Just Eat delivers impressive results to the market

Hunger for dinner delivered drove Just Eat's numbers in 2015, with the company delivering some impressive results to the market on Tuesday morning.

The FTSE 250 takeaway ordering platform saw orders rise 57% during the year to 96.2m. Revenues increased 58% to £247.6m, from 2014's £157m.

Underlying EBITDA was up 83% to £59.7m, and the group underlying EBITDA margin rose 330 basis points to 24.1%.

Adjusted earning per share were up 57% to 6.6p, from 4.2p, while basic earnings per share were down 61% to 3.8p, from 9.8p in 2014.

Just Eat's net operating cash flow improved 95% to £74.2m during the year.

"Our ability to increase and manage choice for consumers, while supporting restaurants with technology and marketing that creates value, resulted in continued strong global growth in our business in 2015," said Just Eat CEO David Buttress.

"We are now market-leader in 12 out of 13 territories. Our business is becoming increasingly global, with our international business now larger and growing even quicker than our UK business was at the time of IPO," he added.

Buttress said the results proved the strength of Just Eat's model, validated our value-enhancing approach to mergers and acquisitions and provided a platform for continued expansion in 2016.

"The global online takeaway market continues to grow as consumers become ever more demanding; wanting more choice and greater convenience. Just Eat has been at the leading edge of developing and growing the online marketplace for takeaway food delivery as it responds to these changing trends," he concluded.

During the year, Just Eat said it processed orders worth £1.7bn for its restaurant partners, and active users were up 65% to 13.4m.

Group orders placed via mobile devices accounted for 66% of all orders, up from 53% in 2014. Just Eat reportedly achieved market leadership in Italy in 2015, and acquired market leading brands in Australia, New Zealand and Mexico.

Looking ahead, the company's board said strong trading momentum had continued into 2016, with investment for growth in technology, marketing and people continuing.

"As a result, the board expects 2016 revenues of £350m and underlying EBITDA of between £98m-£100m at current exchange rates," Buttress said.