Just Eat Takeaway faces shareholder revolt at AGM, chairmans position shaky

Takeaway, once a stock market darling, faces operational headwinds as the boom in online food ordering is fading along with the COVID-19 pandemic in many of its key markets.

In addition, CEO Jitse Groen has been criticised for his ill-timed purchase of Grubhub, the U.S. business Takeaway bought for $7.3 billion in June 2021, among other issues.

At a first quarter trading update last month, Groen conceded he would have to sell or set up a partnership with the company, which faces competition from the likes of Doordash and Uber Eats. In addition Grubhubs profitability and valuation have been damaged by fee caps on the commissions it is allowed to charge restaurants in key markets such as New York City

Takeaways shares closed at 26.45 euros on Tuesday, down 45% in the year to date.

Cat Rock, the company‘s second-largest shareholder after founder Groen with 6.88% of Takeaway shares, published an open letter on April 25, urging shareholders to vote against the reappointment of CFO Brent Wisssink and the company’s supervisory board. [L2N2WN090]

That call has received some support from other investors including hedge fund Lucerne Capital Management.

While shareholder advisory body Glass Lewis does not oppose Wissinks reappointment, it has advised against the re-appointment of chairman Adriaan Nühn, making his position uncertain.

Shareholder rights organization VEB said it was also critical and would be voting against “the reappointment of the Dutch supervisory board members” including Nühn, it said. Organization spokesman Eric van den Hudding said Takeaway needs independent members capable of challenging management board decisions.