• Published on 19 May 2023
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Grab reports 130% revenue growth in Q1

Grab Holdings Limited said revenue grew 130% year-on-year (YoY) to $525 million for the first quarter ended March 31, 2023.

Anthony Tan, group CEO and co-founder of Grab said: “This quarter, we reported another solid set of results which reflects our disciplined focus to drive sustainable growth and profitability. Our revenues for the quarter more than doubled YoY, while we reduced our adjusted EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation) losses by 77% YoY.”

“With five sequential quarters of adjusted EBITDA improvements, we remain on track on our path to profitability, and to achieve group adjusted EBITDA breakeven in the fourth quarter of this year. We are confident that we can drive growth for mobility and deliveries, and create more income opportunities for our partners to meet the growing demand from both travellers and domestic consumers.”

Peter Oey, chief financial officer of Grab said: “We are pleased with our first quarter results, with strong revenue growth and profitability improvements across all of our segments, supported by a strong balance sheet. On the back of the solid first quarter performance, we are revising up our adjusted EBITDA guidance range by $80 million to $90 million, to $195 million to $235 million for the full year 2023.” “We remain focused on driving cost efficiencies across our organisation and improving operating leverage.”

Revenue grew 130% YoY in the first quarter of 2023, or 139% on a constant currency basis, attributed to growth across all our segments, a reduction in incentives and a change in the business model for certain delivery offerings in one of our markets.

Total gross merchandises value (GMV) grew 3% YoY, or 7% YoY on a constant currency basis, primarily due to the continued growth in mobility, which offset softer deliveries demand as a result of Chinese New Year and Ramadan during the first quarter. For our deliveries segment, GMV declined YoY against a first quarter 2022 comparison base where deliveries demand was supported by COVID restrictions on dine-in and social gatherings in Southeast Asia. Additionally, fasting during the Ramadan period commenced during the first quarter of this year, which was earlier as compared to the prior year when it commenced in the second quarter.

Total incentives further reduced to 7.9% of GMV in the first quarter, compared to 11.6% in the same period in 2022 and 8.2% in the previous quarter, demonstrating our continued focus on optimising our incentive spend and the health of our marketplace.

Loss for the quarter was $250 million, a 43% improvement YoY, primarily due to the improvement in group adjusted EBITDA and a reduction in net interest expenses. Our loss for the quarter included a $37 million non-cash loss from fair value changes on investments, and $103 million in non-cash stock-based compensation expenses.

Group adjusted EBITDA was negative $66 million for the quarter, an improvement of 77% compared to negative $287 million for the same period in 2022 as we continued to grow GMV and revenue while improving profitability on a segment adjusted EBITDA basis. We have recorded sequential improvements in group adjusted EBITDA on a quarter-over-quarter (QoQ) basis for five consecutive quarters.

Group adjusted EBITDA margin was 1.3% for the quarter, an improvement from 6.0% in the first quarter of 2022 and 2.2% in the fourth quarter of 2022.

Regional corporate costs for the quarter were $216 million, compared to $212 million in the same period in 2022 and $223 million in the prior quarter. Overall headcount across our core segments and corporate functions has fallen sequentially over the past two quarters. Management remains focused on driving cost efficiencies across our organisation in order to further reduce regional corporate costs.

Cash liquidity totalled $5.8 billion at the end of the first quarter, compared to $6.5 billion at the end of the prior quarter, with a substantial part of the cash outflow attributed to the prepayment of our Term

Loan B in the aggregate principal amount of $600 million was completed in February 2023. Our net cash liquidity was $5.0 billion at the end of the first quarter, compared to $5.1 billion at the end of the prior quarter.

Re-disseminated by The Asian Banker