6th Mar 2018 08:22
LONDON (Alliance News) - Just Eat PLC said on Tuesday it swing to a loss for 2017 despite substantial revenue growth, due to the impact of higher exceptional costs.
Shares in Just Eat dropped 11% to 755.60 pence on Tuesday morning, the worst performer in the FTSE 100.
The FTSE 100-listed online takeaway delivery company reported a loss of GBP76.0 million for 2017, swinging from a profit of GBP91.3 million the year before, due to a significant rise in exceptional costs from GBP191.1 million from GBP14.6 million.
The exceptional costs were mostly composed of a GBP180.4 million non-cash, IFRS-based impairment of goodwill related to Just Eat's acquisition of its Australia and New Zealand businesses, particularly the acquisition of New Zealand food-ordering company Menulog in 2015.
Excluding exceptional costs, Just Eat would have reported a pretax profit of GBP104.4 million.
The company, however, reported revenue of GBP546.0 million, up 45% from GBP375.7 million the prior year, boosted by a 26% rise in orders to 172.0 million, as well as strong performances from both the UK and International businesses. The results included Just East's acquisition of HungryHouse, though on an organic basis, revenue still rose by 30%.
Just Eat said it expects underlying earnings before interest, tax, deprecation and amortisation in the range of GBP165.0 million to GBP185.0 million, on revenue in the range of GBP660.0 million to GBP700.0 million in 2018.
"2017 was a record year for Just Eat. We helped 21.5 million customers order 172 million takeaways around the world, growing group revenue by 45% to GBP546 million. More restaurant partners joined our platform, increasing the breadth of choice for our customers and strengthening the group's geographical coverage to over 82,000 restaurants," said Chief Executive Officer Peter Plumb.
"As the new CEO, I will be increasing our investment in brand, Developing Markets and delivery services that will be engineered to complement our thriving marketplace business by bringing more choice to our takeaway-loving customers," Plumb added.
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