Just Eat’s profits rise amid ‘transformational’ year
Food delivery service Just Eat has seen a 43% year-on-year increase in revenue to £779.5m from £546.3m.
For the 12 months to 31 December 2018, Just Eat’s underlying EDBITA increased by 6% after the company invested £51m in “strategic initiatives”. Its 26 million customers helped to drive an order growth of 28% to 221 million.
The company said despite the exceptionally warm weather seen in 2018, its UK was revenue was up by 27%. The board said it expected to report full year 2019 revenue in the range of £1bn to £1.1bn.
Peter Duffy, interim chief executive officer, said: “Just Eat’s continued strong growth and strategic investments saw more than four million new customers join us in 2018. We are creating a leading hybrid offering founded on our unrivalled marketplace, combined with the targeted roll-out of delivery.
“This gives our growing customer base access to the greatest choice of restaurants and drives even more orders to our restaurant partners, ultimately strengthening the network effects of our business. We have a clear plan for the year ahead as our highly experienced team works hard to accelerate the execution of our strategy and we remain focused on long-term returns for shareholders.”
Mike Evans, chair, added: “The board is pleased to see that the strategy set out last year is working and already delivering strong results. Our experienced management team, led by Peter Duffy, is working to accelerate the implementation of that strategy.
“Our leading hybrid marketplace gives Just Eat a real competitive advantage and we are pleased with the speed at which this is now being rolled out. The board’s search to identify Just Eat’s next permanent CEO is underway and we will provide a further update when a decision has been taken.”
