Deliveroo, Hut Group and Naked Wines post strong pandemic sales – business live

Good morning, and welcome to our rolling coverage of the world economy, the financial markets, the eurozone and business.

A flurry of corporate winners from the coronavirus pandemic are reporting results this morning.

In its first results since floating inauspiciously on the London stock market, Deliveroo has reported that its orders more than doubled in the last quarter, compared to a year earlier.

Orders rose 114% to £71m in the January-March quarter, amid ongoing demand for home food deliveries.

But, the company also cautions that it expects growth will decelerate as lockdowns ease — although the extent of the deceleration remains uncertain.

Will Shu, Deliveroo Founder & CEO, said:

“We are delighted with the Deliveroo Q1 results. Demand has been strong in both the UK&I and International markets driven by record new consumer growth and sustained engagement from our existing consumers. This is our fourth consecutive quarter of accelerating growth, but we are mindful of the uncertain impact of the lifting of COVID-19 restrictions.

So while we are confident that our value proposition will continue to attract consumers, restaurants, grocers and riders throughout 2021, we are taking a prudent approach to our full year guidance.”

The Hut Group, which owns beauty sites such as Lookfantastic and Glossybox, has also seen solid demand since the lockdowns began.

THG has reported that revenues swelled 42% last year, to £1.6bn, sending adjusted profits up by 35%, thanks to strong demand for nutrition and beauty products.

But the lockdown has also led to strong demand for home wine deliveries.

Naked Wines has posted annual sales growth of about 68% this morning, above the top end of expectations, thanks to a surge in orders during the coronavirus-induced lockdowns — notable in America.

Naked’s US business grew by 75% in the last year, and now makes up roughly 45% of Group sales.

Its also grown its active customer base of ‘Angels’, who make regular monthly payments, to 885k, a year-on-year increase of approximately 50%.

Nick Devlin, Naked’s chief executive officer, says there’s been an ‘enduring shift’ towards online demand.

Whilst in some ways 2021 is as difficult to predict as 2020, I believe we have seen an enduring shift of demand online across multiple categories.

Ultimately whilst COVID has driven the trial of many online models, the long-term winners will be the businesses that offer customers a genuinely differentiated offer: I firmly believe Naked will be one of those long-term winners.

The agenda

• 9.30am BST: Bank of England credit conditions survey
• 1.30pm BST: US retail sales for March
• 1.30pm BST: US weekly jobless figures
• 2.15pm BST: US industrial production for March