Deliveroo crashes on market debut

Well, that’s awkward.

Deliveroo, the UK’s very own labour arbitrage business, has listed on the London Stock Exchange this morning. Its debut was framed as a triumphant moment for tech stocks in London by some, with retail investors encouraged by Deliveroo’s app to get in on the action before the inevitable IPO “pop”.*

Well, it hasn’t quite worked out that way.

At pixel time, Deliveroo’s shares are trading at 302p — 23 per cent below the 390p price it listed at just 27 minutes ago, according to Refinitiv data. It was down at one point almost a third. Ouch.

Look on the bright side though, at least those customers who purchased shares will now know what it feels like to lose money from what seemed like a sure-fire money maker, just like its riders.

*Deliveroo would like to make it clear that it did not suggest there would be a pop at the time of the IPO.