Uber Technologies Inc reported growth in quarterly operating profit as
demand for ride-hailing services approached pre-pandemic levels and its food
delivery business turned profitable for the first time.
Quoting Reuters Thursday (10/2), the company posted an EBITDA profit for the
fourth quarter of 2021 of US$86 million, well above analyst expectations of
US$62 million. Meanwhile, their income was recorded at US $ 5.8 billion.
"While the Omicron variant started impacting our business in late December,
mobility has started to bounce back, with gross bookings up 25%
month-on-month in the last week," said Uber Chief Executive Dara
Khosrowshahi.
Uber's delivery unit, which consists mostly of restaurant service Uber Eats,
also posted its first adjusted EBITDA profit of $25 million, demonstrating
Uber's ability to scale its once-losing operation against strong
competition.
Stable delivery orders signal that the rebound in travel has not come at the
expense of food delivery, with consumers sticking to service even as the
economy reopens.
Uber executives also noted that the company has increasingly been able to
get new customers for its Eats platform through its ride-hailing business
since the company combined its services into a single app.
"Diversification really plays a role," Khosrowshahi said.
Khosrowshahi said the company should increase its restaurant base in the US
suburbs to catch up with bigger delivery rival DoorDash.
Meanwhile, the travel recovery in the fourth quarter was also driven by
strong demand for airport travel, which tripled compared to last year.
In addition, the company significantly increased its marketing spending in
the fourth quarter, increasing sales and marketing costs by 36% every three
months. Uber launched several major Uber Eats ad campaigns in the US market
late last year.
Uber forecasts lower-than-expected adjusted profit in the first three months
of 2022, as the Omicron coronavirus variant reduced travel demand in
January.
Uber expects adjusted EBITDA for the first quarter to be between $100
million and $130 million, compared with analyst estimates of nearly $150
million.