Full-year revenues up 58% at takeaway service Just Eat

London-listed online takeaway service Just Eat, which operates in 15 countries including Ireland, saw revenues jump by 58 per cent to £247 million (€317m) in 2015, up from £157 million a year earlier.

The company, which acts as a middleman between diners and restaurants, said underlying earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (ebitda) was up 83 per cent to £59.7 million, as against £32.6 million a year earlier.

Orders rose 57 per cent to 96.2 million from 61.2 million with the group processing orders worth £1.7 billion for restaurants. Group orders places via mobile devices increased to 66 per cent of orders versus 53 per cent in the preceding year.

Basic earnings per share was down 61 per cent to 3.8p while operating cash flow was up 95 per cent to £74.2 million This compares with basic earnings per share of 9.8 pence and net operating cash flow of £38.1 million in 2014.

The group, which did not provide a breakdown of figures for Ireland, raised its full-year revenue guidance by £10 million to £240 million in November on the back of strong third quarter sales.

Just Eat, which started in Denmark but moved to London in 2006, raised £360 million when it floated on the London Stock Exchange in 2014.

The company, launched in Ireland in May 2008 and it is now the third biggest market for the group. Just East said it had more than 750,000 active site users in Ireland in 2014 and processed more than 150,000 orders per month.

The group currently employs about 40 people locally and has more than 1,700 restaurants signed up in Ireland.

Just Eat said strong trading momentum has continued into 2016. It is forecasting full-year revenues of £350 million and underlying ebitda of between £98-100 million at current exchange rates.

"Our ability to increase and manage choice for consumers, while supporting restaurants with technology and marketing that creates value, resulted in continued strong global growth in our business in 2015," said chief executive David Buttress.

“We are now market-leader in 12 out of 13 territories. Our business is becoming increasingly global, with our international business now larger and growing even quicker than our UK business was at the time of the IPO. These results prove the strength of our model, validate our value-enhancing approach to M&A and provide an excellent platform for continued expansion in 2016,” he added.