Brits willing to shell out cash on takeaways fuelled Just Eat in the first half of the year, but negative growth in north America and southern Europe led to a dip in revenue overall.
Total revenue dropped by one per cent at the takeaway giant year on year in the first half of 2024, while earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) rose by 42 per cent to reach $92m (£71.67m).
The company attributed the rise to a reduced delivery cost per order, partially due to a move to transfer all UK logistics orders to its own delivery platform in July.
The number of active consumers at Just Eat fell by six per cent to 81 million year-on-year, as did the average monthly order frequency. However, it appeared that customers in the UK have been willing to spend more on each order: revenue on a constant currency basis grew by 4 per cent in the UK and Ireland.
In Northern Europe as a whole, revenue grew by 10 per cent, while Just Eat’s UK and Ireland segment made up 27 per cent of total orders.
However, the picture was less rosy in Southern Europe and North America: revenue dropped by 14 per cent in Southern Europe, “driven by [a] committed path to profitability in markets with highly competitive pressure and challenging performance in Israel,” the company said.
Orders in north America fell by nine per cent year on year, due to a “lower consumer base as a consequence of increasing food prices and the competitive nature of the North American market”, Just Eat said.
Jitse Groen, chief executive and founder of Just Eat Takeaway.com said: “Driven by growth of our partner base, expansion of our delivery coverage and significant technological advancements, [transaction values] improved in [the first half of] 2024…. We are well on track to achieve our guidance for the full year.”
Just Eat’s grocery business also expanded over the quarter as it added Morrison’s to its portfolio as well as “doubling the Sainsbury’s estate”.
“Considerable headroom” remains in the business, the company said, with “significant opportunities to grow future revenues and further optimise [the] delivery network.”
Just Eat has a number of partnerships with UK grocery stores like Sainsburys, Morrisons, and Nisa Retail, where it offers home delivery.
The company doubled its sales via grocery stores year on year, it said.
Looking ahead, it also said “management, together with its advisers, continue to actively explore the partial or full sale of Grubhub.”