Just Eat interim results hit by EUR3 billion Grubhub impairment

(Alliance News) - Just Eat Takeaway.com NV on Wednesday said it remains on track to hit its profitability goals despite its bottom line taking a hit from a hefty Grubhub impairment in the first half of 2022.

For the six months that ended on June 30, the food delivery firm said revenue on a combined basis - including Grubhub Inc - rose by 6.5% to EUR2.78 billion from EUR2.61 billion a year earlier, as a result of "consumer pricing improvements and positive currency movements," the company explained.

Pretax loss, however, widened significantly to EUR3.54 billion from EUR395 million a year earlier.

Just Eat booked a goodwill impairment of EUR3.0 billion relating to the acquisition of Grubhub due to a "reduction in sector valuation comparables and the impact of increases in interest rates and equity volatility on technical valuation metrics," it explained. The loss excluding the impact of the impairment amounted to EUR500 million during the period, compared to EUR485 million a year earlier.

Just Eat completed its USD7.3 billion acquisition of Chicago, US-headquartered Grubhub in June last year. On Wednesday, Just Eat said it will continue to explore a partial or full sale of Grubhub.

Just Eat's adjusted loss before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation narrowed to EUR134 million from EUR189 million, however, demonstrating the "path to profitability," it said.

Chief Executive Officer Jitse Groen said: "After a period of exceptional growth, Just Eat Takeaway.com is now two times larger than it was pre-pandemic. Whilst this growth required significant investment, we have continued to focus on executing our strategy to build and operate highly profitable food delivery businesses."

It expects to reach positive adjusted Ebitda in financial 2023, with long-term guidance unchanged.

In a separate announcement, Just Eat said it will nominate Jorg Gerbig for reappointment as chief operating officer. In May, the company said Gerbig would not stand for re-election after the company's supervisory board was informed of a "formal complaint" related to the COO's "possible personal misconduct at a company event".

"The external expert investigation has now been concluded and based on the outcome Jorg Gerbig can continue in his position as COO," the company said.

Shares were up 2.3% at 1,593.80 pence each on Wednesday morning in London.

By Xindi Wei; xindiwei@alliancenews.com

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