“Anyone thinking Deliveroo might rise phoenix like from the flames at the end of its first day of trading will be sorely disappointed,” says Danni Hewson, financial analyst at AJ Bell.
“There is no happy ending to what, so far, is a cautionary tale for some investors. But will that tale have a sting at the end of it? Deliveroo is not the first company to experience a rocky start. Uber stocks fell more than 7% on its debut but, if you’d kept your nerve, you’d be up 20% today. Facebook had a torrid year or so as a listed business but if you’d hung on from those initial lows your investment would be up by more than 10-fold today.
“The stock market can be a fickle friend. Sometimes it can give you instant gratification; sometimes you have to hang on for the ride and sometimes you’ll wish you’d never jumped on in the first place. Clearly investors saw an opportunity in Deliveroo and that hasn’t disappeared. This is a business that has a point to prove. Anyone really looking at its credentials in recent days couldn’t miss that. What’s changed is that now the business needs to prove it quickly and publicly.”
