Just Eat buyer Takeaway.com’s orders soar in fourth quarter
Takeaway.com, the Dutch food delivery platform that has been cleared to buy British firm Just Eat for £5.9bn, reported that orders soared in the fourth quarter of the year.
The company, which received shareholder backing to acquire Just Eat last week, said orders were up 56 per cent to 46,576, driven by growth of 137 per cent in Germany.
In a trading update this morning the firm said orders in the Netherlands increased 14 per cent to 10,064.
Meanwhile, total orders for the whole year jumped 70 per cent to 159,209, due to a 113 per cent spike in Germany, 81 per cent in other markets and 16 per cent in the Netherlands.
Takeaway chief executive Jitse Groen said: “Takeaway.com delivered strong order growth in the fourth quarter of 2019, especially in Germany, where our growth accelerated compared with previous quarters.
“Last year was a memorable year for our company, in many ways, and we are excited to continue to build the absolute best online food delivery company in 2020.”
Takeaway’s offer to buy Just East was accepted by 80.4 per cent of the UK company’s shareholders at a meeting last week.
The vote means the takeover is now unconditional and will go ahead, with those yet to accept the offer given up to 14 days to change their mind.
The company said it expects the offer to be declared as “wholly unconditional” by the end of January.