Just Eat Share News (JE.)

(Sharecast News) - Online food delivery platform operator Just Eat Takeaway said on Wednesday that orders grew 33% year-on-year in 2021 to 1.1bn and gross transaction value increased 31% to €28.2bn.
Just Eat said adjusted underlying earnings margins improved "substantially" in the fourth quarter of 2021, and, as a result, adjusted EBITDA margins for the full year were now expected to be at "the midpoint of the guided range of minus 1% and minus 1.5% of GTV". The firm added it had also achieved GTV targets of €28.2bn

The London-listed group highlighted that the UK & Ireland was its fastest-growing segment for both the quarter and the year, with adjusted EBITDA "significantly improving", and said it will continue to invest heavily, especially in its London network, while it expects to further improve profitability in 2022.

In North America, Grubhub continued to make "good progress" increasing restaurant selection for diners, most notably in New York, and drove a meaningful expansion of GH+ users, while in Northern Europe, Lieferando added 6.9m incremental orders in Germany in the fourth quarter of 2021, and 47.5m incremental orders in 2021, leading to ongoing profitability improvements in the process.

Chief executive Jitse Groen said: "Following the merger of Just Eat and Takeaway.com nearly two years ago, we made significant investments to grow our leadership positions and the company is now six times bigger in terms of orders.

"On the back of this success, we have markedly improved our adjusted EBITDA throughout the second half of 2021, and we will make further improvements this year. Meanwhile, we expect our market positions to strengthen further, driven by our superior network effects."

As of 0900 GMT, Just Eat shares were down 0.89% at 3,574.50p.