The recipe box mail order company Hellofresh had to accept a significant drop in demand in the past quarter as a result of the global slump in consumption. Thanks to lower costs and postponed marketing expenses, the Berliners nevertheless managed to jump in operating profits. The number of so-called active customers fell in the second quarter compared to the same period last year by almost nine percent to 7.3 million, as the MDax group announced on Thursday. Hellofresh counts all those who have ordered at least one cooking box within the last three months as active customers, whether at full price, reduced price or even free of charge. The number of orders fell by seven percent to 30 million.
However, thanks to strict cost control, the meal kit supplier increased its operating profit noticeably. Adjusted for special effects, earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (Ebitda) climbed by almost a third to almost 192 million euros. Critics in the industry complain that food delivery services spend less money on generating new customers because there is no demand anyway. Sales fell slightly to EUR 1.92 billion as a result of weaker customer interest. Adjusted for currency effects, Group revenue would have remained more or less stable.
With the numbers, Hellofresh confirmed its preliminary findings from mid-July. The annual targets adjusted at the time were confirmed by CEO Dominik Richter. Adjusted for currency effects, sales are now expected to increase by two to eight percent in 2023. In the previous year, Hellofresh had earned 7.6 billion euros. The adjusted operating result (Ebitda) should be between 470 and 540 million euros. Only in the worst scenario would the company earn less from operations than in the previous year. Richter places hope above all on the second half of the year, in which growth should accelerate again thanks to larger production capacities.