Strong First Half By JUST EAT
JUST EAT, the world’s leading digital marketplace for takeaway food, connecting 11.0 million active users to over 59,000 takeaway restaurants, has reported revenue up 54% to £107.8 million and underlying EBITDA up 62% to £25.8 million for the six months ended 30 June 2015.
JUST EAT provides hungry consumers with an easy and secure way to order from local takeaway restaurants, which have their menus made accessible to all online consumers via JUST EAT’s mobile apps and websites. JUST EAT has a contractual relationship with all of its restaurants. Consumers are able to search for local takeaway restaurants, place mobile or online orders and pay either online or by cash on delivery. Management estimates the value of the takeaway delivery markets in the territories in which the company operates to be £22.9 billion. The adoption of ecommerce continues to drive the growth in online takeaway ordering and the value proposition from JUST EAT as an online aggregator is compelling for both consumers and restaurants.
JUST EAT primarily derives its revenue from commissions charged to restaurants on the value of successful orders placed by consumers. With minimal capital expenditure and approximately 63% of all orders paid by card, the group benefits from a favourable working capital cycle despite its rapid growth.
David Buttress, chief executive of JUST EAT, comments: “JUST EAT has made a very strong start to 2015, increasing the numbers of active users, takeaway restaurants and orders. We have seen the success of our ongoing strategy to reinvest profits above target to drive additional growth. I am particularly pleased to see the results of our mobile strategy which has already created a much improved experience for our app and mobile users. We have acquired market-leading operations in three new rapidly growing markets of scale: Mexico, Australia and New Zealand.”
As a result of the additional orders delivered by this extra investment, management now expects revenue for 2015 of around £230 million, with such revenue over-performance expected to continue into 2016. By the end of the current financial year, JUST EAT intends to invest an additional £8 million in marketing in its core markets, together with an additional £5 million of investment into technology and its Latin American teams.
