Shares in Just Eat (JE.) have surged almost 10% to 395.3p after the online takeaway ordering system snaps up four rival takeaway businesses.
The £2.4 billion cap is acquiring the Spanish and Italian businesses of Rocket Internet as well as the Brazilian and Mexican arms of Foodpanda for a total of €125 million (£94.7 million).
Just Eat already has existing businesses in the four countries and the deals are part of its ambition to be the market leader.
It expects the acquisition to be accretive to earnings per share in 2016 and to add £5 million to 2017 EBITDA (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation).
Further synergies and margin improvements are expected to add a further £10 million to 2018 EBITDA.
The acquisition of the businesses in Italy, Brazil and Mexico will complete today (5 February) while completion of the Spanish business is expected by the end of the second quarter.
Just Eat’s shares have been under pressure recently on competition fears and negative notes from Morgan Stanley and UBS.
Peel Hunt says a share price rebound could be on the cards. ‘We seen the deals as positive, with Just Eat taking control of its own destiny and ultimately, if £10 million EBITDA is delivered, then the price is reasonable,’ the analyst says.
The deals follow Just Eat’s acquisition of Australia-based Menulog in May 2015.
