The battle for control of Just Eat (JE.) has intensified after fresh rival bids for the UK food delivery business. Takeaway.com of the Netherlands upped its all-share merger offer to a deal worth 916p a share. The offer, which would create one of the biggest food delivery groups in the world, values Just Eat at nearly £6.3bn, up from a previous bid in the summer that valued the company’s shares at 731p each. Prosus, the Amsterdam-listed offshoot of the South African technology group Naspers, had earlier raised its all-cash bid by £400m to £5.5bn, or 800p a share. The company previously made 740p- and 710p-per-share bids. Takeaway.com’s offer would hand Just Eat shareholders a 58% stake in the merged company, up from 52% as previously offered. It is also offering to sell Just Eat’s stake in the Brazilian delivery company iFood, which Just Eat owns in partnership with Prosus, and return half of the proceeds to shareholders.
British Airways has taken a nosedive in UK passengers’ opinions and is now rated just above Ryanair at the bottom end of the airline rankings. The flag carrier was among the worst rated for food, seat comfort and value for money on both short and long-haul services in the annual Which? poll. BA questioned the accuracy of the survey, which is based on 6,500 readers’ opinions rather than comprehensive data, and found the best short-haul airline to be Aurigny Air, a small Channel Islands turboprop operator. However, the results will make for further unwelcome reading for BA, the formerly self-proclaimed “world’s favourite airline”, which celebrated a centenary this year. In the short-haul table, BA only beat Vueling, which is also part of International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (CDI) (IAG), and Ryanair, which once again came last.
