Just Eat sees losses widen, but delivers £4.4bn in sales

Just Eat Takeaway.com has insisted it is on the path to profitability after heavy investment saw annual losses widen despite raking in a mammoth 5.3 billion euro (£4.4 billion) in sales.

The fast food delivery giant reported pre-tax losses of 1.1 billion euro (£916 million) for 2021, against losses of 147 million euro (£123 million) in 2020.

But the Amsterdam-based firm enjoyed a 33% surge in revenues over the year, on top of impressive growth in a pandemic-boosted 2020, when lockdowns forced people to eat at home.

It forecast that growth by gross transaction value (GTV) would be in the “mid-teens” in 2022 even as the effect of the pandemic fades.

In the UK and Ireland, sales jumped 63% to 1.2 million euro (£1 million) as orders jumped 52%, though the firm still swung to a 107 million euro (£89 million) loss as it spent on winning online share, ramped up marketing campaigns and cutting delivery fees to customers.

Chief executive Jitse Groen said: “After a period of significant investment, and with adjusted EBITDA losses having peaked in the first half of 2021, the company is now rapidly progressing towards profitability.”

The group added it was also on the “clear path” to profit in the UK and Ireland after doubling orders in the past two years.

It also revealed plans to pull out of Portugal and Norway from April 1.

It said operations in the country are loss-making, with combined underlying annual losses of 10 million euro (£8.3 million), and stressed the impact on revenues from the move is “immaterial”.

Just Eat added it remains in talks over a potential strategic partnership for its US business GrubHub, which it bought last June following regulatory clearance, as it looks to bolster its position in the market.