THE City tucked into Just Eat on Thursday as the UK’s competition watchdog gave the preliminary thumbs-up to the online takeaway firm’s £200 million swoop for its smaller  rival Hungryhouse.

The Competition and Markets Authority launched an investigation into the proposed tie-up in March. But its initial verdict is that Hungry- house — led by chief executive Alice Mrongovius  — is too small to be a significant competitor to Just Eat. 

It added that the entry of players like Deliveroo, UberEATS and Amazon would present a bigger threat to Just Eat than Hungryhouse as they expanded in the market.

Hungryhouse has also been loss-making for years and the CMA said that there were doubts over how much longer German parent Delivery Hero would have supported it.

Shares in Just Eat jumped 42p to 745p, or 6%, following the decision.

The CMA’s inquiry chairman Martin Cave said their probe had spanned major industry players as well as surveys of the public and restaurants.

He added: “We found that Hungry- house was a weak competitor to Just Eat and so competition is unlikely to be substantially reduced by this merger, especially given the entry and rapid expansion of innovative suppliers in this sector.

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