(Bloomberg) -- Just Eat Takeaway.com NV’s disposal of its ailing US business has sparked the stock’s strongest weekly rally in over two years.
Shares in the Amsterdam-based food delivery firm are up 27% this week after it agreed to sell Grubhub for $650 million, a steep discount to the $7.3 billion it paid for it during the pandemic. The stock was set for its best weekly performance since July 2022, with the gain beating all other members on the benchmark Stoxx 600.
Just Eat has touted a potential Grubhub sale for two years, but analysts weren’t expecting one so soon. Regulatory uncertainty had been a key sticking point, with New York City Council in deliberations over raising the maximum amount that third-party delivery platforms can charge.
“The market did not expect this asset to be sold anymore, or anytime soon,” Bernstein analysts including Annick Maas wrote in a note this week.
Offloading Grubhub — which has struggled to fend off competition from rivals DoorDash Inc. and Uber Technologies Inc. — will free up resources for Just Eat to focus on core European markets. Its latest results showed growth has slowed across all four reporting regions.
Although the Grubhub sale is expected to generate a relatively modest $50 million of net proceeds upfront, according to the company, analysts predict more benefits to follow.
Morgan Stanley said Just Eat’s share-based payments will be cut by half, saving the company about $75 million per year. Transferring Grubhub’s senior notes to the buyer will reduce interest expenses by another $27 million.
Cost savings aside, the deal demonstrates “rising portfolio pragmatism” at Just Eat, UBS Group AG analysts including Jo Barnet-Lamb wrote in a note. “We believe that the market was valuing Grubhub at around zero.”
Investor sentiment toward Europe’s food delivery sector has been on the mend, even though the stocks are still well off their pandemic highs. Just Eat’s shares have turned positive on a year-to-date basis following the latest rally. Germany’s Delivery Hero SE has risen nearly 60% this year, with investors cheering the initial public offering of its Middle Eastern subsidiary Talabat.
--With assistance from Kwaku Gyasi.
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