Takeaway.com fails to deliver due to rising marketing costs
Aug 2 (Reuters) - Dutch meal deliveries firm Takeaway.com reported a rise in first-half losses on Wednesday due to a 62 percent rise in marketing costs in Germany and Poland and new investments in delivery services.
Shares in Takeaway.com, which were listed last September, were down 4 percent at 37.54 euros at 0953 GMT, still well above their IPO price of 23 euros.
The online takeaway food market has been booming in recent years, with startups such as British-based Just Eat and Deliveroo and Germany's Delivery Hero forced to spend more on their operations since bigger companies such as Amazon and Uber entered the fray.
Takeaway.com said its first-half loss widened to 21.8 million euros ($25.85 million) from 11.5 million euros, despite a 53 percent jump in revenue.
"Revenue strength in 1H17 will play second fiddle to the big EBITDA miss today," said Jefferies analyst Giles Thorne, who has a "hold" rating on the stock.
However, Takeaway.com maintained its target of turning profitable in two to three years time.
"The company seems well placed to meet revenue expectations but we expect consensus EBITDA losses to widen for the FY (full year)," said Morgan Stanley's analysts, which have an "overweight" rating.
Marketing expenses for the Jan-June period jumped 62 percent to 58.9 million euros. ($1 = 0.8434 euros) (Reporting by Michal Aleksandrowicz in Gdynia; Editing by Greg Mahlich)
