Citadel, the hedge fund firm founded by Ken Griffin, is betting against Deliveroo and has opened up a £27 million short wager against the food delivery company, according to a report by The Daily Telegraph.

Citadel, the hedge fund firm founded by Ken Griffin, is betting against Deliveroo and has opened up a £27 million short wager against the food delivery company, according to a report by The Daily Telegraph.

Citadel first established a short position in Deliveroo back in February and has since increased that wager to around 1.4% of the £1.9 billion company's shares, according to the report. 

Deliveroo, which takes a cut of the fast food orders made through its smartphone app, which are then delivered by courier, last week reported a 9% fall in takeaway order numbers in the first three months of the year. Rising food costs have boosted revenues though, with Deliveroo seeing a 7% revenue increase to £512m in the Q1 2023, alongside a 12% jump in the average value of its orders.  

Deliveroo’s share price tumbled following a float two years ago but has since rallied and is up 24% since January. The company's share price reached a 12-month high this week, settling at around £1.10 after climbing 3.4% in Friday trading.