Just Eat Takeaway.com NV on Wednesday launched a new share buyback programme, as it raise earnings guidance for 2023 but lowered top-line expectations.

The Amsterdam-based only food delivery marketplace said it expects to achieve positive adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation of €310 million for the full year, raised from previous guidance of €275 million. Adjusted Ebitda amounted to just €19 million in 2022, but this was swung from a loss of €350 million in 2021. In the first half of 2023, adjusted Ebitda was positive €143 million.

At the pretax level, Just Eat recorded a loss of €5.67 billion last year, widened from €1.04 billion in 2021, due by impairment losses of €4.6 billion for US operation Grubhub.

Also on Wednesday, Just Eat said it expects free cash flow, before changes in working capital, to be about break-even in the second half of this year and then turn positive thereafter. Previously, the company had guided for that measure to be positive only from mid-2024.

In the third quarter of the year, gross transaction value was €6.47 billion, down 7% from €6.92 billion a year before and down 3% at constant currency. GTV was up 6% in Northern Europe and 5% in the UK & Ireland, but down 11% in both North America and in Southern Europe & ANZ, all at constant currency.

For the first nine months of the year, GTV was €19.69 billion, down 7% from €21.11 billion and down 5% at constant currency.

For all of 2023, Just Eat said it expects GTV to be down by 4% at constant exchange rates, downgrading this guidance from between negative 4% and positive 2%.

Just Eat said it ‘continues to actively explore the partial or full sale of Grubhub’.

The company also announced the launch of a new share buyback worth €150 million. The repurchased shares will be used either for share-based compensation or will be cancelled to reduce capital, it said.

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