Unconditional trading in Deliveroo shares begins today, a potential boost for the company after its share price dropped 26pc in its stock market debut last week.
Retail investors will be able to buy shares in the food delivery business when the market opens today, ending a period of conditional trading that would also have allowed Deliveroo to cancel its float if it wished.
Hundreds of riders across the UK are expected to go on strike and hold protests later today as they call for higher pay and benefits.
Elsewhere, the UK formally launched its new tech watchdog overnight. The new Digital Markets Unit is intended to block Silicon Valley giants from stifling competition.
Deliveroo customers eye ‘get out of jail card’
Deliveroo customers who bought shares in the company’s conditional market debut could be looking to sell shares as the market opens this morning, according to Susannah Streeter from Hargreaves Lansdown.
Deliveroo customers who were encouraged to buy a slice of the company threw the dice on a disastrous debut. Like a fateful round of Monopoly they have been locked out of selling their shares for a week, while the company’s initial valuation fell sharply. Now they finally have eyes on a ‘get out of jail’ card, but it will come at a cost. They can sell when trading begins on Wednesday, but shares are around 28pc below the IPO price.Under the terms of the offer, institutional investors were able to trade when conditional trading began on March 31. That meant that they ‘advanced to go’ and were able to immediately offload their holdings. Although none would have averted significant losses given the immediate price plunge, they had the freedom to cut and run or decide to wait it out for prices to potentially stabilise.
Unconditional trading of Deliveroo shares begins
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Getty Images Europe
Deliveroo’s disastrous float last week, which saw its share price drop 26pc wiping £2bn off its valuation, was only accessible to a limited set of investors.
Now, unconditional trading is set to kick off and retail investors will be able to pile into the stock if they wish. Deliveroo executives will be hoping that passionate customers will use this opportunity to pile into the stock and drive its price higher to help undo the drop from last week.
There are no signs that the worries about the gig economy are going away, however. This concern, which caused many of the UK’s biggest investors to stay away from Deliveroo, will be front and centre again today when hundreds of Deliveroo riders go on strike and protest.
Riders are calling for higher payments per order, sick and holiday and pay as well as collective bargaining. Their position is that Deliveroo should move away from its reliance on self-employed riders and start treating them more like employees.
There will be two things to celebrate today inside Deliveroo if the company’s share price rises. Top executive Thea Rogers announced her engagement to George Osborne overnight.
Five things to start your day
1) Britain launches new online watchdog to curb Big Tech dominance
The Digital Markets Unit will assess how tailor-made rules for each tech firm could work.
2) Jeff Bezos says he supports higher tax rate for Amazon
It comes as Joe Biden accused the company of using tax loopholes to pay as little tax as possible.
3) Arm alerts US government after blacklisted customer obtains restricted technology
Unnamed customer downloaded prohibited products in 2019, company discloses.
4) Tesla caught in the crossfire of a brewing tech Cold War with China
The American firm has been accused of using its cars to spy on the Asian state, a key market for it.
5) Car industry could take six months to recover from chip shortage
US industry body calls for more state support for manufacturing as production of 1.3m cars affected
