Deliveroo expects its flotation to value the company at up to £8.8bn, putting it on course to be the biggest London stock market debut since Glencore almost a decade ago. The meal delivery service, which is backed by Amazon, said in a trading update that it is continuing to benefit from the food home delivery boom during the latest national Covid-19 lockdowns. The total value of transactions processed on its platform surged by 130% year on year in January in the UK and Ireland, and 112% in other markets. Overall growth across all markets stands at 121% for the period. Deliveroo also announced that it had priced its initial public offering at between £3.90 and £4.60 a share. Around 384 million shares will be sold in the initial public offering, worth £1.6 billion at the midpoint of the price range. Of that, around £1 billion has been earmarked for the company itself with the rest going to existing investors who are selling shares. The price range values the business at between £7.6bn and £8.8bn. This would make it the biggest London Stock Exchange debut since the mining company Glencore floated in May 2011. Deliveroo has benefited from lockdown demand for takeaways but still posted a £224 million loss last year. Gross transaction value, primarily made up of customers’ spending through its app, rose 130% in the UK and 112% in its other 11 markets in January and February, an acceleration from last year’s overall 64% growth rate. Deliveroo had warned earlier this month that it expected GTV growth to slow over the course of 2021 as Covid lockdowns ended. It plans to use the proceeds to invest in expanding its Editions delivery kitchen network as well as other growth opportunities.

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