Just Eat chief says Nasdaq departure doesn’t spell Grubhub sale
Just Eat chief Jitse Groen has said that the firm’s decision to de-list from the Nasdaq should not be taken as an indication of plans to sell its Grubhub subsidiary.
The firm first launched in US markets in June last year as it snapped up US delivery firm Grubhub for $7.3bn, but said it would be withdrawing amid low trading volumes on the US market.
Bosses said the last day of Nasdaq trading will come before the end of the first quarter of 2022, and it will keep its shares listed in London and Amsterdam, where the majority of its share capital is listed.
In its statement last week, JustEat said: “The main considerations for voluntarily delisting are the low trading volumes on Nasdaq and the low proportion of the company’s total share capital held on Nasdaq”.
It added that the US listings system placed significant pressures on the firm.
Today, top dog Groen told a Dutch television programme “Business Class” that the move was a “cost reduction measure”, and repeated that the company is still considering various strategic options for the subsidiary’s future.
He also asserted that only the largest food delivery players in each market will, eventually, be highly profitable.
This came with acknowledging that the company is “not number 1” in the US, where it competes with the likes of Doordash and Uber.
“We have to get into a market position such as we have in the Netherlands, so that we can earn money,” Groen said.
“We have a lot of discussions with people in the U.S. over Grubhub. (But) if you talk to people then you have to have the goal that it improves the business.”
Takeaway’s shares closed at 38.25 euros on Friday, down six per cent on the day. They have lost two-thirds of their value since reaching a peak above 109 euros in October 2020.