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

• 9.22am BST09:22 AO World upbeat after adding 2m new customers during pandemic
• 9.02am BST09:02 Wizz Air sees 'gradual recovery' in airline traffic
• 8.43am BST08:43 Deliveroo CEO: A lot of work ahead
• 7.53am BST07:53 Introduction: Deliveroo, Hut Group and Naked Wine sales all jump

Online electricals retailer AO World is upbeat about its prospects this year, after a surge in customers since the pandemic began pushed sales and earnings up.

Group revenues increased by 62% to £1.66bn in the last financial year (to 31 March), with ‘momentum continuing in the fourth quarter’.

Its UK website, AO.com, saw year-on-year revenues surge 88% in the last quarter.

AO, which sells household appliances and electrical goods online, says it added over 2 million new customers since the pandemic began, having spent heavily on new warehouse space, vans and employees to handle a surge in demand from locked-down customers.

As a result, adjusted profits are expected to surge to between £63m and £72m, up from £19.6m in the previous year (to March 2020).

And despite the reopening of non-essential shops in England this week, CEO and founder John Roberts is confident about growing the business this year.

The trick, he says, is ‘treating every customer like our own gran’.

“I am delighted to report a year of outstanding financial, operational and strategic progress. The last 12 months have been like no other and we have been very proud to rise to the challenges for our customers - keeping their lives powering on with essential electrical and technology products. Serving customers in The AO Way and treating every customer like our own gran, irrespective of cost, has enabled us to impress millions of customers with a better way to shop electricals.

“We were brave and bold in our capacity and infrastructure investments early in the year and now look forward to building on that scale advantage.

“I believe that these market dynamics will stick and, whilst there is inevitable uncertainty, the direction of travel is firmly with AO and the business model we have spent more than 20 years building. I expect that we will continue to be a double-digit growth business in the year ahead, even now as we lap the tough comparatives from last year with physical stores open.

European budget airline Wizz Air has cautioned that demand for flights may only recover gradually this summer.

Wizz Air said it expects to make a net less of up to €590m for the last financial year (to the end of March), after lockdown restrictions forced many jets to be grounded.

Wizz is hopeful that there will be ‘good progress’ in national vaccination programmes in its key markets, which include the UK, Hungary, Poland and Italy.

But due to current uncertainties around travel restrictions, the airline isn’t providing guidance for the current financial year.

It told shareholders:

The start of F22 (the year ending 31st March 2022) continues to be marked by travel restrictions across our region and we expect only a gradual traffic recovery into late summer 2021, following what is expected to be a period of good progress of national vaccination plans across key markets.

In the short term, the Company continues to actively adjust capacity to travel conditions with a focus on cash contribution positive flying, and as a result we continue to review aircraft allocation on a market-by-market basis as opportunities arise.

Yesterday, fellow budget airline EasyJet said it is ready to “ramp up” its operations during the summer holiday season as it prepares to offer more flights to passengers from late May, once Covid travel restrictions are eased.

The chief executive of Deliveroo has said the company had a lot of work to do to prove itself to the market after its shares fell sharply when it listed last month.

Reuters has the details:

“We have a lot of work ahead of us to both grow the business over the long term, and to prove ourselves to the markets,” Will Shu said in an interview after the company’s first trading update on Thursday. “It is day one of doing that.”

Asked about the debate about the self-employed status of the firm’s riders, Shu said: “I’m not wedded to any particular model however I am wedded to the model that riders want.”

Hundreds of Deliveroo drivers protested last week, calling for better pay, employment rights and safety measures, as full trading of the company’s shares began in London.

The Independent Workers’ Union of Great Britain (IWGB) is calling for riders to be recognised as workers – making them entitled to the legal minimum wage, holiday pay and sick pay.

Shares in Deliveroo are down 1.5% this morning at 266p, around 30% below their flotation price of 390p.

The Hut Group have dropped by 2.5%, while Naked Wines are down 2.2% in early trading.

Entain’s shares are up 1.9%, at a new record high.

Entain, the owner of Ladbrokes bookmakers, has also seen strong online sales amid the pandemic.

Online net gaming revenue grew 33% in the first quarter of 2021, the company reports, which is the 21st consecutive quarter of double digit growth.

But overall gaming revenues were down 13%, as bookies shops only reopened this week as lockdown rules were eased.

Jette Nygaard-Andersen, Entain’s CEO, said:

With some easing of Covid restrictions, we are delighted to be welcoming customers back into our shops. While it has only been a handful of days since the re-opening in parts of the UK on the 12 April, we look forward to returning to more normal trading across our whole business.

In line with our expectations, the momentum from the end of 2020 has carried into 2021. Although Covid creates some near-term uncertainty, by maintaining our focus on the customer, providing them with great products and services, we remain confident and excited in our long-term prospects.”

We reported earlier this week that Entain had claimed millions of pounds through the government’s furlough support, to pay 14,000 staff who were furloughed at about 3,000 of its high street shops.

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 71 million 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.”