Navin Killa

Navin Killa asked about Grab's capital allocation strategy for its strong cash balance over the next 12-18 months, considering recent CB raises and positive free cash flow. He also sought a qualitative breakdown of the growth drivers for the year, specifically how macro environment, market share gains, and new product initiatives contributed.

Answer

CFO Peter Oey outlined Grab's three-pillar capital allocation framework: investing for organic growth (e.g., loan book expansion, new products), highly selective opportunistic M&A (e.g., autonomous vehicles like WeRide partnership), and returning excess capital to shareholders. He highlighted the loan dispersal hitting $3.5 billion annualized, yielding returns above the cost of capital. CEO Anthony Tan addressed the macro environment, stating no broad-based slowdown in Southeast Asia and that Grab's platform is resilient due to its countercyclical strategy, which accelerates the flywheel by increasing partner supply, reducing wait times, and lowering prices. He also emphasized the success of affordability-focused products like Saver Delivery/Transport, making Grab a 'must-have' service.

Navin Killa inquired about Grab's capital allocation strategy for its strong cash balance over the next 12-18 months, following recent CB raises and positive free cash flow. Additionally, Navin Killa asked for a qualitative breakdown of the factors driving growth this year, specifically the impact of macro trends, market share gains, and new product initiatives.

Answer

CFO Peter Oey outlined Grab's three-pillar capital allocation framework: investing for organic growth (e.g., loan book expansion, new products), highly selective M&A (e.g., autonomous vehicles like WeRide partnership), and returning excess capital to shareholders. CEO Anthony Tan addressed the macro environment, stating that Grab's platform is resilient, with its countercyclical strategy attracting more partners and improving affordability, making it a 'must-have' service. He emphasized that the focus on affordability, initiated in 2023, protects against discretionary spending pullbacks.