Just Eat Takeaway.com NV (LSE:JET, NASDAQ:GRUB) reported a 12% fall in fourth quarter orders but a much improved picture on profitability as it updated investors on trading Wednesday.
The online food delivery group said its focus on profitability resulted in adjusted EBITDA of €150mln in the second half of fiscal year 2022, a big swing from the loss of €134mln recorded for the first half.
This reflected improved revenue per order, delivery costs per order, overheads and operating expenditure helping drive full-year adjusted EBITDA to around €16mln in 2022 from minus €350mln in 2021.
The news helped send Just Eat shares sharply higher in early trading, up 12.25%.
The largest absolute contributions to the second half improvement were driven by North America, Southern Europe and ANZ (Australia and New Zealand), and the UK and Ireland, the company said.
Full-year 2022 gross transaction values were stable compared with €28.2bn in the prior year, driven by a higher average transaction value and positive forex movements, which offset lower order volumes.
Three out of the four operating segments returned to sequential order growth from August 2022 onwards, while the pandemic continued to affect the year-on-year comparison, Just Eat commented.
Looking ahead, the company said a maintained focus on profitability is expected to deliver a positive adjusted EBITDA of around €225mln in 2023 which includes additional investments, wage cost inflation as well as taking into account an uncertain macro-economic environment.
Growth in 2023 is expected to be skewed towards the end of the year, given the lower absolute order level of the second half versus the first, the group said.
In a statement, Jitse Groen, CEO of Just Eat Takeaway.com commented: "Our improved profitability and strong capital position strengthen our business for further growth and underpin our ability to both deliver on our Adjusted EBITDA targets and invest in food and non-food adjacencies."