Lyft narrows second-quarter loss as revenue rebounds 125%

Ride-sharing company’s active riders increased to 17 million while the revenue per active rider rose more than 14% to $44.63

Lyft's active riders reached 17.1 million in the second quarter. AFP

California-based Lyft narrowed its second-quarter net loss to $251.9 million from $437.1m in the same period last year, beating analysts’ expectations.

The popular ride-sharing company recorded an increase in the number of active riders, perhaps a result of many US cities lifting Covid-19 restrictions.

Revenue increased by 125.5 per cent to $765m, about $425.7m more than in the same period a year ago. It was about 26 per cent up on a quarterly basis and $68.1m more than the Refinitiv forecast.

We beat our outlook across every metric and we have growing momentum

Logan Green,
Lyft's co-founder and chief executive

Founded in 2012, the company has strongly rebounded from the 2020 second quarter, which was badly affected by the Covid-induced lockdowns across the US and Canada.

“We have consistently innovated and made big bets and this is just the beginning," said Lyft's co-founder and chief executive Logan Green.

Lyft’s stock rose briefly in after-hours trading and drivers shared in the outperformance with record hourly earnings, according to the company.

Lyft's active riders topped 17.1 million in the second quarter, about 97.3 per cent, or 8.5 million more than the same period last year. It had 13.49 million active riders in the first quarter.

Revenue per active rider rose by about 14.4 per cent to $44.6 in the second quarter.

Lyft’s net loss for the April-June fiscal period includes $207.8m of stock-based compensation and payroll-related tax expenses. It also included more than $20m expense related to car insurance liabilities.

Net loss margin for the second quarter was 32.9 per cent, compared with 128.8 per cent in the same quarter last year.

The company also reported about $2.2 billion of unrestricted cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments at the end of the three-month period on June 30.

Last month, Lyft joined forces with car maker Ford and self-driving technology company Argo AI to unveil 1,000 self-driving vehicles on Lyft’s ride-hailing network in various cities in several markets over the next five years.

As per the agreement, they will use self-driving cars, although backup safety drivers will also be on board, with passenger rides beginning in Miami later this year and in Austin in 2022.