The Berlin-based company said it intends to ‘fully cooperate’ with the European Commission as it did during previous unannounced inspections.
Delivery Hero, the German online food delivery service, said that it may be fined more than €400m for allegedly violating antitrust laws in the EU.
The allegations, as mentioned by Delivery Hero yesterday (7 July) in an update on its website, include an anti-competitive agreement to share national markets, exchanges of commercially sensitive information and no-poach agreements.
The company said its management board decided to “significantly increase” a corresponding provision already built in the amount of €186m following “unannounced inspections” carried out by the European Commission in July 2022 and November 2023.
“The intent to increase the provision is based on recent informal engagement with the European Commission and subsequent detailed analysis,” the company said. “Delivery Hero intends to fully cooperate with the European Commission as it did during the unannounced inspections.”
Shares in the publicly traded company fell by more than 17pc after the announcement, according to Reuters.
Headquartered in Berlin, Delivery Hero was founded in 2011 and today has operations in more than 70 countries across Europe, Asia, Latin America, the Middle East and Africa.
Delivery Hero expanded into quick commerce – the next generation of e-commerce – aiming to bring groceries and household goods to customers in under one hour – often within 30 minutes.
The company welcomed a new supervisory board at its 2024 annual general meeting month. It also announced Marie-Anne Popp as its interim chief financial officer (CFO), who started her role this month. Popp replaced former CFO Emmanuel Thomassin who recently stepped down.
According to Statista, global online food delivery sector was estimated at more than $1trn in 2023, of which $640bn was generated in the grocery delivery segment and $390bn in the meal delivery segment. The market is forecast to generate revenues reaching $1.8trn by 2028.
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