The activist hedge fund shaking up Just Eat Takeaway is turning its focus to the food group’s finance director after accusing it of “deeply flawed” communications.
Alex Captain, founder of Cat Rock, is understood to hold Brent Wissink partly accountable for its alleged shortcomings in dealing with investors and the market.
Cat Rock last week claimed the company was “vulnerable to takeover bids at far below intrinsic value”. Cat Rock said it had not been transparent enough in communicating the cost of its investments.
It is understood that Captain, 37, also believes that solving Just Eat Takeaway’s problems could require a stronger chairman.
Captain said he was “surprised” that the company had struggled to improve its communication. “The concerns ... aren’t new. I’ve made recommendations privately, and they haven’t moved quickly enough or aggressively enough to solve the problems,” he said.
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Just Eat Takeaway, led by Jitse Groen, was formed through the merger of FTSE 100 company Just Eat and Dutch rival Takeaway.com.
“Takeaway.com was a roughly €1 billion company ... at [the time of its stock market listing] and it is [now] worth €14 billion with global operations,” said Captain. “The scale of the task on investor relations and financial planning has increased dramatically, but the resources are the same.”
Cat Rock has also grown frustrated about the fall in Just Eat Takeaway’s share price — down 23 per cent over the past year, valuing it at €15.6 billion (£13.3 billion).
Just Eat Takeaway said it held “regular dialogue with all shareholders”. It has also increased its finance team.
