Just Eat unveils €150m share buyback a month after cutting 1,700 staff
The takeaway delivery group Just Eat has announced plans to buy back up to €150m (£132m) of shares from investors weeks after cutting 1,700 couriers in the UK as part of a plan to scrap guaranteed minimum wage and paid holiday.
The company announced the share buyback plan alongside data showing a 14% drop in orders and an 8% slide in sales in the first three months of the year. Takeaway sales have fallen back after demand soared during the pandemic.
The share buyback, which is a way of returning funds to investors by improving the returns of their holdings, comes as the London and Amsterdam-listed Just Eat faces potential legal challenges from couriers in the UK.
The law firm Leigh Day, which was involved with successful similar action against ride-hailing app Uber, said it was working with five claimants but expected to sign up more.
Most UK couriers working for the company, which is endorsed by the rapper Snoop Dogg and singer Katy Perry, are classified as self-employed independent contractors.
Just Eat had offered more than 2,000 of its UK personnel a“worker” status that guarantees holiday pay, at least the legal minimum wage an hour worked and other benefits including pension rights. However, it announced last month it was scrapping those contracts and making all couriers self-employed in the UK, in line with rivals such as Deliveroo.
Now some couriers are challenging their status in court, after successful legal action by drivers for Uber and similar cases against Bolt, Amazon and Addison Lee.
Nigel Mackay, a partner in the employment team at Leigh Day, which is leading the action, said:“Working as part of the gig economy should not mean you are not paid a fair wage, yet time and time again this is what we are hearing from
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