Delivery Hero CEO happy to keep Asia unit Foodpanda 'forever' after stock plunged on sale outlook

Delivery Hero CEO Niklas Ostberg said that he's happy holding onto the Foodpanda brand, after reports that talks of potentially selling the Southeast Asian unit had collapsed drove a huge plunge in shares.

Delivery Hero shares surged 11% Wednesday afternoon in European trading, extending gains from earlier in the day.

The German food delivery firm on Wednesday reported a 9% bump in total segment revenues to 10.5 billion euros ($11.2 billion) in 2023 and adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortization of 253.3 million euros.

The company also restated its guidance for annual 2024 adjusted EBITDA of between 725 million euros and 775 million euros — which would mark a tripling from 2023. The results confirm preliminary earnings from Delivery Hero, which the company issued in recent weeks in response to a sharp plunge in its shares.

Earlier this month, a report from The New Straits Times said that talks by Delivery Hero to sell its loss-making Southeast Asian business Foodpanda had collapsed, panicking investors who fled the shares out of concern that the company wouldn't be able to cash out its ownership.

Selling Foodpanda remains an option that Delivery Hero is considering, and talks about a potential sale are ongoing, a company spokesperson said in a statement following the report.

But Ostberg said that he is happy to retain Foodpanda in Southeast Asia, suggesting that he's confident about remaining committed to the business and doesn't feel an urgent need to sell.

"I'm more than happy to hold onto it forever," Ostberg told CNBC in an interview on Wednesday. "The business has turned breakeven now, [and] that's good [that] it's not a drag on our profitability anymore, that's nice."

He added, "[Foodpanda] will