Grab Trims Full-Year Forecasts But $40bn SPAC Merger Still On Track

Grab, Southeast Asia’s biggest ride hailing-to-food-delivery group, scaled down its full-year forecasts on Tuesday, blaming continued uncertainty caused by Covid-related restrictions.

But the Singapore-based outfit also said it was making progress on its record merger deal agreed with US special-purpose acquisition company (SPAC) Altimeter Growth Corp earlier this year.

And it reiterated that the deal, worth nearly $40 billion, is expected to be completed in the fourth quarter.

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Grab, which has operations across eight countries and more than 400 cities in a region of 650 million people, said it expects to report group-level adjusted net sales of $2.1 billion to $2.2 billion, versus an expected $2.3 billion announced in April.

It also forecast a group-level adjusted EBITDA loss of $0.7 billion to $0.9 billion for this year compared with a previously projected EBTIDA loss of $0.6 billion.

“Grab’s full-year 2021 outlook anticipates an extension of partial and complete lockdowns throughout several countries where Grab operates as a result of the continuing spread of Covid-19,” the company said.

TRANSACTION VOLUMES

Grab’s second-quarter adjusted net sales jumped 92% to $550 million while its adjusted EBITDA loss rose 4% to $214 million.

Grab said its quarterly total gross merchandise value (GMV), a metric used to measure transaction volumes, jumped 62% to a record $3.9 billion. GMV for deliveries grew 58% to $2.1 billion, while GMV for mobility rose 93% to $685 million.

“Our deliveries business continues to outperform and is growing rapidly, with the addition of new offerings such as GrabMart and GrabSupermarket, and we expect to continue investing heavily in this segment,” Peter Oey, Grab’s chief financial officer, said.