Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free
Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.
Just Eat Takeaway is to become the latest company to delist from the London Stock Exchange, in a move it said would cut costs and complexity.
The Netherlands-based online food delivery group, whose primary listing is in Amsterdam, said on Wednesday it intended to drop its secondary listing in London on December 27.
The decision, which follows a review of its optimal listing venues, marks another blow for the London market, which this year has lost companies including travel group Tui, GE Aerospace and technology group Unisys after they decided to ditch their UK listings.
Building materials group CRH and gaming group Flutter have also moved their primary listings to the US as businesses seek to bolster their valuations.
Just Eat said the decision was made “to reduce the administrative burden, complexity and costs associated with the disclosure and regulatory requirements of maintaining the LSE listing, and in the context of low liquidity and trading volumes of the shares on the LSE”.
The company, which revealed this month that it was selling Grubhub for $650mn having bought the US business for billions of dollars at the height of the pandemic-driven food delivery boom, said it had requested that the Financial Conduct Authority cancel its secondary listing.
In a separate statement the company said it had been “looking at enhancing efficiencies” as it delivers its strategy to “accelerate growth” and that the majority of its trading volumes take place at its primary listing venue on the Euronext Amsterdam.
The group said its network now covered 97 per cent of the UK population and that it remained “committed to continuing our investment and cementing our leadership position in the country”.
Just Eat in 2022 announced it would delist its American depositary receipts from the Nasdaq owing to low trading volumes and their low proportion of its total share capital, in a move it said was expected to create substantial cost savings and a reduction in compliance requirements.
The online food delivery group later that year also transferred its London listing from “premium” to “standard”.
No shareholder approval is required for the LSE delisting, according to the company.
The company said in 2021 it was going to examine the optimal listing venues for its long-term future “in light of the enlarged and more globalised investor base that Just Eat Takeaway.com will have following completion of the Grubhub acquisition”, and in the interests of the company and its shareholders. It had previously intended to delist its shares from Euronext Amsterdam.
