Hellofresh makes less profit

The Berlin-based cooking box company Hellofresh is growing so strongly that it was able to raise its forecasts for the full year. At the same time, it's leaving less on the bottom line.

Hellofresh reported revenues of €1.4 billion in the third quarter of this year. Compared to the previous year, this represents an increase of almost 50 percent. As a result, the company now expects full-year revenue to increase 57 to 62 percent. Previously, Hellofresh had expected to bring in 45 to 55 percent more. However, adjusted profit fell at the same time from 114.7 million euros last year to 79.8 million euros currently. According to Business Insider to the fact that the company had higher procurement and distribution costs and spent more money on marketing.

Hellofresh says that the higher revenue growth was mainly possible because a large proportion of its customers (38.8 percent) were particularly active. The strong customer loyalty would translate into high order rates and an increase in average order values. In addition, the acquisition of Australia's leading company in the so-called ready-to-eat segment, Youfoodz, made itself felt. The Australian company had contributed 0.4 percent of the growth. Most recently, Hellofresh had launched in Italy and announced it was acquiring about 10 percent of Russia's leading cooking box company Chefmarket.

"With all these investments, we remain focused on achieving our medium-term revenue target of €10 billion and paving the way to become the world's leading food solutions company," said Dominik Richter, co-founder and CEO of Hellofresh. He added that in Q3 2021, the company doubled the ongoing expansion of its production capacity "to create the right platform for strong long-term growth."

Hellofresh was founded in 2011 and sells cooking boxes that they deliver directly to your door via online subscription. The company expects to deliver more than 900 million meals to its customers this year. Hellofresh says it aims to become the world's leading grocery solutions company in the future.