to the issue that how could a company that was valued at 3 billion (pounds) in November, 5 billion in January, be magically worth 8-9 billion in March - particularly when according to its own statements it was potentially in need of emergency funding last year,” Russ Mould, Investment Director at AJ Bell, said.

The listing of the London-based company, founded by boss William Shu in 2013, is London’s biggest IPO since Glencore’s in May 2011 and also the biggest tech float yet on the London Stock Exchange.

The heavyweight investors that stayed away included Aberdeen Standard Life, Aviva, Legal & General Investment Management and M&G.

“The number of institutions lining up to say no on ESG (environmental, social and corporate governance) grounds always looked like it was going to make it a tricky debut,” said James Athey, investment director at Aberdeen Standard Investments.

Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan are leading the deal, while Bank of America, Citi, Jefferies and Numis are also part of the syndicate of banks managing the transaction. – Reuters

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2021-03-31 14:37:30Z
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Covid: Children 'well protected by Pfizer vaccine' - BBC News

Pfizer says trials of its Covid vaccine in children aged 12 to 15 show 100% efficacy and a strong immune response.

Initial results from trials in 2,260 adolescents in the US also suggest the vaccine is safe with no unusual side-effects.

The drug company says it will submit its data to the US and European authorities for emergency use in 12- to 15-year-olds.

There are currently no plans for children to be vaccinated in the UK.

Children's risk of becoming very ill or even dying with Covid-19 is tiny, and throughout the pandemic they have very rarely needed hospital treatment.

Adults - particularly those over 50 and people with serious underlying health conditions - have a much higher risk, which is why they have been vaccinated as a priority in the UK.

Pfizer is one of a number of drug companies testing their Covid vaccines on children.

AstraZeneca announced trials of its vaccine in UK children aged six to 17 some time ago, and the first of 300 volunteers were due to be jabbed last month. The vaccine is currently only authorised for people aged 18 and over in the UK.

Alongside trials in teenagers, the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, which is authorised for use in those aged over 16, is also being tested in children under 12, with the aim of involving babies from just six months old.

The company started dosing the first healthy children in this trial last week.

'Next school year'

In the Pfizer trial in 12- to 15-year-olds, 18 cases of Covid-19 were seen in the group given a dummy vaccine and none in group given the Covid vaccine which protects against it.

The figures are preliminary and full data has not been released, peer-reviewed or published in a journal.

Albert Bourla, chairman and chief executive officer of Pfizer, said: "We share the urgency to expand the authorisation of our vaccine to use in younger populations and are encouraged by the clinical trial data from adolescents between the ages of 12 and 15."

"We plan to submit these data to FDA [US Federal Drugs Administration] as a proposed amendment to our Emergency Use Authorization in the coming weeks, and to other regulators around the world, with the hope of starting to vaccinate this age group before the start of the next school year."

Ugur Sahin, CEO and co-founder of BioNTech, said the initial results in adolescents suggested children "are particularly well protected by vaccination".

He added: "It is very important to enable them to get back to everyday school life and to meet friends and family while protecting them and their loved ones."

Moderna, the US company behind another Covid vaccine ordered by the UK, has said it will also test its jab on 12- to 17-year-olds.

AMSTERDAM HIGH

The stock’s fall follows a poor run for many growth stocks. Its main peers Just Eat Takeaway.com and Delivery Hero have fallen around 12% each in the past month.

U.S. peer Doordash - which doubled in value on its stock market debut last year - has fallen as much as 40% over the last month.

But those stocks have steadied in the last two sessions, and the Amsterdam stock exchange hit a record high on Wednesday, led by tech stocks.

PANDEMIC BOOM

Deliveroo’s self-employed drivers have seen a boom in demand during the pandemic, bringing food from otherwise-shuttered restaurants to house-bound customers.

But the Amazon-backed company has been running at a hefty loss; it said it narrowed an underlying loss to 223.7 million pounds ($308.93 million), from 317.3 million pounds in 2019.

Irrespective of profitability, there has been a clamour for growth companies over the last year as the COVID-19 crisis has pushed interest rates and government bond yields to all-time lows.

But with U.S. Treasury yields rising, this trade has lost allure and many tech stocks on both sides of the Atlantic have fallen in recent weeks, leading to questions over inflated valuations.

The heavyweight investors that stayed away included Aberdeen Standard Life, Aviva, Legal & General Investment Management and M&G.

Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan are leading the deal, while Bank of America, Citi, Jefferies and Numis are also part of the syndicate of banks managing the transaction.

Reporting by Abhinav Ramnarayan and Julien Ponthus; Additional reporting by Arno Schuetze, Elizabeth Howcroft and Tom Arnold, Graphic by Dhara RanasingheEditing by Rachel Armstrong and Barbara Lewis

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2021-03-31 10:27:41Z
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Deliveroo shares drop 30% on stock market debut - BBC News

Deliveroo shares have plummeted on its stock market debut after a number of major UK investors expressed concerns about its gig economy worker model.

Shares in the food delivery business had been offered to investors at 390p each, but dived in early London trading to 275p at one stage, a 30% fall.

The company had initially hoped for a share price of up to 460p.

But in recent weeks a number of high-profile fund managers said they would not be buying the shares.

Shares later recovered some earlier losses to trade down about 11%.

Deliveroo, which has not yet made a profit, said it had chosen the lower price due to "volatile" market conditions.

The investors were put off by factors including the working conditions of its riders and a lack of investor power over the direction of the company.

They include some of the UK's biggest investment fund managers, including Aberdeen Standard, Aviva Investors, BMO Global, charity fund manager CCLA, Legal and General Investment Management and M&G.

Another reason they refused to invest was that founder Will Shu will have shares that gave him 20-times the voting power of other investors.

'Tech success'

Deliveroo's self-employed drivers have seen a boom in demand during the Covid-19 pandemic, bringing food from restaurants to housebound customers.

Deliveroo's planned share sale had attracted much attention as it is one of the UK's biggest flotations since Glencore's in May 2011 and also the biggest technology platform float on the London Stock Exchange.

Chancellor Rishi Sunak said in March the listing of the Amazon-backed company was a "true British tech success story" that could clear the way for more initial public offerings by fast-growing technology firms.

A share flotation sees the wider investment community assess the value of a company.

Initially, Deliveroo hoped to see that value as high as £8.8bn, based on a share price of 390-460p. It scaled that back to £7.6bn, but the share price drop wiped £2.28bn off that.

Chief executive Will Shu said: "I am very proud that Deliveroo is going public in London - our home.

"As we reach this milestone I want to thank everyone who has helped to build Deliveroo into the company it is today - in particular our restaurants and grocers, riders and customers.

"In this next phase of our journey as a public company we will continue to invest in the innovations that help restaurants and grocers to grow their businesses, to bring customers more choice than ever before, and to provide riders with more work."

'Plain mis-priced'

Sophie Lund-Yates, equity analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, said the biggest concern from investors was about worker rights: "The flexible employee model of Deliveroo's riders is a huge pillar of the group's plans for success.

"If forced to offer more traditional employee benefits, like company pension contributions, Deliveroo's already thin margins would struggle to climb, and the road to profitability would look very tough indeed."

She said it was difficult to value the firm as it had yet to turn a profit.

Neil Wilson, chief market analyst for Markets.com, said that "even pricing the initial public offering at the bottom of the range, Deliveroo was demanding too high a price tag for a loss-making delivery platform in a very competitive space with a questionable path to profitability.

"The books were covered, it was just plain mis-priced."

AJ Bell investment director Russ Mould said the backlash by fund managers "is likely to have spooked a lot of people who applied for shares in the initial public offering, meaning they are racing to dump them".

The initial public offering was made to institutional investors and Deliveroo customers were able to register their interest.

Share trading is currently conditional, meaning the initial public offering can be cancelled. Trading is expected to become unconditional on 7 April.

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2021-03-31 10:22:15Z
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Deliveroo shares drop 30% on stock market debut - BBC News

Deliveroo shares have plummeted on its stock market debut after a number of major UK investors expressed concerns about its gig economy worker model.

Shares in the food delivery business had been offered to investors at 390p each, but dived in early London trading to 275p at one stage, a 30% fall.

The company had initially hoped for a share price of up to 460p.

But in recent weeks a number of high-profile fund managers said said they would not be buying the shares.

Shares later recovered some earlier losses to trade down about 11%.

Deliveroo, which has not yet made a profit, said it had chosen the lower price due to "volatile" market conditions.

The investors were put off by factors including the working conditions of its riders and a lack of investor power over the direction of the company.

They include some of the UK's biggest investment fund managers, including Aberdeen Standard, Aviva Investors, BMO Global, charity fund manager CCLA, Legal and General Investment Management and M&G,

Another reason they refused to invest was that founder Will Shu will have shares that gave him 20-times the voting power of other investors.

Deliveroo's self-employed drivers have seen a boom in demand during the Covid-19 pandemic, bringing food from restaurants to housebound customers.

Deliveroo's planned share sale had attracted much attention as it is one of the UK's biggest flotation since Glencore's in May 2011 and also the biggest technology platform float on the London Stock Exchange.

A share flotation sees the wider investment community assess the value of a company.

Initially, Deliveroo hoped to see that value as high as £8.8bn, based on a share price of 390-460p, it scaled that back to £7.6bn, but the share price drop wiped £2.28bn off that.

Chief executive Will Shu said: "I am very proud that Deliveroo is going public in London - our home.

"As we reach this milestone I want to thank everyone who has helped to build Deliveroo into the company it is today - in particular our restaurants and grocers, riders and customers.

'Plain mis-priced'

She said it was difficult to value the firm as it had yet to turn a profit.

"The books were covered, it was just plain mis-priced."

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British food delivery firm Deliveroo slides 30% in market debut - CNBC

In this article

A Deliveroo cyclist in London, U.K.

Dinendra Haria | SOPA Images | LightRocket | Getty Images

LONDON — Shares of British food delivery start-up Deliveroo sank in its stock market debut Wednesday, as the company faces pressure from top investors and trade unions over workers' rights.

Deliveroo, which is backed by Amazon, saw its shares down around 30% in early deals compared to the issue price.

The company priced its shares at £3.90 ($5.36) Tuesday, giving it a market value of £7.59 billion, which is at the bottom end of its IPO target range.

But the company's share price was down to around £2.73 as shares began conditional trading.

Deliveroo is selling 384,615,384 shares, equating to an offer size of approximately £1.5 billion. Of that, £1 billion will go to the company itself and £500 million will go to existing shareholders, with Amazon and Will Shu, the company's CEO and co-founder, among those set to gain the most.

The company's shares began trading under the ticker "ROO" at 8 a.m. London time on Wednesday. However, retail investors won't be able to trade Deliveroo shares until conditional dealings end on April 7.

Deliveroo's IPO offer is the largest in the U.K. since e-commerce firm The Hut Group raised £1.88 billion in a listing last September. In terms of market cap, it is the biggest IPO to take place in London since Glencore went public nearly a decade ago. It's also Britain's largest-ever tech listing by value, surpassing that of The Hut Group and Worldpay which debuted in 2015 before delisting.

'Next phase of our journey'

"I am very proud that Deliveroo is going public in London — our home," said Shu in a statement. "As we reach this milestone I want to thank everyone who has helped to build Deliveroo into the company it is today — in particular our restaurants and grocers, riders and customers."

He added: "In this next phase of our journey as a public company we will continue to invest in the innovations that help restaurants and grocers to grow their businesses, to bring customers more choice than ever before, and to provide riders with more work. Our aim is to build the definitive online food company and we're very excited about the future ahead."

It's a major vote of confidence in London, as the U.K. capital looks to attract high-growth tech companies and boost its financial clout after Brexit. British Finance Minister Rishi Sunak described Deliveroo as a "true British tech success story" when the company announced plans to list in London.

However, the IPO has been hit by concerns over Deliveroo's treatment of its drivers, the company's governance and valuation. Legal and General, Aberdeen Standard, Aviva and M&A — which collectively have about £2.5 trillion in assets under management — have all shunned Deliveroo's debut.

Each of the investment firms cited concerns about the gig economy in which Deliveroo operates. The company's turquoise-uniformed couriers have become ubiquitous in London and other cities during the coronavirus pandemic, as people turned to food delivery apps for their groceries.

Some of Deliveroo's riders are going on strike next Wednesday once its IPO opens up to retail traders, to protest what they see as poor working conditions and low pay. For its part, Deliveroo says its drivers are given flexibility to work when they want and earn £13 an hour on average during the busiest times.

That hasn't cooled investor worries over Deliveroo's business model, however. Earlier this month, Uber reclassified all its U.K. drivers as workers entitled to a minimum wage and other benefits after the country's top court ruled a group of drivers should be treated as workers.

This is expected to result in higher costs for Uber — potentially to the tune of $500 million, according to Bank of America. Investors are worried that Deliveroo may suffer the same fate, and the company has set aside £112 million to cover potential legal costs relating to the employment status of its riders.

Meanwhile, institutional shareholders have also raised concerns with Deliveroo's governance. The company is listing in London with a dual-share class structure, which gives Shu over 50% of the voting rights.

Test for London

Deliveroo's IPO will be a test of London's tolerance for high-growth tech companies that spend heavily on growing at scale before prioritizing profits.

It's a mantra that gained popularity in Silicon Valley with Amazon, which had initially been unprofitable for a number of years. Deliveroo remains heavily lossmaking, having reported a loss of £223.7 million million in 2020. But the company has managed to enter the black in recent months thanks to a rise in demand for food delivery.

But U.K. investors are worried by Deliveroo's lofty £7.6 billion valuation, especially at a time when vaccines are being rolled out and countries are plotting a reopening of their economies. DoorDash, a U.S. rival to Deliveroo that went public last year, has a significantly higher market cap of around $42 billion.

Deliveroo warned it could have failed early last year as an investment from Amazon, its largest outside shareholder, was put on hold amid a competition review. Amazon's stake in Deliveroo was later approved by regulators.

"A lack of blockbuster listings in London and pent-up investor demand during the pandemic have created encouraging market dynamics for Deliveroo," said Nalin Patel, EMEA private capital analyst at PitchBook.

"However, near term volatility facing public equities and questions surrounding workers' rights have impacted IPO pricing and investor participation," Patel added.

Nevertheless, several tech firms are flocking to London to list their shares, with the likes of Trustpilot and Moonpig having both done so recently. A number of other firms, including Wise and Darktrace, are expected to debut later this year.

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2021-03-31 07:30:00Z
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UK economy fights back: Growing by 16.9% and 1.3% in last 6 months of 2020 – ONS - Daily Express

Office for National Statistics data reveals the economy grew by 16.9 percent and 1.3 percent in the third and fourth quarters of 2020. However, gross domestic product (GDP) shrank by more than expected in the second quarter during the first coronavirus lockdown, plunging by 19.5 percent.

Overall GDP plummeted by 9.8 percent overall in 2020, against an initial recording of 9.9 percent last year.

This is the largest contraction of the UK economy in more than 300 years since 1709, according to a GDP reconstruction by the Bank of England.

The ONS however stressed GDP estimates are "subject to more uncertainty than usual" and likely to have larger-than-normal revisions due to the challenges of collecting data in the pandemic.

Meanwhile, UK output expanded 1.3 per cent in the final quarter of 2020 compared with the previous three months, an increase revision from 1 per cent.

Brits also saved more as the household saving ratio, the average percentage of disposable income that is saved, increased to 16.1 per cent in the final quarter of last year.

This figure is an increase from 14.3 percent in the third quarter of 2020 and one of the highest ratios since 1963 when records first began.

Data also revealed Britain’s current account deficit widened to 26.3 billion pounds in the fourth quarter, almost double the shortfall in the third quarter, as firms rushed to import goods before the January 1st start to the country’s less open trade relationship with the European Union.

But the deficit is a long-standing concern for investors because it leaves Britain reliant on foreign inflows of cash.

Jonathan Athow, deputy national statistician at the ONS, said: "Our revised quarterly figures show the economy shrank a little more than previously estimated in the initial stages of the pandemic, before recovering slightly more strongly in the second half of last year.

"However, these new estimates paint the same overall picture as before, with historically large falls in GDP in the spring, followed by a recovery in the summer and autumn."

Recent monthly figures from the ONS also show that the third English lockdown sent GDP plunging 2.9% in January, though this was better than feared by experts.

In separate figures also released this morning, the ONS said the UK current account deficit - the difference between the value of the goods and services the UK imports and the goods and services it exports had widened to £26.3 billion in the fourth quarter of 2020.

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This is equivalent to 4.8 percent of Britain's GDP and is almost twice the level seen in the previous three months as firms stockpiled imports ahead of the December 31 Brexit deadline.

The UK economy suffered among the largest contractions of all the countries in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), with only Spain and Argentina seeing steeper falls.

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2021-03-31 06:26:00Z
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COVID-19: Millions of people told they no longer need to shield from coronavirus - Sky News

More than 3.7 million people in England and Wales have been told that after today they no longer need to shield from the coronavirus.

The extremely clinically vulnerable, including cancer patients having chemotherapy and stem cell transplant recipients, should now follow the same rules as the rest of the population.

A letter sent to the group said shielding has been paused due to falling virus infection rates, but it still urged the most vulnerable to keep social contacts to a minimum and to stay at a distance from other people.

Those on the shielding list should work from home where possible but bus driver Matt Hemming, a kidney transplant recipient on the shielding list, is worried about having to return too soon.

Mr Hemming said he didn't understand why shielding has to "end overnight", and thought the transition should be "drawn out with more precautions".

He said: "I don't yet have a date for my second vaccine and my consultant has advised me not to return to work until at least three weeks after I've had my second jab."

Research from the charity Scope suggests 75% of disabled people plan to continue shielding until after their second vaccine dose.

Louise Rubin, head of policy and campaigns at Scope, said many people would be "filled with anxiety" about "being forced into a choice between their health and their finances".

Another charity warned that employers must "make adjustments" for the clinically vulnerable after shielding ends.

Macmillan Cancer Support policy officer Sara Bainbridge said: "It doesn't need to change immediately.

"Employers need to take into account that this is a difficult situation for someone who might not have been in the workplace for a long time. We know there are options and adjustments that can be made safely."

Those on the shielded patient list were asked to stay at home as much as possible from 5 January, and in February 1.7 million people in England were added to the list. More than 90% have had their first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine.

People who were shielding can access priority supermarket delivery slots until 21 June if they have already registered.

GPs have also been asked to maintain the shielding list in case it is necessary to identify clinically extremely vulnerable people in the future and to resume shielding.

Deputy Chief Medical Officer for England Dr Jenny Harries said she recognised the impact shielding has had on people's wellbeing and it is the "right time for people to start thinking about easing up on these more rigid guidelines".

Dr Harries said: "We will continue to monitor all of the evidence and adjust this advice should there be any changes in infection rates."

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2021-03-31 04:33:04Z
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Selasa, 30 Maret 2021

Archegos Capital Management boss Bill Hwang reels after fund meltdown - This is Money

The man at the centre of a hedge fund meltdown has broken his silence after suffering 'one of the single greatest losses of personal wealth in history'.

Bill Hwang, a multi-billionaire financier who invested his wealth through his firm Archegos Capital Management, went to ground after his fund hit the rocks last week.

But in the first disclosure the firm has made since causing a £20billion sell-off, a spokesman for Archegos said Hwang, pictured, was having a 'challenging time' and was still trying to 'determine the best path forward'.

Fund crisis: Bill Hwang, a multi-billionaire financier who invested his wealth through his firm Archegos Capital Management, went to ground after his fund hit the rocks last week

The comments came as experts tried to get a grip on the losses which Hwang has suffered.

Mike Novogratz, a former Goldman Sachs partner who has been investing for almost three decades, said: 'When the facts come out, my sense is the Bill Hwang blow-up will be the most spectacular personal loss of wealth in history.'

Bankers and analysts have estimated that the personal fortune of Hwang, a former hedge fund manager known as a 'Tiger cub' because he earned his credentials at the renowned Julian Robertson's Tiger Management, could have topped £7billion before last week's meltdown.

But because he borrowed so much to increase the size of his trades, the sell-off he caused was much bigger.

Rival banks caught out by Goldman

Goldman Sachs has riled rival banks after leading the Archegos sell-off, which left the likes of Credit Suisse and Nomura suffering heavy losses.

The prime broker arm of Goldman lent heavily to Archegos. So had Credit Suisse, Nomura, UBS, Morgan Stanley and Wells Fargo. When it became clear some Archegos bets were turning sour, the banks realised they would need to sell some of the shares they held for Archegos to recoup money owed.

They held talks that extended late into Thursday on how to do it in an orderly way. Sources said they were close to reaching an agreement. But on Friday, when markets opened, Goldman sold huge blocks of Hwang’s shares, and prices fell.

The rest rushed to follow suit.

Nomura has said the incident could wipe out its profits from the last six months, and Credit Suisse estimated the hit would be between £2billion and £3billion.

A source close to one of the banks said: ‘There was certainly a bit of that “I’m alright, Jack” mentality from Goldman.’

Archegos said: 'This is a challenging time for the family office of Archegos Capital Management, our partners and employees. All plans are being discussed as Mr Hwang and the team determine the best path forward.'

So-called family offices like Archegos, which manage the money of one very wealthy family, are exempt from making many of the disclosures which normal hedge funds and investment firms are held to.

This means the actual size of Hwang's fortune, and how much has been eroded from it, are unclear.

Archegos fell into trouble last week, after a few stocks it placed big bets on – including US media titans Viacom, CBS and Discovery – fell in value.

Shareholders were worried that the companies were losing ground to newer rivals such as Netflix and Disney Plus.

But the situation spiralled out of control for Archegos. It had borrowed large amounts of money from the prime brokerage arms of banks to increase its stake in firms such as Viacom.

This allowed it to buy a larger exposure than it would otherwise be able to afford.

But when those prime brokers saw Viacom shares falling, they issued a margin call – essentially asking Hwang to give them more money as security, to protect them from any losses.

Hwang didn't have the cash to hand, meaning he defaulted on his loans with the prime brokers. This gave them the right to sell the shares they held on his behalf, to recoup the money he owed them.

It prompted a sell-off of around £20billion, as prime brokers including Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, Wells Fargo and UBS rapidly offloaded Hwang's stock, causing their price to plummet further as the market was flooded.

Credit Suisse and Japanese bank Nomura, which were slower to sell, have suffered massive losses. Analysts at JP Morgan estimate losses across all banks from the crisis could hit £7bn.

Now, regulators around the world are quizzing the prime brokers involved, to see if any acted inappropriately.

The UK's Financial Conduct Authority and the US Securities and Exchange Commission have requested information from the banks.

Although the debacle might be the most financially painful for Hwang, it isn't the first scandal he has been involved in.

In 2012, he admitted in a US lawsuit to insider trading and manipulating Chinese bank stocks. He stumped up £32million in fines and agreed to be barred from the industry.

For years after, he was blacklisted by banks including Goldman Sachs which refused to work with him.

Goldman eventually relented, enticed by the lucrative business which Hwang represented.

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2021-03-30 21:19:33Z
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VW rebrands as 'Voltswagen' in the US - BBC News

German carmaker Volkswagen is to rebrand itself as "Voltswagen" for the US market to mark its ongoing shift to electric vehicles.

The change applies immediately and will be reflected across its cars, branding and website.

VW, which has committed to sell one million electric vehicles worldwide by 2025, confirmed the plan after it was leaked to US media on Monday.

Some initially thought it was an early April Fool's joke.

Putting this out there: Voltswagen is an April Fool's joke. You can @ me in a couple days if I'm wrong.
— Russell Gold (@russellgold) March 30, 2021

The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.View original tweet on Twitter

"We might be changing out our K for a T, but what we aren't changing is this brand's commitment to making best-in-class vehicles for drivers and people everywhere," said Scott Keogh, president and chief executive of Voltswagen of America.

"This name change signifies a nod to our past as the peoples' car and our firm belief that our future is in being the peoples' electric car."

Analysis box by Theo Leggett, business correspondent

When a press release outlining Volkswagen of America's decision to rebrand itself was leaked to the US media yesterday, it was widely assumed to have been an early April Fools' joke.

But today, the company confirmed that it would indeed be calling itself Voltswagen in future, in recognition, it said, of its investments in developing electric cars.

In practice, the change is unlikely to make much difference. Volkswagen's share of the US market is very small, its cars will continue to use a VW badge - and everywhere else in the world, Volkswagens will remain Volkswagens.

The Volkswagen Group has long supported the goals of the Paris Climate Agreement and aims to become carbon neutral by 2050.

However, its environmental record was damaged by the diesel emissions scandal of 2015. The firm admitted to installing software that was capable of cheating emissions tests in 11 million diesel vehicles worldwide.

As a result it has faced huge fines and compensation claims in Europe and the US, and two VW employees have received jail terms in America.

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2021-03-30 18:44:07Z
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Itil Koko

Rabu, 31 Maret 2021

Amazon-backed Deliveroo's shares slump 30% on London stock market debut - MarketWatch

Disaster strikes as Deliveroo becomes ‘worst IPO in London’s history’ - Financial Times

Deliveroo shares sink 30% in London debut - The Irish Times

Amsterdam high

Pandemic boom

Covid: Children 'well protected by Pfizer vaccine' - BBC News

'Next school year'

Related Internet Links

Pfizer vaccine 'safe and 100% effective' in children as young as 12 - Sky News

Deliveroo dives 30% as debut of the decade turns torrid - Reuters

AMSTERDAM HIGH

PANDEMIC BOOM

Deliveroo shares drop 30% on stock market debut - BBC News

'Tech success'

'Plain mis-priced'

Deliveroo shares drop 30% on stock market debut - BBC News

'Plain mis-priced'

British food delivery firm Deliveroo slides 30% in market debut - CNBC

'Next phase of our journey'

Test for London

UK economy fights back: Growing by 16.9% and 1.3% in last 6 months of 2020 – ONS - Daily Express

COVID-19: Millions of people told they no longer need to shield from coronavirus - Sky News

Selasa, 30 Maret 2021

Archegos Capital Management boss Bill Hwang reels after fund meltdown - This is Money

Rival banks caught out by Goldman

VW rebrands as 'Voltswagen' in the US - BBC News

Rabu, 31 Maret 2021

Amsterdam high

Pandemic boom

'Next school year'

Related Internet Links

More from Covid-19

AMSTERDAM HIGH

PANDEMIC BOOM

'Tech success'

'Plain mis-priced'

'Plain mis-priced'

'Next phase of our journey'

Test for London

More from Covid-19

Selasa, 30 Maret 2021

Rival banks caught out by Goldman