Just Eat expands international footprint

Just Eat has ordered four online takeaway food businesses in Spain, Italy, Brazil and Mexico for a total of €125m (£94.7m).

The FTSE 250 company announced on Friday it bought Spain’s La Nevera Roja and Italy’s PizzaBo (hellofood Italy) from Rocket Internet, while it purchased hellofood Brazil and hellofood Mexico from foodpanda.

The company said the acquisitions are in line with its strategy to bring scale, focus and new talent to its local operations.

Orders for the newly acquired businesses grew by 83% in 2015, while gross assets at the end of 2014 were €6.4m (£5.0m).

However, gross losses to 31 December 2014 were €16.3m (£13.1m).

"This transaction reflects our ambition to make strategic, value-enhancing acquisitions that consolidate our leadership of the global digital marketplace for takeaway food delivery,” said chief executive David Buttress.

“Just Eat has enhanced its market-leading positions in geographies that we understand and where our existing businesses are performing strongly.”

The acquisition of the Spanish company should be completed by the second quarter of the year pending regulatory approval, while the other three acquisitions were completed today.