Delivery Hero’s stock-picking boss

LONDON, Aug 26 (Reuters Breakingviews) - Delivery Hero (DHER.DE) Chief Executive Niklas Oestberg may be having more luck as a stock picker than boss of a profitable food delivery outfit. The 31 billion euro company said on Thursday that revenue in the first six months of the year surged 157% to 2.5 billion euros. However, net losses for the period more than doubled to 918 million euros, within touching distance of the 1 billion-plus euros it lost in the whole of last year.

Rather than focusing on turning this around, Oestberg has been distracted by dabbling in his rivals. This month, he revealed a 5.1% stake in Britain’s Deliveroo (ROO.L), on top of stakes in listed competitors Just Eat Takeaway.com (TKWY.AS), India’s Zomato (ZOMT.NS) and other startups. Deliveroo shares are now up a quarter from the average 270 pence price that Oestberg says he paid for the stock. His own investors are less impressed. Delivery Hero shares are down 4% since the stake was announced. If his current career doesn’t work out, Oestberg may at least have an alternative one as a fund manager. (By Karen Kwok)

On Twitter http://twitter.com/breakingviews

Capital Calls - More concise insights on global finance:

Shiseido finds less can be more in makeup read more

Delta Air Lines wields Covid vaccine stick read more

UK M&A frenzy spreads to hazardous waste read more

Tim Hortons cooks up China cybersecurity recipe read more

Tim Cook defeats risk of Apple crumble read more

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.