talabat lifts 2026 outlook after orders grow, but Q2 profit falls 18%

Dubai: talabat raised its full-year 2026 guidance across all key financial metrics after first-half growth came in ahead of its earlier expectations, even as second-quarter profit fell 18% amid continued investment in groceries, loyalty and its wider everyday app strategy.

The delivery platform now expects full-year gross merchandise value, or GMV, to grow 13 to 15%, compared with its previous guidance of 11 to 14%.

Revenue growth is now expected at 16 to 18%, while adjusted EBITDA is forecast at between $535 million and $565 million. The company expects net income of $325 million to $355 million and free cash flow of $400 million to $430 million.

The revised outlook follows first-half GMV growth of 15% at constant currency to $5.6 billion, ahead of talabat's original full-year growth range.

Second-quarter GMV reached $2.9 billion, rising 11% year-on-year on a reported basis and 12% at constant currency. Adjusting for the earlier timing of Eid Al Fitr this year, underlying growth was approximately 15%.

Revenue increased 16% to $1.1 billion, helped by a higher contribution from talabat mart and advertising, together with continued customer growth.

Profitability moved lower during the quarter as talabat continued spending under its $120 million strategic investment programme.

Adjusted EBITDA declined 13% year-on-year to $147 million, equivalent to 5% of GMV, compared with 6.4% a year earlier. Net income fell 18% to $100 million, representing 3.4% of GMV compared with 4.6% in the same period last year.

Growth increasingly came from customers using talabat across more than one category, with 75% of GMV generated by multi-vertical customers during the quarter, up four percentage points from a year earlier.

More than one in four active customers were subscribed to talabat pro, which accounted for 51% of GMV on the talabat platform.

The company had approximately 97,000 active partners at the end of the quarter, up 14% year-on-year, with grocery and retail businesses accounting for close to a quarter of the total. Its active rider network grew 25% to around 189,000.

talabat said partners funded a record $404 million in customer savings during the first half, up 30% year-on-year.

The company deployed close to $58 million during the first half across operating, capital and lease expenses tied to its everyday app expansion, including talabat mart, talabat pro and new retail services.

“Concurrently, our strategic investment programme to build the everyday app continued to advance, already delivering encouraging initial results. Supported by this performance, we are confidently raising our full-year outlook across all performance metrics,” Gyssels said.

The GCC remained talabat's largest market, generating $2.3 billion of GMV in the second quarter, up 5% year-on-year and accounting for 78% of the group total.

Non-GCC markets, comprising Egypt, Jordan and Iraq, delivered substantially faster growth, with GMV rising 41% to $642 million. Their contribution to total GMV increased to 22% from 17% a year earlier.

Free cash flow reached $162 million during the quarter, down 41% year-on-year, while first-half free cash flow stood at $266 million.

talabat attributed the quarterly decline to the timing of working capital items that had boosted the comparable period last year.

The company has also started its shareholder-approved share buyback programme, repurchasing 108.1 million shares by August 12 at an average price of Dh1.18 each.

The purchases cost around $35 million and represented 0.46% of issued share capital.

talabat's dividend policy remains unchanged at a 90% payout ratio, with an interim dividend based on first-half 2026 earnings expected to be declared in September and paid in October.