Shares in online food delivery platform Just Eat Takeaway.com (JET) gained 2.7% to £75.52 after it reported a 79% surge in orders for the first quarter of this year, led by strong demand in the UK.
The company processed 200 million orders overall in the first quarter of 2021, and the UK was the fastest-growing segment and the company’s main growth driver, with orders in its delivery business up 695% year-on-year in the first quarter of 2021.
Just Eat UK processed 64 million orders in total in the first quarter of 2021, up 96% on the same period a year ago, and new partnerships were signed with household brands such as Leon, Tortilla and Chipotle, as well as coffee chains Starbucks and Costa, adding to Just Eat’s growing restaurant supply.
The company also reported 77% order growth in Germany and 53% in the Netherlands.
Gross merchandise value amounted to €4.5 billion in the first quarter of 2021, up 89% on a constant currency basis compared with the first quarter of 2020.
‘FUTURE EBITDA GAINS’
Just Eat said both its Marketplace and Delivery businesses contributed almost equally to order growth. Marketplace orders are where Just Eat processes online orders for restaurants but the restaurant delivers the food.
The company said its marketplace orders are ‘highly profitable’, while its delivery orders are priced ‘very competitively following the company’s price leadership strategy, allowing for future adjusted EBITDA gains.’
However, in the short-term the firm added that to capitalise on the ‘strong momentum’ from its investment programme, it will ‘continue to invest heavily’ and ‘prioritise market share over adjusted EBITDA’, while management expects further order growth acceleration for 2021 compared with 2020.
