1st Mar 2016 14:47
LONDON (Alliance News) - Just Eat PLC's shares fluctuated on Tuesday after it reported a fall in profit in 2015, but revenue which came in above its revised guidance.
Shares in Just Eat were trading down 0.4% at 384.10 pence on Tuesday, having first hit a high of 412.80p in the morning, before dropping to 365.37p in the afternoon.
The online takeaway delivery service said its pretax profit in 2015 fell to GBP34.6 million from GBP57.4 million in 2014, as the prior year benefited from a GBP38.2 million gain relating to control change in the French and Brazilian businesses.
Excluding the prior year gain, pretax profit would have grown by 80%, while underlying earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation increased by 83% to GBP59.7 million from GBP32.6 million, Just Eat said.
Revenue, meanwhile, grew by more than half to GBP247.6 million from GBP157.0 million, coming in above the revised guidance Just Eat made during the year. It first raised its guidance to GBP230.0 million back in August when it reported a rise in first-half revenue to GBP107.8 million from GBP69.8 million in the first half of 2014.
Pretax profit in the first half also increased to GBP14.0 million from GBP8.6 million.
Then, in November, Just Eat again raised its revenue guidance to "slightly above" GBP240.0 million when it achieved better-than-expected order growth in the third quarter.
On Tuesday, Just Eat said revenue was boosted by a 65% increase in active users to 13.4 million from 8.1 million, and a 57% rise in order volumes to 96.2 million from 61.2 million, led by a shift towards mobile transactions.
Orders placed via mobile devices now account for 66% of all orders, up on 53% the year before.
By geographical region, revenue in the UK grew by 49%, while underlying Ebitda rose by 69%. Orders were up by 48% to 67.3 million, driven by an increase in active users to 7.1 million from 5.5 million.
In Australia and New Zealand, the Menulog business, which Just Eat acquired during the year, generated revenue of GBP12.4 million and GBP1 million in underlying Ebitda.
"Strong trading momentum has continued into 2016. Investment for growth in areas such as technology, marketing and people will continue and, as a result, the board expects 2016 revenues of GBP350 million and underlying Ebitda of between GBP98-100 million at current exchange rates," Chief Executive David Buttress.
Earlier this month, Just Eat bought Spanish takeaway food business La Nevera Roja and Italian PizzaBo/hellofood Italy from Rocket Internet, and hellofood Brazil and hellofood Mexico from foodpanda, for EUR125.0 million in total.
On Tuesday, it said it will continue to invest in those markets in 2016.
By Karolina Kaminska; [email protected] @KarolinaAllNews
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