Just Eat buys online takeaway rival Hungry House for £200m

Online takeaway food service Just Eat has been on a spending spree, buying up two smaller rivals.

The firm is paying £200m upfront to buy Hungry House, its biggest UK competitor, from the German group Delivery Hero.

It has promised to hand over another £40m if the company hits performance targets.

“Through this transaction, we would extend our market presence in the UK and sustain high levels of growth given the considerable opportunity in this market,” said Just Eat’s chief executive, David Buttress.

Just Eat, which listed in 2014, earns commission on restaurant orders placed via its website and apps.

Hungry House, which is the second-biggest player in the UK market after Just Eat, operates a similar model. Just Eat said Hungry House would generate topline operating profits of £12m to £15m in 2017 excluding exceptional integration costs of about £1m.

Meanwhile, the firm is also buying smaller rival SkipTheDishes.

The Canadian outfit SkipTheDishes in a cash and shares deal worth CAD$110m (£66.1m). The business, which has 350,000 customers, is expected to have sales of CAD$23.5m in 2016. It handled 1.6m orders in the 10 months to October, which was up 186% year on year.