Grab Shares Dropped 12%, RM2.45 Billion Loss Reported in Q2

Grab Holdings Ltd is in for a wild ride this year as the group reported a wider loss than what was estimated for the second quarter of 2022.

While they're still struggling to gain some form of profit from its ride-hailing and delivery business modules, Grab's net loss for Q2 2022 sits at US$547 million (RM2.45 billion). The figure is considerably higher than the expected US$335 million (RM1.5 billion) initially projected. Ouch.

Grab shares also tumbled 12% on NASDAQ

Grab's company listing on America's NASDAQ stock exchange tumbled a further 12%, which is now down to more than 55% in 2022 (so far). Bloomberg, however, did report that Grab's revenue has risen to 79% or US$321 million (RM1.44 billion), which was higher than what was projected earlier at US$273 million (RM1.22 billion).

Despite the worsening state of inflation in the countries that Grab currently operates, demand from consumers and app users has been steady despite reports of price hikes for its food delivery and e-hailing services. There's also the expansion towards groceries to combat the ride-hailing downturn, in which a significant investment was placed.

That venture, however, was cut short in countries like Singapore, Vietnam, and the Philippines in an attempt to cut costs and essentially streamline all of its delivery services. That made yet another impact on its overall net loss, plus the reports of investors pulling out from money-losing ventures since the lockdowns caused by the pandemic.

Less food deliveries + inflation = lower projected GMV

While the food delivery demand is expected to drop slightly going to the last month of Q3 due to price hikes and further inflation on overall goods, Grab has lowered its gross merchandise value (GMV) expansion to 21-25% as compared to the earlier projected 30-35%.

This was pointed out due to the fact that Grab only reported US$2.5 billion (RM11.2 billion) in GMV for its delivery arm falling short of its quarterly projection of US$2.65 billion (RM11.89 billion). It's quite a hole to be in, but a number of vital strategies going into the final quarter of 2022 should make things more bearable for Singapore's giant tech company.