Just Eat Takeaway Earnings: Weak Volume Growth, but Solid Bottom Line; Guidance Unchanged

Narrow-moat Just Eat Takeaway reported half-year results with gross transaction value down 2% in constant currency. GTV growth, excluding North America, was up 3%. Adjusted EBITDA reached EUR 203 million in the period, up 42% year on year, driven by reduced order fulfillment and central costs. Free cash flow before changes in working capital improved to EUR 38 million in the first half from negative EUR 78 million a year ago. Management reiterated their outlook for 2024 adjusted EBITDA to be about EUR 450 million, versus EUR 449 million in our model and constant-currency GTV growth, excluding North America, in the range of 2%-6% year on year versus 3.4% in our model (down 0.7%, including North America, in our model). The firm also expects free cash flow to remain comfortably positive, especially given the expectations for higher profitability, which is in line with ours. Consequently, Just Eat Takeaway announced a new EUR 150 million share buyback program after it repurchased 9.9% of issued shares cumulatively through the previous two programs.