Just Eat Takeaway to ditch London listing

Just Eat Takeaway said on Wednesday that it plans to ditch its secondary listing on the London Stock Exchange after 24 December.

The company said it had considered, among other things, the liquidity and trading volumes, as well as cost and administrative requirements related to its primary listing in Amsterdam and secondary listing in London.

It said the cancellation would help to reduce the "administrative burden, complexity and costs associated with the disclosure and regulatory requirements of maintaining the LSE listing".

The company - which was formed in 2020 from the merger of Just Eat and Takeaway.com - will maintain its primary listing in Amsterdam.

Susannah Streeter, head of money and markets at Hargreaves Lansdown, said: "Just Eat’s decision is a blow to the City and a setback for the government especially given its efforts to encourage more firms to list in London. Just Eat cited a litany of reasons for withdrawing from the London Stock Exchange, showing just how much work still needs to be done to simplify rules to help retention and lure more firms in. Management described the administrative burden, complexity and costs associated with regulatory requirements, but also low trading volumes on the London market.

"Opening up more opportunities for retail investors could help with trading volumes and add fresh vigour to the London market. UK retail investors are already enthusiastic holders of UK equities, around 35% hold UK equities directly with around 75% of trades by value taking place on the London market. Many more clients will be investing in the UK through funds. The government’s commitment to support increased retail participation is welcome, and proposals should be accelerated into concrete action. Too many people are sat on excess cash savings which could be deployed in the stock market, delivering longer term returns and supporting the UK economy.

"There is untapped demand to invest in UK listings. The Raspberry Pi IPO was significantly oversubscribed by retail investors, so there are still supply side issues to fix. All too often retail investors are cut out of IPOs and secondary capital raising rounds. The Financial Conduct Authority’s recent publications on the Public Offers and Admission to Trading Regulations regime, which aims to reduces barriers for retail investors as a desired outcome, is welcome and needs to be enacted."