Just Eat sees 2019 earnings in line, partners McDonald's in UK

LONDON (Reuters) - Just Eat, the British takeaway delivery platform being bought by Takeaway.com, said it expected to report 2019 core earnings of about 200 million pounds ($263 million), towards the top of its guidance range of 185-205 million.

The company also said on Tuesday it had agreed to partner fast-food chain McDonald's in Britain and Ireland, becoming the group's second delivery provider after Uber Eats.

Netherlands-based Takeaway beat rival Prosus to buy Just Eat in a 6.2 billion pound all-share deal that will create one of the world's largest meal delivery companies.

There was a last-minute hitch however on Friday when UK competition authorities said they would probe the deal. Takeaway said the investigation would only delay completion of the takeover until the end of this week.

Just Eat said orders in Britain, its biggest market, were up 8%, which would represent less than half of the 17% growth achieved in 2018.

It said it was seeing good order momentum in its other markets, including Australia, Italy and Switzerland.

Revenue for the year would be about 1.0 billion pounds, it said, just meeting guidance of 1.0 to 1.1 billion pounds.

Shares in the company were up 0.9% in early trade.

(Reporting by Paul Sandle, editing by Sarah Young)