Appetite for Just Eat takeaways tailed off in the last quarter

Shares in food delivery service Just Eat fell on Tuesday as the London food startup published its annual results, which show that food orders slowed at the end of 2016.

Just Eat orders rose 38% in the first nine months of 2016 but they only increased 36% in the last quarter of the year.

Shares in the company, which is now competing with the likes of Uber Eats, Amazon, and Deliveroo, dropped almost 7% off the back of the results, the biggest drop in nearly seven months.

David Reynolds, an analyst at Jefferies, said in a note cited by Bloomberg that the latest company update was "likely to disappoint".

He added: "No real knocks to the thesis, just a reality check as the guidance upgrade conveyor belt comes to a stop."

David Buttress, CEO of Just Eat, said in a statement: "Just Eat's reported order growth puts us in a strong position to deliver full year results in line with our previous financial guidance. We enter 2017 with continuing confidence in the business."

The results come after a busy year of acquisitions for Just Eat.

In December, Just Eat announced that it had agreed to acquire British takeaway service Hungryhouse from German parent company Delivery Hero for a base purchase price of £200 million, with a further cash consideration of up to £40 million, based on performance.

The company also said it was acquiring Canadian online food delivery service SkipTheDishes for an initial consideration of £66.1 million ($110 million Canadian dollars).

In August, it bought the British assets of food delivery startup Takeaway.com for an undisclosed price.

And in February, Just Eat spent £94.7 million to acquire Spain's La Nevera Roja, Italy's PizzaBo/hellofood Italy, Brazil's hellofood Brazil, and Mexico's hellofoodMexico.