Grab Q3 Earnings Call Highlights

Key Points

• Record profitability and raised guidance: Grab’s Q3 adjusted EBITDA rose 73% year over year to $237 million, with all three core segments profitable for the first time. The company raised its 2026 adjusted EBITDA outlook to $790 million-$800 million.
• Investments will prioritize growth: Grab plans increased Q4 spending on driver supply, seasonal demand and newer products such as GrabMall, GXS Credit Card and OVO Pinjaman, despite continued fuel-cost pressure.
• Financial services and AI are gaining traction: Financial services posted its first profitable quarter, generating $12 million in adjusted EBITDA, while AI tools are improving driver and merchant earnings. Grab also plans to complete the remaining $500 million of its share-repurchase program within 12 months.

Grab NASDAQ: GRAB said its third-quarter 2026 adjusted EBITDA reached a record $237 million, up 73% from a year earlier, as all three of its core business segments achieved profitability for the first time.

Chief Executive Officer Anthony Tan said the company’s adjusted EBITDA has expanded for 19 consecutive quarters. On-demand gross merchandise value rose 22% year over year on a constant-currency basis, while monthly transacting users reached a record 57 million.

The company raised its full-year revenue and adjusted EBITDA outlook for the second time this year. Chief Financial Officer Peter Oey said Grab now expects full-year adjusted EBITDA of between $790 million and $800 million, compared with its previous outlook of $720 million to $740 million. The revised range represents year-over-year growth of roughly 58% to 60%, he said.

Grab reiterated its 2028 targets for group revenue growth at a compound annual rate above 30% and adjusted EBITDA of $1.7 billion. Those expectations include the proposed acquisition of Atome, which remains subject to completion.

Fourth-Quarter Investments to Focus on Supply and Growth

Oey said the company expects to make deliberate investments during the fourth quarter, rather than allowing EBITDA to rise sequentially from the third-quarter level. He described the quarter as a high-return investment period because of Southeast Asia’s festive season and higher tourist travel.

Elevated fuel prices have continued to pressure driver operating costs, and Grab expects those pressures to continue in the fourth quarter. The company increased its active driver base by 20% year over year in the third quarter, reaching its highest level to date, but Oey said it needs to continue expanding supply to maintain reliable and affordable service.

Grab also plans marketing spending behind recently introduced products, including GrabMall, the GXS Credit Card in Singapore, and OVO Pinjaman, a consumer lending product in Indonesia launched through a collaboration involving Atome and Kredit Pintar.

“We are setting expectations to ensure that we can reinvest with agility, but also capture the seasonal market share,” Oey said.

Deliveries Margin Expands; GrabMall Launches

President and Chief Operating Officer Alex Hungate said the deliveries segment produced a 2.7% adjusted EBITDA margin, compared with 2.1% a year earlier. Deliveries GMV grew 21% year over year.

Hungate attributed the margin improvement primarily to operating leverage from growth, stable regional corporate costs and broader deployment of artificial intelligence in marketplace operations. Advertising also contributed as the platform attracted both food sellers and fast-moving consumer goods advertisers.

Despite higher incentives for drivers, Hungate said the company’s operating leverage exceeded the increase in support payments. Grab still expects to invest in delivery products, including GrabMall and GrabMart, but said it expects deliveries margins to improve progressively toward its longer-term target of more than 4%.

GrabMall launched during the quarter as a branded retail-commerce channel within the company’s deliveries ecosystem. Hungate said the offering was developed in response to demand from FMCG advertisers seeking closed-loop advertising and transaction fulfillment. Grab is piloting the product in selected markets and has seen early gains from those tests, he said.

If the Atome transaction closes, Grab expects the deal to expand lending monetization opportunities for GrabMall and GrabMart customers.

AI Tools Show Early Earnings Benefits

Tan said Grab is measuring artificial intelligence initiatives by transaction frequency, loyalty and customer retention rather than time spent in the app.

Users who shop across both GrabFood and GrabMart account for 43% of food GMV and have baskets about 10% larger, he said. Grocery GMV is growing 1.8 times faster than food GMV, while GrabUnlimited subscribers transact almost three times as frequently as non-subscribers.

On the supply side, Grab’s driver AI assistant has been deployed to nearly 500,000 drivers. Drivers who actively use the tool earn more than 10% more per online hour, according to Tan. The assistant provides demand forecasts intended to help drivers decide where to operate and plan breaks.

Merchants using Grab’s Merchant AI Assistant earn about 20% more on average, Tan said. Average merchant earnings rose 15% year over year and the number of active advertisers increased 29%.

Grab said its cost per AI interaction fell 42% sequentially as AI interactions increased 60%. The company has also partnered with OpenAI to provide practical AI training to 30,000 drivers and merchant partners over two years, beginning in Singapore and Thailand before expanding to other Southeast Asian markets.

Separately, Grab is piloting Meta Muse in Singapore through GrabMart and Grab Dine Out. Under the initial use case, users can ask Meta Muse to build a GrabMart basket, which then appears in the Grab app for approval. Tan said it was too early to estimate the impact on customer acquisition or GMV.

Financial Services Turns Profitable

Financial services generated $12 million in segment adjusted EBITDA during the quarter, marking its first profitable quarter. Hungate said this represented a $40 million improvement from a year earlier.

Grab did not provide separate EBITDA contributions for Superbank, Stash, GrabFin or other financial-services operations. Oey said the company views these businesses as interconnected parts of one ecosystem.

The company continues to target $500 million in financial-services EBITDA by 2028. Oey said Grab expects $300 million of that amount to come from Atome and Superbank, with the remaining $200 million expected from other offerings, including its digital banks and non-bank lending portfolio.

Hungate said Grab’s digital banks held $2.7 billion in deposits and that the company has 647 million repayment touchpoints that can help support its AI-driven underwriting models. Grab expects its banks to account for a growing share of its gross loan portfolio over time.

The company expects its loan book to exceed $6 billion by 2028, including Atome if the acquisition is completed. Hungate said Grab expects to end 2026 with a loan book of about $3 billion.

Capital Allocation, Regulation and Autonomous Vehicles

Oey said Grab repurchased $400 million in shares during September and October and intends to complete the remaining $500 million of its $900 million repurchase program within 12 months, with the goal of completing it by September of next year. Grab plans to cancel repurchased shares.

The rejection of Grab’s proposed foodpanda Taiwan acquisition left an additional $550 million of cash on its balance sheet, Oey said. He said the company remains focused on investing in its core mobility, deliveries and financial-services businesses, while also making longer-term investments in autonomous vehicles, robotics and AI.

In Indonesia, Hungate said Grab is working with government ministries as regulators consider guidelines for on-demand logistics and food delivery. He said the company understands the potential guidelines will focus on driver earnings and fee transparency, and that Grab does not expect the business implications to materially affect its guidance.

Grab is also expanding autonomous-vehicle testing in Singapore. Hungate said the company has logged more than 100,000 kilometers in local trials and plans to grow its Singapore fleet fivefold to 50 vehicles ahead of a planned commercial autonomous ride-hailing launch on the Grab app in coming months.

About Grab (NASDAQ:GRAB)

Grab Holdings Inc NASDAQ: GRAB is a technology company that operates a superapp serving consumers, drivers, merchants and businesses across Southeast Asia. The company began as a ride-hailing service in Malaysia in 2012 and is headquartered in Singapore.

Grab's platform provides mobility services, including ride-hailing, taxi bookings and other transportation options. It also offers food, grocery and package deliveries, connecting users with restaurants, retailers and delivery partners through its digital marketplace.

In addition, Grab provides digital financial services in selected markets, including payments, consumer and merchant lending, digital banking and insurance-related products.

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