Grab Holdings Ltd's (NADSAQ:GRAB) shares crashed more than 37% after reporting a wider than expected fourth-quarter loss and sales slump.
Shares of the Singapore-based ride-sharing and food delivery company extended losses in premarket trading Friday.
The company reported a loss of US$1.1bn for the fourth quarter ended December 31, compared to US$576mln a year ago after Covid-19 disrupted its ride-hailing business.
Promotional offers and higher driver incentives hit the fourth quarter's revenue by 44%, falling to US$122mln.
A total loss of US$3.56bn was incurred, compared to US$2.75bn in 2020.
Grab's chief financial officer Peter Oey, quoted in The Wall Street Journal, said that the company will continue to invest heavily in driver incentives this year.
Oey told the Journal he considers the second half of 2022 to be critical, and that it would take one to two quarters to "get that equilibrium between drivers and riders, between supply and demand".
A US$40bn merger between Grab and a special purpose acquisition company led to Grab's IPO on December 2, 2021. That day, Grab's stock opened at US$13.06. Its price has fallen nearly 75% since going public.
The company's guidance for 2022 was also deemed uninspiring. In the first quarter, the company expects gross merchandise volume (GMV) - the amount spent on services on the platform - to be between US$3.15bn and US$3.3bn, but still a considerable decrease over US$4.5bn in the fourth quarter.