HelloFresh lives on in America, and now the Europeans are abandoning it

Hello Fresh Although it has slowed down since the corona impact, it has continued to grow. Especially thanks to the US, because more than half of the income comes from the US.

Fewer customers in spring

“The second quarter is always weaker than the first quarter,” CEO Dominique Richter assured analysts, noting that HelloFresh has lost 500,000 customers since the start of the year. As good intentions cool, people apparently order fewer food boxes. Rising life expectancy and economic uncertainty also play a role this year, particularly in Europe. In the US, “only” 220,000 customers ditched HelloFresh.

Overall, the number of orders also fell from 34.6 million in the first quarter to 32.3 million now. More than half of all orders came from the US, now the most important market for meal kit suppliers. The country is More than half of the income is good And three-quarters of operating profit, according to news site Finanzen. Also striking: The operating result in the US rose almost 23%, while gross profit elsewhere fell by almost a quarter to 64.8 million euros.

Against the flow

But Richter remains hopeful. Compared to the previous year, the number of customers increased by 4% to more than eight million, and turnover increased by more than 25% to 1.96 billion euros – a record. Excluding currency effects, sales increased 16%. Orders became larger and more expensive, while customers increasingly chose additional products. HelloFresh is “going against the mainstream of e-commerce” with its growth and is therefore on track to generate revenues of ten billion euros by 2025, says the CEO.

Inevitably higher costs, for everything from materials to distribution, weigh on profits. ‘EBITDA’ fell 7.5% to 145.9 million euros, which is lower than last year’s net profit (62.5 million euros). Explanation: To keep prices competitive, the company has “effect”. Inflation has come down significantly Without fully passing the costs on to customers. For the full year, HelloFresh expects revenue growth of between 18 and 23%, and an operating profit slightly lower than the previous year.