Grab’s revenue slips by 9% in Q3 2021 as mobility takes back seat

Singapore’s Grab posted a revenue of US$157 million for the quarter ended September 30, down 9% from a year earlier. 

The regional internet giant said the drop was due to a decline in mobility because of the severe lockdowns in Vietnam. Grab noted that its reported revenue was net of consumer, merchant, and driver-partner incentives.

Photo credit: Grab

In the third quarter of 2021, revenue from Grab’s mobility business was down 26% year-on-year to US$88 million. The segment’s gross merchandise value (GMV) also fell 30% from a year ago to US$529 million in the quarter, while its adjusted earning before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) dipped about 26% to US$64 million.

Grab’s total adjusted operating loss for the quarter widened by 66% to US$212 million. Its monthly transacting users were also down 8%, which the startup attributed to a temporary suspension in food delivery and ride-hailing in Vietnam due to Covid-19-related restrictions.

The company’s total loss for the period also grew by 59% to US$988 million.

The company’s total GMV, meanwhile, reached a new quarterly record of US$4 billion in the third quarter – a growth of 32% from last year. This was on the back of a 63% rise in GMV from Grab’s deliveries business, which reached US$2.3 billion. 

The deliveries segment, which houses services such as GrabMart and GrabExpress, also saw robust growth, jumping 58% to hit US$49 million in the quarter. The business arm also generated an adjusted operating loss of US$22 million, an improvement of about US$1 million, year-on-year. 

In particular, GrabMart continued to deliver a strong performance, with quarterly GMV from the segment jumping 380% from last year. The company recently announced the addition of new retail chains like Indomaret in Indonesia, Big C in Thailand, Lotus’s Malaysia (formerly Tesco Malaysia), S&R supermarket in the Philippines, and Mega Market in Vietnam to GrabMart.

Financial services was another bright spot for Grab, posting another record quarter with a total payments volume of US$3.1 billion, a 44% increase compared with a year ago. The segment’s quarterly adjusted operating loss widened by 31% to US$76 million.

While mobility seems to have taken a back seat amid the pandemic, Anthony Tan, Grab’s group CEO and co-founder, mentioned that the company expects a “strong recovery” in the segment as it heads into the last quarter of the year, thanks to improved vaccination rates across the region and signs of easing movement restrictions in Vietnam. 

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“With recovery in sight, and the gradual reopening of economies providing tailwinds to our business, we are doubling down on investments that will help us capture a greater share of the opportunities in front of us and open up new addressable markets for Grab, such as groceries,” Tan added.