Just Eat Takeaway.com has cheered returning to underlying profit earlier than expected (Just Eat/PA)
(Picture: PA Media)The strain of squeezed incomes on the food delivery sector was laid bare today after Just Eat Takeaway reported a sharp drop in the number of orders.
They slumped 15% in the UK and Ireland over the three months to September, while orders in Southern Europe, Australia and New Zealand fell 17%.
Gross transaction value, a measure of the size of orders, fell only 5% in the UK and Ireland, suggesting that the value of individual orders had increased. But transaction values fell as much as 15% in Southern Europe.
Despite the downturn in sales, Just Eat said it returned to profitability earlier than expected after introducing a range of cost-cutting measures including pausing hiring at its head office. Its shares fell 1.6% to 1,310p.
It comes as data released today showed food inflation had soared 14.6% in September.
Just Eat boss Jitse Groen said the firm’s partner restaurants have put prices “by a lot… this percentage [14.6%] doesn’t sound out of the ordinary to me — you see that especially in Europe prices are increasing quite a bit.
“We are aware of the consumer backdrop, we are trying to reduce prices [and] we’re trying to ensure restaurants have a higher number of affordable options.”
Just Eat said its €1.8 billion (£1.6 billion) sale of its stake in Brazilian business iFood in August gave it the cash needed to pay off debts, strengthen its balance sheet and seize on future growth.
Groen told the Standard the firm’s sales were set to get a boost from the start of the World Cup tournament in November.
“I do believe it will have an impact — some people don’t watch football but I don’t know what’s wrong with those people — but we would expect some benefit from that.”
