Boost for Just Eat ahead of €9bn deal

Food delivery companies Just Eat and Takeaway.com reported strong order growth for the first half of 2019, as they gear up for their planned €9bn merger announced earlier this week.

The UK and Dutch companies said they had agreed in principle to an all-share merger to create a company that would rival Uber Eats as the world’s largest food delivery company outside China.

In Ireland, Just Eat’s sales are included in its Europe division, which also covers Denmark, France, Italy, Norway, Spain, and Switzerland. It said it struck delivery agreements with Burger King in Ireland and in Denmark, as well as with Domino’s in France.

Takeaway had earlier acquired the German business of rival Delivery Hero for €930m, settling a costly battle for market domination there.

Scale is all-important in the fast-growing €90bn market, but most players are still loss-making as they spend heavily.

Takeaway said its move in Germany had helped grow total sales by 68% to €185m in the first half of the year, as orders increased at the same pace. Just Eat reported a 21% increase in orders for the first half of 2019, as the company, previously a purely online business, rolled out its own food delivery network.

Takeaway reported operating profit of €1.8m, marking the firm’s first positive result since listing its shares in Amsterdam in 2016, while Just Eat’s core profit fell to £72m (€64.5m). Takeaway said it continues to prioritise growth over profitability.

Just Eat maintained its outlook for total revenues of £1bn-£1.1bn in 2019.

- Reuters and Irish Examiner staff