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Just Eat Takeaway’s order growth jumps amid continuing demand for online delivery.
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Shares in Just Eat Takeaway leapt more than 5% on Wednesday, after the food-delivery platform reported a surge in online orders in the third quarter as more consumers turned to apps for their dining needs amid social distancing restrictions.
In a trading update, Just Eat Takeaway JET, +5.36% said it had received 46% more orders in the three months to September, compared with the same period in 2019.
The Amsterdam-headquartered company delivered 151.4 million orders globally in the third quarter, bringing the total to 408.3 million in the first nine months of the year.
The strong results sent shares in Just Eat Takeaway up 5.34% in early morning London trading.
Just Eat Takeaway saw the highest sales in the U.K., where it delivered 46.4 million orders in three months, up 43% on the previous year.
Growth in the country was fueled by several new partnerships, including the rollout of approximately 800 McDonald’s MCD, +0.54% restaurants and 300 Greggs GRG, -0.80% locations.
“Order growth at Just Eat Takeaway TKWY, +5.08% further accelerated, consequently widening the gap to competitors in our key markets,” said Jitse Groen, group chief executive, in a trading update on Wednesday.
“We have continued to generate strong adjusted Ebitda [Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization], while investing aggressively, and are well-positioned for autumn and winter, our traditional growth season,” Groen added.
In Germany, orders rose 47% during the period, while restaurants in the Netherlands delivered a third more meals through the company’s platform. Australia was the fastest-growing country with triple-digit order growth in the quarter, while Canada saw an increase of 98% to 23.5 million orders.
Analysts at Jefferies said that the group’s aggressive investment program is already paying off and order growth has accelerated further.
“More importantly, the gap with competitors has widened in key markets (U.K. and Canada were signaled out). Encouragingly, problem-child Australia was “the fastest-growing country, delivering market share gains with triple-digit growth,” the analysts wrote in a note to clients.
Read: Grubhub Is Being Bought by Amsterdam-Based Just Eat
On Oct. 7, shareholders of Just Eat Takeaway approved its acquisition of meal-delivery rival Grubhub, but rejected a pay package for the company’s U.S. chief executive.
Just Eat Takeaway agreed to buy Chicago-based Grubhub GRUB, -1.17% in June for $7.3 billion in an all-stock deal that would create the largest food delivery company outside China. The company outbid Uber UBER, -1.93% to win the deal, which is expected to close in the first half of 2021, pending approval from Grubhub shareholders and regulators.
Matt Maloney was due to receive a $745,000 base salary in 2021, with long-term stocks and options grants of up to 1,000% of that amount as part of a long-term incentive plan.
Just Eat Takeaway, which was created out of a £6.2 billion merger between Just Eat and Netherlands-based Takeaway.com in January, said on Wednesday that that the integration of the two companies is on track, including adopting the same branding worldwide.
