Just Eat just needs to stay ahead of its rivals

Outlook Despite its flotation being greeted with scepticism in certain quarters, Just Eat has served up a tasty dish with its latest set of results. The online takeaway middleman might be lacking in proprietary technology or patents, but it doesn’t appear to be suffering from that.

Au contraire. The company is steadily changing the way we order food, and posted a 51 per cent rise in orders in the first quarter of the year.

It is true that the sector is currently competitive. Rivals have proved that it if you have a website and a marketing budget you too can grab a slice of the £5bn UK takeaway food market.

But Just Eat has first mover advantage and that it is powerful tool. If the company can keep a lead over the competition, it may find rivals withering on the vine over time.

Then shareholders will truly get to feast, although they’ve been pretty well fed by the performance of the share price to date.