Just Eat Takeaway has reported a deeper annual loss despite a surge in revenue, driven by high demand for food deliveries during the coronavirus pandemic.

Jitse Groen, CEO of Just Eat Takeaway.com said “2020 was an exceptional year for Just Eat Takeaway.com. 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.

In the second half of the year, we increased our investments into the legacy Just Eat business significantly, building on our position as one of the largest food delivery companies in the world. Our revenue grew 54% in 2020, and we expect a further acceleration of our order growth in 2021 compared with last year.”

The company reported a bottom line loss of €151m (£129.5m) for 2020 compared to €115m (£98.5m) over the previous 12 months.

It said the figure reflected its investments including growing market share in the highly competitive space – also occupied by the likes of Deliveroo and Uber Eats – ahead of its planned takeover of US-based operator Grubhub.