By Hamza Faisal
Grab has delivered its strongest quarter on record, reporting third-quarter revenue of $1.112 billion, up 27 percent year on year, and record adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) of $237 million, up 73 percent. For the first time in the Singapore-based superapp's history, all three of its core businesses — mobility, deliveries and financial services — were profitable on an adjusted EBITDA basis in the same quarter.
Profit for the period came in at $18 million, up 5 percent from $17 million a year earlier, while operating profit quadrupled to $108 million from $27 million. The company also set a record with 57 million monthly transacting users, and raised its full-year guidance for the second time this year, now expecting 2026 revenue of $4.15 billion to $4.20 billion and adjusted EBITDA of $790 million to $800 million.
Financial services turns the corner
The standout of the quarter was financial services, which posted its first ever positive segment adjusted EBITDA of $12 million, against a loss of $28 million in the same period last year. Revenue in the segment surged 124 percent to $201 million, driven largely by lending across Grab's digital banks and its GrabFin unit.
Chief executive Anthony Tan said the milestone capped a long effort to build a lending business alongside the company's ride-hailing and delivery operations. The segment had already narrowed its loss to $15 million in the second quarter, and Grab had targeted breakeven in the second half of 2026 — a goal it has now beaten. Executives also pointed to a proposed acquisition of buy-now-pay-later provider Atome as a way to push the strategy further.
The core businesses held up well too. Deliveries revenue rose 21 percent to $561 million, helped by food and grocery orders and stronger advertising income, while mobility revenue grew 10 percent to $349 million as transactions increased 21 percent. Adjusted free cash flow reached $286 million in the quarter, or $533 million over the trailing twelve months.
A thinner bottom line than the headline suggests
The gap between the record adjusted EBITDA and the modest $18 million net profit tells its own story. Grab said a $57 million net fair-value loss on financial assets and liabilities and a $12 million impairment loss on an equity-accounted investee partly offset the stronger operating result, while incentives paid to drivers, riders and users hit a record $737 million in the quarter.
There was also a costly setback in Taiwan, where regulators rejected Grab's proposed acquisition of foodpanda's Taiwan business, leaving the company to pay a $60 million break fee. Even so, Grab repurchased $400 million of its own shares in September and October, leaving $500 million under its buyback programmes, and shares rose on the results.
AI shopping enters the superapp
Looking ahead, Grab is betting that conversational AI will become a new front door for its services. Tan told investors the company is an early connector partner for Meta's Muse AI assistant in Singapore, letting users build grocery baskets through chat for fulfilment by GrabMart. The pilot points to a broader shift in Southeast Asia, where superapps are weaving generative AI shopping agents directly into everyday transactions.
Grab also said grocery transaction value grew at 1.8 times the year-on-year pace of food orders, and guided to sequential growth in both mobility and deliveries transaction value in the fourth quarter. If the momentum holds, the company that spent years chasing profitability across three very different businesses may finally be able to claim all three at once — and keep them there.
