JustEat parent company withdraws from Nasdaq to stick with London listing
JustEat’s parent company JustEat Takeway.com has delisted its shares from the US Nasdaq stock exchange as it looks to drive down costs and avoid regulatory pressures, the firm announced today.
The Amsterdam-headquartered firm launched on to US markets in June last year as it snapped up US delivery firm Grubhub for $7.3bn, but said it was withdrawing amid low trading volumes on the US market.
Bosses said the last day of Nasdaq trading will come before the end of the first quarter of 2022, and it will keep its shares listed in London and Amsterdam, where the majority of its share capital is listed.
In a statement today, JustEat said: “The main considerations for voluntarily delisting are the low trading volumes on Nasdaq and the low proportion of the company’s total share capital held on Nasdaq”.
They added that the US listings system placed significant pressures on the firm, saying: “The costs and expenses associated with being a publicly traded company in the US, the auditing, legal and other costs associated with continuing to make SEC filings, and the burdens placed on Company management to comply with the continued listing and reporting requirements in the US are significant and are not considered to be offset by the benefits from the US listing.”
Lockdowns provided a boon to JustEat as housebound customers flocked to takeaway services while hospitality businesses were closed, but the firm has come under pressure from investors to reduce its operating costs.
Cat Rock, one of the largest shareholders of Just Eat Takeaway.com, urged the company’s management to consider the sale of GrubHub in October last year. It pressed management and said that spinning off the firm would improve the valuation of Just Eat Takeaway.com.
Just Eat Takeaway.com jumped to trade over two per cent above its opening price today.