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(Alliance News) - Just Eat Takeaway.com NV on Wednesday said it swung to positive earnings on an adjusted basis in the second half of last year and for 2022 as a whole, as the online food delivery marketplace focuses on achieving profitability.
The former FTSE 100 stock was up 10% at 2,356.00 pence in London on Wednesday morning. It remains down 41% over the past year.
Just East said it swung to positive adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation of EUR150 million in the second half of 2022 from negative EUR134 million in the first half.
This means the food delivery app posted positive adjusted Ebitda of EUR16 million for all of 2022, swung from negative EUR350 million in 2021. Just Eat said the performance was driven by improved revenue per order, improved delivery costs per order, and lowered overheads.
Just Eat expects positive adjusted Ebitda of EUR225 million in 2023.
At the statutory level, Just Eat loses considerable amounts of money, despite the boost from lockdowns during the Covid-19 pandemic. Its pretax loss in 2021 was EUR1.05 billion, widened from EUR147 million in 2020.
The improved earnings in 2022 come despite a 2.1% slip in gross transaction value in the fourth quarter, to EUR7.11 billion from EUR7.27 billion a year before. In all of 2022, GTV was flat at EUR28.22 billion versus EUR28.18 billion.
The number of orders fell by 12% to 239.8 million in the fourth quarter from 273.7 million a year before. They fell by 9.4% to 984.5 million in all of 2022 from 1.09 billion in 2021.
Just Eat said it continues to "actively explore" the partial or full sale of Grubhub but said there can be no certainty of an agreement. Just Eat bought the Chicago-based peer back in June 2021 for USD7.3 billion.
Along with its focus on cost, Just Eat said it plans to invest in "food and non-food adjacencies" in 2023 and said its "long-term objectives" remain unchanged.
"Our improved profitability and strong capital position strengthen our business for further growth and underpin our ability to both deliver on our adjusted Ebitda targets and invest in food and non-food adjacencies," said Chief Executive Officer Jitse Groen.
By Tom Waite, Alliance News editor
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