- HFG.DE
- HFGG
Investing.com — HelloFresh’s (ETR:HFGG) third-quarter core profit beat forecasts on Thursday, but the gain came from slashing marketing spend, as orders fell nearly 18% and the meal-kit group said it would hold off on reinvesting in growth.
Adjusted EBITDA, the company’s core profit measure, was €54.4 million, against an average forecast of €49 million in a company-compiled survey of seven analysts.
At constant currency, it was €50.9 million, up 26.3% from €40.3 million a year earlier.
Marketing spending fell 24.1% from a year earlier, or 3.2 percentage points as a share of revenue.
Orders dropped 17.9% to 19.6 million from 23.9 million, as fewer new customers signed up during the back-to-school period, which the company mainly blamed on the lower marketing spend.
A higher average order value partly offset the volume drop. It rose 7.5% at constant currency to €70.5 from €65.6, on selective price increases, more add-on purchases and a higher share of premium recipes.
Revenue was €1.43 billion against an average forecast of €1.42 billion. At constant currency it was €1.40 billion, down 11.3% from €1.58 billion, against a forecast of €1.39 billion.
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Contribution margin, excluding share-based pay and impairments, was €331.6 million, below the average forecast of €346.9 million. It was 23.3% of revenue versus 24.5% a year earlier.
Meal kit revenue fell 13.1% at constant currency, but its adjusted EBITDA margin rose to 10.7% from 9.4% a year earlier.
Ready-to-eat revenue fell 11.1% at constant currency, and the unit broke even on adjusted EBITDA versus a €21.6 million loss a year earlier.
Lower marketing costs, savings from an efficiency program and the higher order value helped profit, the company said. Lower volumes and temporary problems in procurement, cooking and fulfillment linked to rapid menu expansion weighed on it.
Co-founder and chief executive Dominik Richter said the priority for 2026 is a double-digit margin for meal kits and a return to adjusted EBITDA profit for ready-to-eat.
“Both feedback and initial metrics are encouraging but before pre-maturely reinvesting into growth we need to tackle some of the temporary operational inefficiencies we encountered,” he said.
