Grab expects growth to slow while it pursues 2024 profitability

$Grab Holdings(GRAB.US)$ expects slower growth of 45% to 55% in 2023 as the Southeast Asian internet giant adjusts to a market downturn and speeds up efforts to reverse years of losses.

Chief Executive Officer Anthony Tan kicked off the company’s first investor day by trying to reassure shareholders Grab was on the rebound.

Grab, which counts Japan’s $SoftBank Group (ADR)(SFTBY.US)$ and $Uber Technologies(UBER.US)$ as two biggest shareholders, expects losses to narrow to US$380 million on an adjusted basis in 2022’s second half.

Executives said it now aims to break even by the latter half of 2024 on an adjusted earnings basis before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation.

In the meantime, the company said it has about US$6 billion of cash and liquid items on hand, giving it time to turn its on-demand and fintech services around.

Tan’s vision of creating a so-called superapp for Southeast Asia was aggressive, but led to extensive losses. Grab lost US$3.4 billion in 2021 and has piled up almost US$1 billion of losses in the first two quarters of this year. Revenue this year is set to roughly double to as much as US$1.3 billion, Grab said last month.

The company started out focused on the ride-hailing business and competed effectively against Uber. The US company ended up selling Grab its business in Southeast Asia in return for a stake in its Singaporean rival. Grab then launched an ambitious — and expensive — campaign to expand into adjacent businesses, including food delivery and finance. It also added everything from hotel bookings and health services to gifts and entertainment experiences to its app.

Chief Operating Officer Alex Hungate said Grab will now have a more defined strategy, outlining an effort to make the company “Southeast Asia’s largest and most efficient on-demand platform that enables local commerce and mobility.”