Just Eat hits 200 million orders as demand for food delivery continues

The company intends to sacrifice profitability to win market share

Amsterdam-based Takeaway had indicated an expected first-quarter orders growth of more than 42% in its full-year 2020 earnings report in March.

Food ordering and delivery company Just Eat Takeaway.com said today its first-quarter orders rose by 79% to 200 million orders from 112 million a year earlier.

Amsterdam-based Takeaway had indicated an expected first-quarter orders growth of more than 42% in its full-year 2020 earnings report in March.

"The start of 2021 has been very strong," said CEO Jitse Groen in a trading statement.

Demand for food-delivery services boomed during the Covid-19 pandemic as governments ordered dine-ins at restaurants to close but keep their kitchens open to serve customers staying at home.

Takeaway said it had seen its strongest growth in Britain, where it bought rival Just Eat for $7.8 billion in April 2020, with orders up 96% to 63.8 million orders. Takeaway competes with Deliveroo in the UK, which saw its share price flop after its March 31 IPO.

The company also competes with Uber in its biggest European markets, which also include Germany, where orders were up 77% to 39.2 million and the Netherlands, where they rose 53% to 15.3 million.

The company, which reports first-quarter earnings on May 12, did not issue an earnings outlook, but noted it intended to sacrifice profitability to win market share.

In March, Takeaway reported a net loss of €151m for 2020. Its shares closed at €84.84 on Monday, down 8.1% this year.

Takeaway also said it still anticipates that its proposed acquisition of US peer Grubhub in a $7.3 billion deal will be completed in the first half of 2021.

Reuters