Online meal delivery firm plans flotation

Loss-making “ready to cook” meal delivery company HelloFresh is readying a Frankfurt stock market listing that looks to capitalise on its rapid global expansion, rising consumer demand for convenience and investor appetite for tech flotations.

The Berlin-based company is likely to sell shares worth at least 300 million euros ($331 million), two people familiar with the deal said on Wednesday.

HelloFresh delivers meal ingredients and recipes for dishes such as cheeky chicken chow mein and warming lentil moussaka, priced as low as £4 ($6) apiece, to subscribers in seven European countries, as well as in Australia, Canada and the United States.

Majority owner Rocket Internet, a global e-commerce investor, said HelloFresh was planning to sell newly issued shares in a capital increase.

HelloFresh also said revenue swelled 384 per cent to 198 million euros in the first nine months of 2015, while losses rose to 58 million from 8.5 million a year before.

It said it was expecting fourth-quarter revenue to top the previous three months by between 15 and 20 per cent and intends to use the proceeds of its forthcoming initial public offering (IPO) to fund growth.

“In only four years, we have managed to disrupt the traditional food supply chain and build a global company,” co-founder and CEO Dominik Richter said.

HelloFresh’s offering comes after digital classifieds group Scout24 was able to complete its float as planned in wobbly markets.