Uber enjoys record daily bookings in March

Reservations for the ride-hailing giant's mobility arm are currently running at an annualised rate of $30bn

A pedestrian walks by the new Uber headquarters in San Francisco. Getty

Uber witnessed record daily gross bookings in March, the highest monthly level in the firm’s 12-year history, as its business recovers from the Covid-19 pandemic.

The company's mobility arm, which includes its ride-hailing business, enjoyed its best month since March last year. It crossed a $30 billion annualised gross bookings run-rate, with average daily bookings up 9 per cent month-on-month, the company said in a statement to the US Securities and Exchange Commission.

Its delivery business, which more than doubled in 2020, crossed a $52bn annualised gross bookings run-rate in March, growing more than 150 per cent from a year ago.

“As vaccination rates increase in the US, we are observing that consumer demand for mobility is recovering faster than driver availability … and consumer demand for delivery continues to exceed courier availability,” the company said.

“We continue to believe that Uber is on track to reach quarterly adjusted EBITDA [earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation] profitability in 2021,” it added.

Last week, Uber announced that it is increasing investments in incentives to improve driver availability in the near-term. It launched a $250 million stimulus aimed at improving drivers’ earnings.

"Boosted incentives and guarantees will help welcome existing drivers back to Uber and ensure first-time drivers do well as they learn the ropes," Dennis Cinelli, Uber's vice president for mobility in the US and Canada, said in a blog.

In February, Uber posted a full-year net loss of $6.76bn for 2020, 20 per cent lower than in 2019. Revenue during the period dropped 14 per cent on the previous year to $11.1bn as the company's ride sharing service registered declines in bookings due to Covid-19 restrictions and lockdowns across the world.

Uber, which is expected to announce its first quarter earnings on May 5, said it expects a “significant accrual” in costs after it reclassified its drivers as workers in the UK last month.

The company is also facing a number of other challenges including a tax case before UK authorities, the ongoing pandemic, growing competition and the ability to attract drivers, consumers and other partners to its platform, Uber said in a statement to the SEC.