Just Eat sees losses widen but delivers £4.4bn in sales

The fast food delivery giant also said it would pull out of Portugal and Norway from 1 April

The fast food company intends to close its operations in Portugal and Norway from 1 April (Just Eat/PA)

Just Eat has insisted it is on the path to profitability after heavy investment saw annual losses widen despite raking in a mammoth €5.3bn (£4.4bn) in sales.

The fast food delivery giant reported pre-tax losses of €1.1bn (£916m) for 2021, against losses of €147m (£123m) in 2020.

But the Amsterdam-based firm enjoyed a 33 per cent surge in revenues over the year, on top of impressive growth in a pandemic-boosted 2020, when lockdowns forced people to eat at home.

After a period of significant investment ... the company is now rapidly progressing towards profitability

Jitse Groen, chief executive of Just Eat

It forecast that growth by gross transaction value would be in the “mid-teens” in 2022, even as the effect of the pandemic fades.

In the UK and Ireland, sales jumped 63 per cent to €1.2m as orders jumped 52 per cent, though the firm still swung to a €107m loss as it spent on winning online share, ramping up marketing campaigns and cutting delivery fees to customers.

Chief executive Jitse Groen said: “After a period of significant investment, and with adjusted EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation) losses having peaked in the first half of 2021, the company is now rapidly progressing towards profitability.”

The group added it was also on a “clear path” to profit in the UK and Ireland after doubling orders in the past two years.

It also revealed plans to pull out of Portugal and Norway from 1 April.

It said operations in the countries were loss-making, with combined underlying annual losses of €10m, and stressed the impact on revenues from the move was “immaterial”.

Just Eat added that it remains in talks over a potential strategic partnership for its US business GrubHub, which it bought last June following regulatory clearance, as it looks to bolster its position in the market.