Just Eat Takeaway has seen growth slow in the first six months of this year by the acquired GrubHub, while order growth in the UK has picked up, and repeated the previously issued outlook for the whole of 2021. This was shown on Tuesday’s market by the figures of the Dutch meal delivery company.

Just Eat Takeaway saw revenue increase by 52 percent in the first half of the year to 2.6 billion euros. Excluding the acquired GrubHub, growth itself was 63 percent. Orders rose 51 percent to 547 million units. Excluding GrubHub, orders increased 61 percent. In the UK in particular, orders grew rapidly, by 76 percent. In the Netherlands it was 37 percent and in Germany it was 62%.

The adjusted EBITDA in the first half of the year amounted to 190 million euros negative, or a margin of 1.3 percent negative. In doing so, the meal deliverer pointed to “significant investments”, which it made, especially in the markets in which the old Just Eat was active.

In the Netherlands, the meal delivery company achieved an adjusted EBITDA of 40 million euros, 2 million euros more than in the same period last year. In Germany, the EBITDA itself rose from 58 to 94 million euros. In the UK, however, Just Eat Takeaway fell from a profit of 127 million euros to a loss of 71 million euros. In the U.S., a loss of 25 million euros, compared with a profit of 30 million euros in the first six months of 2020.

Just Eat Takeaway suffered a loss of 486 million euros in the past six months, more than the 59 million euros in the first half of 2020.

In his own words, Just Eat Takeaway reached the peak in losses during the last six months, partly because the delivery company was struggling with a reduction in fees and providing support to restaurants, which amounted to a total of 142 million euros. This will now run out, Just Eat Takeaway thinks. The company also describes these restrictions as ongoing, and together with the rest of the industry, Just Eat Takeaway will fight against any deviations from these measures.

“As a result, we expect to return to profit, while achieving significant growth in the second half of the year,” CEO Jitse Groen said at the preliminary figures.

The top man pointed out on Tuesday that the customer base, as well as the number of closed restaurants and the order frequency are well allowed.

Groen was optimistic about the investment program in Just Eat’s markets and increased the outlook for this year. The meal delivery company aims for a year-round order growth of 45 percent, excluding results in the US.

For the whole of 2021, the meal delivery provider foresees a gross transaction value of 28 billion to 30 billion euros, including GrubHub.

Just eating Takeaway.com wants to invest heavily and attaches more importance to market share than to the adjusted EBITDA. The adjusted EBITDA margin is expected to be negative this year. The meal deliverer expects a negative margin of 1 to 1.5 percent of the gross transaction value.

By the end of June, more than 1.5 billion euros had just been eaten in greenhouse. On Tuesday, the meal delivery man repeated that he was looking at the possibilities for the 33 percent stake in iFood. There has already been a bid of EUR 2.3 billion, but the company considers that this is too little.

ust Eat Takeaway will continue to invest heavily, but the peak in losses is now behind us. This was noted by ING analyst Marc Hesselink on Tuesday.

The meal delivery company’s turnover increased by 52 percent year-on-year in the past six months and orders by 51 percent. This was 4% less than the consensus envisaged, but 1% better than what ING had expected.

“The UK was a bit weaker than we expected, but Canada did better, while the rest performed according to expectations,” said analyst Hesselink.

Furthermore, the loss in the US was not so bad, according to Hesselink.

ING repeated the buying advice on Just Eat Takeaway with a price target of 125.00 euros.

The share decreased Tuesday 0.3 percent to 72.05 euros.