Diners want three things, says Just Eat (JE.) finance chief Mike Wroe: convenience, greater choice and a degree of control. Providing customers with these options helped drive a 65 per cent increase in active users to more than 13m last year, as well as a 57 per cent increase in orders to 96.2m. Mr Wroe reckons the platform recorded 2,500 restaurant orders per minute at peak times in 2015.
However, the reported results don't entirely reflect this. Although group revenues soared, the fall in statutory pre-tax profits is the fault of a £38m one-off gain on revalued acquisitions in 2014. Excluding this item, profits rose by 80 per cent.
Just Eat - now infamous for its singing television adverts - isn't just a UK-focused business. Although revenues rose 49 per cent on home soil last year, the group also reported sales growth across all other markets, including Denmark, Australia, France, and Switzerland. That said, Benelux and Canada have yet to turn a profit.
Peel Hunt said it was likely to upgrade 2016 cash profit forecasts by 12 per cent to 15 per cent. It had previously forecast adjusted pre-tax profits of £81.6m and EPS of 9p for 2016, compared with EPS of 6.6p in 2015.
| JUST EAT (JE.) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ORD PRICE: | 410p | MARKET VALUE: | £2.77bn | |
| TOUCH: | 409.7-410.1p | 12-MONTH HIGH: | 523p | LOW: 320p |
| DIVIDEND YIELD: | Nil | PE RATIO: | 108 | |
| NET ASSET VALUE: | 93p* | NET CASH: | £193m | |
| Year to 31 Dec | Turnover (£m) | Pre-tax profit (£m) | Earnings per share (p) | Dividend per share (p) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2011** | 33.8 | -1.7 | n/a | n/a |
| 2012** | 59.8 | -2.6 | n/a | n/a |
| 2013** | 96.8 | 10.2 | 1.5 | n/a |
| 2014 | 157 | 57.4 | 9.8 | nil |
| 2015 | 248 | 34.6 | 3.8 | nil |
| % change | +58 | -40 | -61 | - |
Ex-div: na Payment: na *Includes intangible assets of £530m, or 78p a share **Pre-IPO figures, pro-forma 2013 EPS | ||||
