Just Eat increases annual earnings outlook, but orders continue to fall
The Anglo-Dutch firm said order numbers dropped by 11% in the UK and Ireland over the first quarter of the year and were down by 14% across the group.
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Your support makes all the difference.Online food delivery giant Just Eat Takeaway.com has increased its earnings guidance for 2023 despite seeing another steep fall in orders.
The Anglo-Dutch firm said order numbers dropped by 11% in the UK and Ireland over the first quarter of the year and were down by 14% across the group.
By gross transaction value (GTV), orders fell 6% in the UK and Ireland and 8% overall.
Just Eat said that, while the declines were “significant”, it is ahead of its plan to boost profitability and increased its outlook for the year, forecasting underlying earnings of around 275 million euros (£243 million).
It had previously guided for around 225 million euros (£198 million) in earnings.
But it warned that sales by value could fall by up to 4% over the year as a whole, forecasting a GTV in the range of minus 4% to growth of 2%.
The group has been slashing costs to offset the slowdown in takeaway demand as the boom seen during the pandemic fades.
Last month, it announced plans to axe around 1,700 delivery driver jobs and 170 head office roles under plans to make savings.
Our efforts to improve profitability are running ahead of plan
Just Eat, which employs around 15,000 workers globally, said at the time the cuts are part of a shake-up which will hit a service through which it employs its own couriers across several UK cities.
The company saw a 9% slump in customer numbers last year as diners returned to pubs and restaurants.
But chief executive Jitse Groen said it will return to orders growth, albeit with the recovery skewed towards the end of the year.
He said: “Just Eat Takeaway.com continues to recover from last year’s deceleration, with the northern Europe and the UK and Ireland segments leading the trend.
“While the year-on-year GTV (gross transaction value) decline in the first quarter of 2023 is significant, the comparison is with the quarter with the second highest GTV of the pandemic.
“Our efforts to improve profitability are running ahead of plan.”
The company said the drop in orders by value improved throughout the first quarter, to a decline of 5% in March.
Just Eat also unveiled a plan to buy back up to 150 million euros (£132 million) of shares.