Just Eat Shares Decline as Growth in U.K. Orders Slows

(Bloomberg) -- Just Eat Plc’s shares fell as much as 6.4% in London trading on Monday after the company said U.K. order growth slowed in the third quarter.

Shares declined 6% to 587.6 pence at 8:56 a.m. after earlier touching 622.8 pence, the biggest intraday retreat since September.

U.K. order growth slowed to 8% for the calendar third quarter -- compared to 11% for the period before -- after the company’s marketplace business slowed, Just Eat said in a statement on Monday.

Increased competition from the likes of Uber Eats and Deliveroo as well as easy access to grocery delivery may be impacting the business’s expansion, analysts at Peel Hunt said in a note to investors on Monday.

The company left its guidance for the full-year unchanged and expects revenue of as much as 1.1 billion pounds ($1.4 billion).

The firm agreed this year to sell itself to Takeaway.com NV of the Netherlands for 5 billion pounds in shares. The companies have said they expect the deal to close by year end. The deal gave Just Eat shares an implied valuation of 731 pence.

The U.K. competition regulator said last week that it had started a probe into Amazon.com Inc.’s bid for Roofoods Ltd., which does business under the Deliveroo brand.

--With assistance from Kit Rees.

To contact the reporter on this story: Amy Thomson in London at athomson6@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Giles Turner at gturner35@bloomberg.net, Nate Lanxon, Paul Sillitoe

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