It makes sense for Just Eat Takeaway to think about making a profit instead of just expanding, says Van Zeijl. Also, it’s nice for the company’s shareholders to get a positive message. They’ve had a tough time. And this also applies to the managing director of the delivery service Jitse Groen. “A salary increase of 37 percent was therefore promised,” says Van Zeijl.
BNR Fair | Drama Just Eat Takeaway: Does Green get his business out of the red?
It is surprising that a company that is growing so fast would buy back its shares, because “to stand still is to fall behind.” The fact that this is happening now has to do with the fact that the share price has fallen sharply and the company received 1.8 billion euros with the sale of the Brazilian iFood last year. This made it possible to pay off debts, and then there was still money. Just Eat Takeaway has promised to make a profit next year. ‘Not just accounting, but with cash flow. With this positive outlook, the company can also give some money back to shareholders.”
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Van Zeijl expects the company’s price to be driven primarily by hedge funds, and those funds are still betting on a price decline. A ‘small contribution’, such as buying 150 million euros in treasury shares, won’t really change anything, he says. A trigger could be a collaboration or sale of the American company Grubhub. In iFood we had to wait a lot for that too. Until then, we have to be patient until the cash flow comes next year.’