Just Eat to reveal whether demand has remained buoyant as Covid boost wanes

The Amsterdam-based firm revealed last month that revenues jumped 33 per cent in 2021, on top of impressive growth in a pandemic-fuelled 2020, when lockdowns forced people to eat at home.

It forecast growth in orders on a gross transaction value basis to slow this year, but still remain in the “mid-teens” and insisted it was on the path to profitability after heavy investment saw annual losses widen last year.

However, the lifting of Covid restrictions means eating out and overseas holidays are back on the agenda, which may knock demand for takeaways at home.

Rival Deliveroo recently said that while sales rose 11 per cent in the first quarter, the amount spent per order fell and founder Will Shu said consumer behaviour may “moderate” over the year.

Experts at Numis Securities are expecting Just East’s orders to rise by four per cent year-on-year to 277 million, or 7.33 billion euros (£6.1bn) by gross transaction value, in the first quarter.

On a two year pre-pandemic comparison basis, this would mark an acceleration in growth to 147 per cent, up from 133 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2021.

The performance is set to be led by Northern Europe, where Numis sees growth of 10 per cent, followed by mid-single digit growth in the UK and Ireland.

But it sees orders slipping by three per cent in North America, where it is being held back by underperformance at Grubhub.

Just Eat recently confirmed 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.

The group said on unveiling final results last month that it was “rapidly progressing” towards profit in 2022, including in the UK, where it spent on winning online share, ramping up marketing campaigns and cutting delivery fees to customers.

London-listed Just Eat reported pre-tax losses of 1.1 billion euros (£910m) for 2021, against losses of 147 million euros (£122m) in 2020 - despite raking in a mammoth 5.3 billion euros (£4.4bn) in revenues. UK and Ireland, revenues jumped 63 per cent.