Just Eat announces shock quit of London Stock Exchange in blow to Reeves’s growth plans

Just Eat Takeaway said it planned to delist from the London Stock Exchange by the end of this year, blaming the administrative burden of being dual listed in Amsterdam and London.

Just Eat Takeaway.com was created in 2020 between a merger of the London-based Just Eat and Amsterdam-listed Takeaway.com.

It decision follows a slew of other companies who have already quit the LSE, claiming a London listing is not worth it and that other financial centres, such as New York, are more business friendly.

Cambridge-based microchip designer ARM Holdings was once listed in London but moved to the New York stock exchange as has the owner of Paddy Power, Flutter. Shell has also warned it may quit London for New York.

Reeves and her predecesor Jeremy Hunt have expressed a determination to lure more companies to list in the UK, and both have held summits with business leaders.

Susannah Streeter, head of money and markets at Hargreaves Lansdown, said Just Eat’s decision was a blow to the City and a setback for the government especially given its efforts to encourage more firms to list in London.

“Just Eat cited a litany of reasons for withdrawing from the London Stock Exchange, showing just how much work still needs to be done to simplify rules to help retention and lure more firms in.

“Management described the administrative burden, complexity and costs associated with regulatory requirements, but also low trading volumes on the London market.”

Streeter said investors were enthusiastically buying up UK equities, around 35 per cent hold UK equities directly with around 75 per cent of trades by value taking place on the London market.

She added:”The government’s commitment to support increased retail participation is welcome, and proposals should be accelerated into concrete action. Too many people are sat on excess cash savings which could be deployed in the stock market, delivering longer term returns and supporting the UK economy.

“There is untapped demand to invest in UK listings. The Raspberry Pi IPO was significantly oversubscribed by retail investors, so there are still supply side issues to fix. All too often retail investors are cut out of IPOs and secondary capital raising rounds.

“The Financial Conduct Authority’s recent publications on the Public Offers and Admission to Trading Regulations regime, which aims to reduces barriers for retail investors as a desired outcome, is welcome and needs to be enacted.’’