Global media and entertainment business, Time Out (LON:TMO), announced on Tuesday that it has completed the sale of its stake in Flyt Limited. Indeed, it has sold its share in the leading systems integration platform provider to the global online takeaway delivery market place, Just Eat.
Time Out has received £9.6 million proceeds for its entire stake in Flyt Limited, which represents a £4.5 million profit on disposal.
Tom Weaver, CEO of Flyt, said:
“I would like to thank the team at Time Out for their support over the last three years. During this period, we have significantly grown the business which now supports thousands of restaurants in both Europe and North America. We are excited to be part of Just Eat and look forward to working with them and our other partners to further develop the business”.
Time Out invested in Flyt back in July 2015. Over the period of Time Out’s investment, Flyt significantly scaled its operations. Its revenues have grown and it expanded to more than 3,000 quick service and branded restaurants.
The company has said it will use its proceeds from the sale to invest in one of its leading strategic priorities – the global rollout of Time Out Market. This is following the success of the first site in Lisbon, attracting 3.6 million visitors in 2017.
Time Out is set to open five new Time Out Markets in North America alone in 2019. These will be located in Miami, New York, Boston, Chicago and Montreal. The company has lined up “some of the cities’ top chefs” for the loction set to open in Miami, New York and Boston.
CEO of Time Out, Julio Bruno, commented on the sale:
“We would like to thank Flyt founders Tom Weaver and Chris Evans and the wider team for their excellent work in developing their business during the last three years. Just Eat’s investment announced today proves that this is a success story and we are proud to have been part of it. We wish them all the very best as they take the business forward to the next phase of growth in partnership with Just Eat”.
Just Eat has been in the spotlight recently following the unexpected resignation of its chief executive. Shares fell 2.3% on the back of the announcement, following a trend of decline as shares dip 18% over the past year. Despite this, Just Eat has remained positive on its trading, suggesting that group earnings will be ahead of market expectations.
