Technology

Just Eat Takeaway sees profitability returning with strong order growth

Surge came as Covid-19 restrictions boosted demand for food delivery services

Photograph: iStock

Thu Jul 15 2021 - 07:14

European food-ordering firm Just Eat Takeaway. com said on Thursday it expected profitability to improve, as it reported a 51 per cent surge in overall orders for the first six months of 2021.

Chief executive Jitse Groen said he expected adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (Ebitda) to rise following the acquisition of Grubhub in the United States in a $7.3 billion (€6.18bn) deal earlier this year.

“Adjusted ebitda losses, mainly caused by US and Canadian fee caps and our investment programme, have now peaked,” he said in a trading update.

“We therefore expect to trend back to profitability going forward while retaining significant growth during the second half of the year.”

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The surge in orders, which was adjusted to account for the acquisition of Grubhub, followed a 42 per cent jump last year as Covid-19 restrictions boosted demand for food-delivery services.

Orders in Europe increased 61 per cent in the first half of the year, and the company slightly upped its outlook for the growth of these sales to more than 45 per cent over the whole of 2021.

Just Eat Takeaway said it would continue to choose market share improvements over operating profits, even as it expected its margins to improve in the months to come. – Reuters

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