By Kimberley Kao


Southeast Asian ride-hailing and delivery specialist Grab Holdings raised its full-year forecast for a key profitability metric, citing cost-cutting efforts and expansion in its core businesses that helped narrow its net loss in the first quarter.

The Nasdaq-listed company on Thursday lifted its annual forecast for adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization to between $250 million and $270 million, up from $180 million to $200 million previously. It left its forecast for a 14%-17% rise in full-year revenue unchanged.

First-quarter revenue rose 24% to $653 million, driven by demand growth in its deliveries and mobility segments, while net loss narrowed to $104 million from $244 million a year ago, the company said.

Adjusted Ebitda was a record $62 million, improving from negative $67 million a year ago and beating a median analysts' estimate of $38.0 million in a FactSet poll. The adjusted Ebitda metric excludes restructuring costs, share-based compensation expenses, fair-value changes on investments and other expenses.

A restructuring drive last year at Grab, which operates in eight Southeast Asian countries including Indonesia, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam, included layoffs and efforts aimed at trimming technology costs.

The company's staff numbers fell 20% in the first quarter from a year ago, according to Chief Finance Officer Peter Oey.


Write to Kimberley Kao at kimberley.kao@wsj.com


(END) Dow Jones Newswires

05-15-24 2330ET