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(Alliance News) - Just Eat Takeaway.com NV on Wednesday reported much higher revenue in the wake of its merger and said it is making good progress on integration.
For the half-year ended June 30, revenue multiplied to EUR675 million from EUR179 million last year. The figures are presented as if the combination of Just Eat and Takeaway.com was completed on January 1, 2019 to provide comparable information for the full six-month period, the company said.
Like-for-like, revenue grew by 44% to EUR1 billion from EUR715 million a year ago, but the company's net loss widened to EUR158 million from EUR27 million.
Adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation came in at EUR177 million, up from EUR76 million a year earlier. Like-for-like pretax loss widened to EUR121 million from EUR7 million.
Just Eat Takeaway said the loss was mainly driven by amortisation, advisory, transaction and integration-related expenses connected to the combination of Just Eat and Takeaway.com and the proposed transaction with Grubhub.
In June, Just Eat Takeaway agreed to acquire US peer Grubhub Inc for USD7.3 billion to form the world's largest online food delivery company outside of China. The combined company will have a major presence in four key markets – the US, the UK, Germany and the Netherlands – and position the enterprise for greater growth in the US.
Currently, Just Eat Takeaway expects the shareholder circular for the Grubhub all-share deal will be published in late August with an extraordinary general meeting to follow in October.
"Subject to satisfaction of conditions, completion of the transaction is anticipated to occur in the first half of 2021," said Just Eat Takeaway.
This followed the merger of Just Eat PLC of the UK and Takeaway.com NV of the Netherlands earlier this year. Takeaway.com won a bidding war for Just Eat in January, beating off Johannesburg- and Amsterdam-listed media and internet investor Prosus NV.
Just Eat Takeaway said the integration "is on track and progressing well" with the Swiss business migrated to Just Eat Takeaway's central European IT platform in the first week of June and other markets to follow.
"Management believes the Just Eat brands, despite their current strong growth, have seen underinvestment in recent years. To strengthen, expand or recapture market-leading positions throughout our territories, we have embarked on an aggressive investment programme and will invest significantly in the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, Italy, Spain, France and several other ex-Just Eat markets," the company said.
Chief Executive Jitse Groen said: "Just Eat Takeaway.com is in the fortunate position to benefit from continuing tailwinds. The United Kingdom, Germany, Canada, the Netherlands, Australia, and Brazil are performing particularly strongly. Our businesses have healthy gross margins, and all our segments are adjusted Ebitda positive. On the back of the current momentum, we started an aggressive investment programme, which we believe will further strengthen our market positions. We are convinced that our order growth will remain strong for the remainder of the year."
Just Eat Takeaway.com shares were up 3.3% early Wednesday in London at 8,966.00 pence.
By Anna Farley; annafarley@alliancenews.com
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