AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - European food-ordering firm Just Eat (LON:JE) Takeaway.com NV said on Thursday it expected profitability to improve, as it reported a 51% surge in overall orders for the first six months of 2021.
Chief executive Jitse Groen said he expected adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) to rise following the acquisition of Grubhub in the United States in a $7.3 billion deal earlier this year.
"Adjusted EBITDA losses, mainly caused by U.S. and Canadian fee caps and our investment programme, have now peaked", he said in a trading update.
"We therefore expect to trend back to profitability going forward while retaining significant growth during the second half of the year."
The surge in orders, which was adjusted to account for the acquisition of Grubhub, followed a 42% jump last year as COVID-19 restrictions boosted demand for food-delivery services.
Orders in Europe increased 61% in the first half of the year, and the company slightly upped its outlook for the growth of these sales to more than 45% over the whole of 2021.
Just Eat Takeaway said it would continue to choose market share improvements over operating profits, even as it expected its margins to improve in the months to come.