Shares in takeaway delivery service Just Eat (LON:JE) rose nearly 5 percent after market open on Tuesday, after strong results that looked set to continue into 2017.
The takeaway site’s popularity showed no sign of slowing over 2016, with orders rising 42 percent to £136.4 million and 36 percent on a like-for-like basis.
Revenues rose by 52 percent to £375.7 million, up from ££247.6 million in 2015. Underlying EBITDA increased by an impressive 93 percent to £115.3 million, with profit before tax rising by 164 percent to £91.3 million.
David Buttress, Chief Executive Officer, said the results reflected “robust order growth across the business, strong cash generation and further underlying EBITDA margin expansion as we consolidated our market leadership in every geography where we operate.”
“Our international businesses also go from strength to strength; having become profitable in aggregate during the year, they continue to grow rapidly and now represent over one-third of Group revenues. The acquisitions we made in Italy, Spain and Mexico have significantly enhanced our operations in those countries, and we are excited by the addition of SkipTheDishes to our Canadian business towards the end of the year.”
Looking to the future, Buttress added: “Just Eat is in a very strong position, operationally and financially. We have the right business model to continue capturing further share of the £23.1 billion of delivered food ordered in our markets. In 2017, despite another year of planned investment, we expect material growth in both revenues and Underlying EBITDA of between £480 – 498 million and £157 – £163.0 million respectively.”
Just Eat processed orders worth over £2.5 billion for its Restaurant Partners during the course of 2016, with its active users base increasing by 31 percent to 17.6 million.
Shares in Just Eat are currently up 3.96 percent at 538.50 (0831GMT).