- The Amsterdam-based company received 214.2 million orders in the first quarter
- Just Eat’s total GTV fell 2 percent, or €118 million, to €6.55 billion during the period.
Just Eat Takeaway recorded 5 per cent fewer orders during the first three months of 2024 as cost of living pressures continued to curb consumer spending.
The Amsterdam-based company received 214.2 million orders in the first quarter, compared to 227.2 million in the same period last year.
This was largely driven by North America, where orders fell 12 per cent to 64.9 million and the count of all purchases on Just Eat’s platform – known as gross transaction value (GTV) – shrank. 11 percent to 2.34 billion euros.
Trade decline: Just Eat Takeaway received 214.2 million orders in the first quarter, compared to 227.2 million in the same period last year.
Just Eat and GTV orders also fell by double-digit percentage levels in southern Europe, Australia and New Zealand – 16 per cent and 15 per cent respectively.
However, they bucked the trend in Britain despite a weakening economic backdrop, with orders rising 1 percent to 60.3 million and GTV expanding 11 percent to 1.7 billion euros.
As a result, the London-listed company’s total GTV fell 2 percent, or €118 million, to €6.55 billion, in line with analysts’ average estimates.
Following the result, Just Eat bosses have maintained the company’s full-year guidance for GTV growth, excluding North America, of between 2 and 6 per cent, and profits before unpleasantries of around €450m. euros.
Just Eat’s latest trading update comes a day after it announced the “difficult decision” to leave New Zealand, where it operates under the name Menulog.
The group said the country accounted for a small proportion of its operations, while its size made it “insufficient to maintain a healthy business”.
Just Eat is also looking to exit the North American food delivery market by selling all or part of Grubhub, which it bought for £5.75bn just three years ago.
“There can be no certainty that such strategic actions will be agreed upon or what the timing of such agreements will be,” he told investors on Wednesday.
The company originally agreed to acquire Grubhub in mid-2020, when the forced closure of hospitality venues and restrictions on public socializing caused takeout orders to increase.
However, following the completion of the acquisition, easing of pandemic restrictions and increasing losses led the company to consider selling the Chicago-based subsidiary.
Russ Mould, chief investment officer at AJ Bell, described Gruhub as “the black sheep” in Just Eat’s portfolio, whose acquisition “looks increasingly ill-timed”.
He added: “The company is already reporting ex-North America figures, but until it can secure an exit, the market is likely to judge the group in the round, and that includes its operations across the Atlantic.”
Just Eat Takeaway Shares They were down 5.2 per cent to £11.34 late on Wednesday afternoon, meaning they have plummeted around 89 per cent since peaking at £100.50 in October 2020.