Grab’s Q2 loss narrows to $53m, but misses analyst estimates

Photo credit: The Business Times

Grab posted a loss of US$53 million for the second quarter ended Jun 30, trimmed from a US$135 million loss in the corresponding year-ago period.

The improved loss, however, missed estimates of a US$43.4 million loss in a poll of eight analysts by Bloomberg.

Revenue for the three months was US$664 million, rising 17% on-year from US$567 million, driven by growth across all segments, said Grab. It failed to meet an estimate of US$676.9 million in a 15-analyst Bloomberg poll.

Loss per share was US$0.01, narrowing from US$0.03.

The group’s adjusted EBITDA reversed into the black at US$64 million, from EBITDA losses of US$17 million.

This comes as the company continues to expand its on-demand gross merchandise value (GMV) and revenue, while “improving profitability on a segment-adjusted EBITDA basis and reducing regional corporate costs,” according to Grab.

Regional corporate costs encompass expenses not allocated to any specific business segments. This includes certain costs of revenue, research and development expenses, general and administrative expenses, marketing expenses, and cloud computing costs.

On-demand GMV – which includes mobility and deliveries – for the quarter grew 13% year on year to US$4.4 billion from US$3.9 billion, underpinned by growth in average user frequency and total transactions.

Adjusted free cash flow for the three months was US$36 million, reversing from a negative US$19 million in the corresponding year-ago period.

On a half-year basis, the company’s loss for the period narrowed to US$157 million from US$378 million year on year, while revenue gained 21% to US$1.3 billion from US$1.1 billion.

“During the quarter, we achieved a new milestone, serving more users than ever at a record high of 41 million monthly transacting users while delivering continued profitable growth at scale,” said Anthony Tan, Grab’s co-founder and group CEO.

“We also achieved our 10th consecutive quarter of adjusted EBITDA growth and our second quarter of positive adjusted free cash flow. We now expect to achieve positive adjusted free cash flow for the full year of 2024,” said Peter Oey, the group’s CFO.

Shares of Grab closed at US$3.37 on Wednesday, before the results. It is down 7.1% or US$0.26 to US$3.12 in pre-market trading, as of Thursday, 7:33 p.m. SGT.