(Bloomberg) -- Just Eat Takeaway.com NV reported a decline in orders for the third quarter as demand for online food delivery in US remained weak.
The Amsterdam-headquartered company said orders fell 6% to 211.1 million in the third quarter, just below the 212 million estimated by Bloomberg-surveyed analysts. Orders in North America fell 12% in the period.
The update “paints a picture of difficult trading,” Jefferies International analyst Giles Thorne said in a note to clients. Just Eat’s shares fell as much as 6.4% before paring some losses. Shares were down 2.6% at €12.03 at 10:25 a.m. in Amsterdam trading.
“July was slow,” Just Eat’s Chief Executive Officer Jitse Groen told reporters on Wednesday, referring to how the food delivery business is impacted by warmer weather which tends to draw customers outdoors. “August and September are actually better than the first half of the year,” he said.
Just Eat has been working to boost order growth through partnerships and loyalty programs, while diversifying the categories it delivers from its platform. It has also expanded into non-food categories such as pharmacy and wellness, including a partnership last month with sex-toy maker Lovehoney Group.
The company’s northern Europe, UK and Ireland markets, which now account for about 60% of orders, continued to report growth.
Just Eat continues to explore a partial or full sale of its US business Grubhub, which it acquired for $7.3 billion in 2021.
(Updates to add share move and details)
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