Southeast Asia’s leading superapp, Grab, announced Monday (August 2) its financial results for the quarter ended March 31, 2021.
“We exceeded our internal targets for Adjusted Net Sales and Adjusted EBITDA for Q1 2021, and continued the strong growth momentum of our deliveries business,” said Peter Oey, Chief Financial Officer of Grab in a statement.
According to Grab, its Adjusted Net Sales reached an all-time high of US$507 million, up 39 per cent year on year, while revenue achieved a record US$216 million.
While many Southeast Asian countries are imposing fresh lockdowns due to a rise in Covid-19 cases, the Singapore-based firm reduced its losses on the back of a strong performance in its deliveries business.
Strong performance in deliveries business
Grab’s deliveries Gross Merchandise Value (GMV) demonstrated strong year on year growth of 49 per cent, offset by weakness in mobility as a result of the lockdowns and other restrictions imposed by governments on the back of the COVID-19 pandemic.
According to the results, Grab saw “strong growth” in deliveries during Q1 2021, which generated a GMV of US$1.7 billion. This represents an improvement of 49 per cent from its GMV of US$1.1 billion in Q1 2020.
Its Adjusted Net Sales for deliveries was US$293 million, up from US$144 million and 96 per cent year on year, while revenue was US$53 million, a US$152 million increase year on year. Its deliveries Adjusted EBITDA of US$4 million was up US$147 million year on year.
This was driven by an increase in both the number of transactions processed, as well as order values.
It also continued to scale GrabMart, an everyday goods delivery offering that has expanded across Grab’s eight Southeast Asian markets. In June, it announced the launch of GrabSupermarket in Singapore as part of a strategic expansion of GrabMart.
Volatility in ride-hailing business
Due to the lockdowns and restrictions imposed in Grab’s various markets, mobility GMV in Q1 2021 represented approximately 64 per cent of Q1 2020 levels.
Mobility Adjusted Net Sales was US$167 million, a 14 per cent year on year decline, while revenue increased by 18 per cent year on year to $145 million.
Mobility Adjusted EBITDA was US$115 million, an increase of US$34 million year on year, and Grab continues to be Segment Adjusted EBITDA positive in all of its core markets.
Preparing for record SPAC deal
The company’s quarterly financial results were the first it reported as it prepares to get listed.
In April this year, Grab announced that it intends to go public in the United States in partnership with Altimeter Growth Corp (Nasdaq: “AGC”).
It is expected to be the largest-ever US equity offering by a Southeast Asian company. The combined company expects its securities will be traded on NASDAQ under the symbol “GRAB”.
The proposed transactions value Grab at an initial pro-forma equity value of approximately US$39.6 billion (S$53.16 billion) at a PIPE size of more than US$4.0 billion (S$5.37 billion) and will provide Grab with approximately US$4.5 billion (S$6.04 billion) in cash proceeds.
“We are pleased with our progress toward becoming a publicly-traded company, which we expect to occur in Q4 2021,” said Anthony Tan, Group CEO and Co-founder of Grab.
With operations across eight countries and more than 400 cities, Grab is the region’s most valuable start-up. It started as a ride-hailing business in 2021, and has since moved into food and grocery deliveries, digital payments, and is pushing into the insurance and lending business as well.
Featured Image Credit: Bloomberg
