Menulog's UK parent Just Eat sees profit dip amid merger talks with Dutch rival
The global food delivery market continues to see consolidation.
London-based food delivery firm Just Eat saw profits dip ahead of a proposed merger with Dutch rival Takeaway.com.
According to its half-year results, profit before tax was down 98% to just £800,000 on the back of investments in its Brazilian iFood business worth around £73.2m.
Orders were up 21% to 123.8 million, compared to last year’s 102.5 million, with 2 million net new customers joining Just Eat in H1.
“Performance in our UK business strengthened in Q2, our Canadian and European businesses are performing well and Australia has returned to top line growth with our delivery operations achieving gross profitability,” Just Eat interim chief executive officer Peter Duffy said.
Under the proposed merger with Takeaway.com, Just Eat investors would own 52.2% the group. The firm would remain listed in London but would then be based in the Netherlands.
Activist investors such as Cat Rock Capital had called for Just Eat to merge with an industry peer to grow the business amid fierce competition against Uber Eats and Amazon-backed Deliveroo.
In Australia, its subsidiary Menulog saw revenue increased by 29% on a constant currency basis to £27.3m. Underlying EBITDA, meanwhile, was in the red, with the company reporting a £2.1m loss in the first half compared to its £4.3m profit in the same period last year. Menulog attributes this to its new delivery service, which they launched last year.
