Just Eat Takeaway aims for profit despite record loss

Just Eat Takeaway has posted a loss of 3.48 billion euros in the first half of the year. Still, the meal delivery company is convinced it is closer than ever to a profit – possibly already next year.

American struggle

In the past six months, Just Eat Takeaway saw its losses rise to 3.48 billion euros because the meal delivery platform had to write off three billion euros because of its American subsidiary Grubhub. Shareholders had previously warned that this takeover was not a good idea and in April, CEO Jitse Groen had to promise to sell the subsidiary. However, it seems Just Eat Takeaway does not want to be waiting for a buyer any more.

Now that the peak of the pandemic seems to be over and consumers are becoming more frugal, JET’s number of orders is also lagging behind. Orders fell by 7% compared to a year ago, although gross turnover (the value of all orders) remained the same thanks to higher prices. The meal platform’s own sales increased by 7 % to 2.8 billion euro. Nevertheless, Just Eat Takeaway posted a loss of 500 million euros on these meal deliveries.

Nevertheless, founder Jitse Groen maintains that the meal platform, which is now also entering into head-to-head competition with Gorillas and will be delivering groceries in Berlin, is getting closer to profitability. By 2023, the company expects to have a positive EBITDA. For this, Green can again count on the help of COO Jörg Gerbig, who was suddenly fired this spring for allegedly misbehaving at a staff party. After an investigation, Gerbig’s name has now been cleared sufficiently to bring him back on board.