A look at Grab’s sales figures as it cuts full-year outlook

Regional super app Grab posted adjusted net sales of US$550 million for the three months ended June 30.

This represented a 92% increase year on year but just an 8.5% bump compared to the previous quarter. This comes as the company continues to fend off the effects of Covid-19 in its primary market of Southeast Asia.

For the full financial year, Grab said it forecasts group-level adjusted net sales to be around US$2.1 billion to US$2.2 billion, which is down from the US$2.3 billion it expected in an investor presentation earlier this year. Adjusted net sales is a top line metric.

This would imply that the IPO-bound firm sees its adjusted net sales floating under the US$600 million mark for the remaining quarters, representing at most single-digit growth in percentage terms on a quarterly basis. Grab attributes its conservative outlook for 2021 to Southeast Asia’s renewed movement restrictions brought by the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic.

Grab’s counterparts in other markets appear to be posting stronger revenue growth, though this does not take into account differences between countries, players, and accounting treatment. For example, Covid-19 has hit Southeast Asia hard this year, with Indonesia seeing the highest death toll in the world of late.

Uber, the US-based transport and food delivery giant that mainly targets major Western cities, posted US$3.9 billion in revenue for Q2 2021, a 35% growth over the previous quarter and a year-on-year increase of 105%.

India’s Zomato, which focuses on food delivery, saw a 22% jump in revenue from operations between Q1 and Q2 of 2021 and a 217% increase from the previous year.

Photo credit: Grab

Looking deeper into Grab’s numbers, the deliveries segment was the main contributor to its growth, while its mobility arm contributed mixed results.

The startup’s adjusted net sales from financial services revenue grew 140% year over year to US$26 million and about 13% from the previous quarter’s US$23 million.