Just Eat share price dips as order growth slows

Shares in Just Eat (LON:JE) have fallen deep into the red in London this Friday, as the company posted disappointing order growth in the first quarter of the year. The results come at a sensitive time for the company which is facing competition from rivals such as Uber Eats and Deliveroo, and is additionally on the lookout for a new chief executive following the departure of Peter Plumb earlier this year.

As of 11:00 BST, the Just Eat share price had given up 3.18 percent to 724.80p, underperforming the broader UK market, with the benchmark FTSE 100 index currently standing 0.20 percent lower at 7,419.30 points. The group’s shares have given up just under four percent of their value over the past year, as compared with about a 0.17 percent dip in the Footsie.

Just Eat posts Q1 results

Just Eat said in a statement this morning that its reported group orders had increased by 21 percent to 61.4 million in the first quarter of the year on a like-for-like basis. UK orders meanwhile rose by 7.4 percent to 31.9 million, compared to a rise of 24 percent in the same period last year. The company explained growth had been impacted by a strong comparator, the unseasonably warm weather in February, as well as the timing of Easter this year.

“Just Eat is on the right path to be the leading hybrid marketplace for online food delivery and we are confident in the delivery of our strategy,” Peter Duffy, Interim CEO, commented in the statement. “Many of our international markets have performed very well in the period although, as expected, we saw softer UK order growth in the quarter.”

Analysts weigh in on update

“Concerns on weak orders and UK competition from Uber Eats & Deliveroo will be raised as other food delivery portals such as Delivery Hero have recently reported strong results,” Liberum said in a note to clients, as quoted by Proactive Investors.