Just Eat Takeaway.com TKWY.AS, Europe's largest meal delivery company, reported a smaller-than-expected full-year core loss on Wednesday 2 March and upheld its growth targets for 2022 even as the effect of a COVID-19 pandemic-driven boost in online food ordering wanes.
Shares And EBITDA
Its shares, which have lost half of their value over the past year, rose 4.4% by 0817 GMT on Wednesday 2 March after the group reported a loss before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) before of €350 million, better than the €366 million loss forecast by analysts.
Statement By CEO
After a year of heavy investment costs "we expect that our improved scale and position will strengthen...our profitability going forward," CEO Jitse Groen said on a press call.
Gross Transaction Value Growth Forecast
Takeaway forecasts this year's growth in Gross Transaction Value, a metric that combines order number and order value, in the "mid-teens."
Revenue
Revenue rose 33% to 5.33 billion euros in 2021.
Statement By JPMorgan
"Overall these results are solid, with a much better profitability performance in the UK & Ireland and the US," JPMorgan said in a note on the earnings.
2020 EBITDA Profit
The company reported an EBITDA profit of €363 million in 2020, when COVID-19 pandemic-related lockdowns created a windfall for food delivery and meal kit companies.
Additional Statements By CEO
Groen said that the company remains in talks on finding a partnership for GrubHub, which Takeaway bought for $7.3 billion in June. Investors have pushed for a disposal of the business, which competes with Uber and DoorDash, and Groen said that he would be "flexible" on terms as long as the business's strategic position was strengthened.
Gubhub "is not the largest in the US. Many places are quite strong, but the national position is not and we need to improve that," he said. "Whether that's going to be a minority share or majority position...that's not an 'ask' on our side."
Groen said that he foresees "rationalization" in Europe, where Takeaway competes with Delivery Hero DHER.DE and Deliveroo ROO.L , in addition to a raft of grocery delivery startups such as Gorillas, Flink and Getir.
Takeaway itself announced it is exiting Norway and Portugal, where it lacks scale.
He said that while inflation is a problem for many companies, for Takeaway it helps as it increases order sizes - a factor in food ordering profitability that outweighs higher wage and delivery costs.
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