Just Eat Takeaway forecasts order growth after bumper year
Just Eat Takeaway today said it expected further growth in orders in 2021 after the pandemic helped drive a sharp rise in revenue for the year.
The food delivery group hailed an “exceptional” 2020 after posting revenue of €2.4bn (£2bn), up 54 per cent from €1.6bn in the previous 12 months.
The company said it had reported three consecutive quarters of growth over the year, with overall orders rising 42 per cent to 588m.
Adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation came in at €256m, up from €217m in 2019.
Shares in Just Eat Takeaway edged up 0.7 per cent shortly after markets opened.
The company, which was formed after Takeaway’s £6.2bn takeover of Just Eat last year, has been one of the major winners of the pandemic as millions of people have been forced to stay at home.
Chief executive Jitse Groen said the crisis had brought “unprecedented challenges to our restaurants, consumers as well as to our organisation and staff” but “created tailwinds for our business”.
He added that the firm had ramped up investments in its Just Eat business significantly in the second half of the year.
This included doubling its sales force and carrying out a major marketing push, with the firm paying a reported £5m to Snoop Dogg to appear in its TV adverts.
Richard Hunter, head of markets at Interactive Investor, said: “The enforced pandemic lockdowns have provided Just Eat Takeaway with the perfect tailwind, and the company has responded by expanding at a lightning pace.”
But he warned the firm’s “breakneck speed of growth has inevitably seen costs spiral”, adding that there was uncertainty about competition and continued momentum when lockdowns eased.
The group last year also saw off competition from Uber Eats to snap up Grubhub in a £5.8bn deal and last month raised $1.1bn through a convertible bonds offering to bolster its balance sheet.
Just Eat Takeaway, which is the largest UK delivery company by orders, said orders were up 600 per cent year on year in the first two months of 2021, adding that it expected to increase market share in the UK this year.