Just Eat on Monday came under attack from a US activist investor, which called on the online takeaways giant to sell parts of the business and shake up management pay.
Hedge fund Cat Rock Capital Management, which has a 2% stake in Just Eat worth around £80 million, claimed the firm has “become the worst-performing public equity in online food delivery globally”.
The activist investor’s founder Alex Captain has written a letter to the Just Eat board. He said there is “shareholder frustration with management’s lack of accountability” for delivering on “significant growth potential”.
The share price at Just Eat has slid by some 25% this year amid warnings it will invest more as competition from rivals such as Deliveroo and Uber Eats heats up.
The shares lost 1.4p to 575.6p today. It floated at 260p in April 2014.
Captain urged the board to present a three-year financial plan, link pay to the meeting of growth targets, and consider selling Brazilian food app iFood, which could fetch £650 million.
Just Eat said it has a “clear strategy in place to deliver long-term sustainable value for our shareholders”.
