Anglo-Dutch food delivery platform Just Eat Takeaway on Wednesday posted growing annual losses as takeover costs ate into booming virus lockdown demand.

Just Eat Takeaway, created last year after Dutch online service Takeaway.com gobbled up Britain’s Just Eat, said in a statement that net losses grew to €151 million for 2020 from €115m a year earlier, owing to integration costs. For comparison purposes, the earnings data was compiled as if the takeover had been completed on January 1, 2019.

Other App-driven food delivery companies, including Deliveroo and Uber Eats, have also experienced surging demand during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Just Eat Takeaway, headquartered in Amsterdam but with its main listing in London, said sales rocketed 54 per cent to €2.4 billion last year as people ordered in far more meals.

“2020 was an exceptional year for Just Eat Takeaway,” chief executive Jitse Groen said of the group that operates in 23 mostly-European markets. “Right before the completion of the merger between Just Eat and Takeaway.com, the world was hit by COVID-19.

“This brought unprecedented challenges to our restaurants, consumers as well as to our organisation and staff, but it also created tailwinds for our business,” Groen said in the statement.

The earnings performance was skewed by one-off costs of €102 million that included expenditure also on its acquisition of US group Grubhub – a deal set to complete in the first half.

The earnings performance was skewed by one-off costs of €102m that included expenditure also on its acquisition of US group Grubhub

The group’s growing annual losses contrast with an improving performance from British rival Deliveroo. Ahead of its London stock market float due next month, Amazon-backed Deliveroo on Monday said annual losses had been slashed on soaring lockdown demand.