Uber Eats, Carrefour Take Online Delivery To Rest Of France, Belgium

French supermarket chain Carrefour (CRRFY) and Uber’s (UBER) Eats unit are expanding their partnership for online shopping deliveries to the rest of France and will launch the service in Belgium.

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Back in April, the two companies first launched the delivery service throughout the Paris region to meet demand for groceries and essential products during the nationwide coronavirus lockdown.

As of 20 July, the service is now available via 330 sales outlets and covers 91 major urban areas – that’s 25% of the French population. Carrefour added that from the 130 products available at the start of the partnership, consumers can now choose from more than 250 essential everyday items, with the aim being to increase this to 500 by early September.

“We are very pleased to be able to continue to bolster our strategic partnership with a specialist player like Carrefour and to make home delivery for shopping accessible to everybody in France in the form of a fast, reliable and affordable experience,” said Stéphane Ficaja of Uber Eats.

In September, Carrefour will start the delivery service with Uber Eats in Belgium, making it the third country after France and Taiwan. The service will be first launched in Brussels and Liège. Belgium will be testing a 30-minute shopping delivery service, as well as meal box solutions. This will increase the accessibility of ready-to-eat meals delivered straight to people’s homes.

Carrefour said it expects to add more countries as part of the partnership over the next few months.

Uber has recently been focusing on ramping up its food delivery business as the demand for the service has been offsetting weak rides demand during the coronavirus pandemic.

Shares in Uber are trading 5% higher than at the start of the year. Looking ahead, the $42.13 average analyst price target implies shares may appreciate 35% in the coming 12 months. (See Uber’s stock analysis on TipRanks).

Stifel Nicolaus analyst Scott Devitt last week reiterated a Buy rating on the stock with a $32.66 price target, citing the overall outperformance in the Eats segment. The analyst estimates that the Eats business contributes over a third of Uber’s current total equity value.

“We remain cautious on the rate of ridehailing recovery given an uncertain trajectory for primary ridehailing use cases: leisure, commute, and airport rides,” Devitt wrote in a note to investors. “While ridehailing volumes will likely not fully recover until sometime in 2021, we remain constructive on Uber shares given food delivery exposure and Uber Eats outperformance.”

The rest of the Street shares Devitt’s bullish outlook. The Strong Buy analyst consensus boasts 26 Buys versus 4 Holds.