Talabat Holding, the leading on-demand online ordering and delivery platform in the MENA region, has posted robust financial results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2025, highlighting strong growth across all key performance metrics.
Gross merchandise value (GMV) rose by 30 percent year-on-year to $2.1 billion, with constant currency growth even higher at 33 percent. Revenue for the period also saw significant momentum, increasing by 34 percent to $846 million, and 38 percent on a constant currency basis.
Profitability indicators reflected similar strength. Adjusted EBITDA rose 34 percent to $140 million, representing 6.7 percent of GMV, compared to 6.5 percent in the same period last year. Net income surged nearly four-fold to $103 million, equivalent to 4.9 percent of GMV. On a normalized basis — adjusting for material non-recurring items — net income grew 24 percent to $99 million, or 4.8 percent of GMV.
Solid growth trajectory
The company’s strong first-quarter performance was driven by solid topline growth and margin expansion across both GCC markets — including the UAE, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain, and Oman —and non-GCC markets such as Egypt, Jordan, and Iraq. Performance was also strong across both core verticals: food, and grocery & retail (G&R). Notably, the expanding G&R segment showed increased resilience during the Ramadan period, benefiting from seasonal shifts in consumer behavior.
Talabat also noted that last year’s figures had been affected by regional geopolitical developments, which had a dampening effect on comparative performance.
The geographical GMV mix remained heavily weighted toward the GCC, accounting for 84 percent of the total, with non-GCC markets contributing 16 percent. Both the food and G&R verticals recorded double-digit growth, with particularly strong momentum in non-GCC markets and the G&R segment.
The company also successfully absorbed the impact of increased corporate income tax rates of 15 percent in GCC countries, with adjusted net income still rising 24 percent year-on-year.
Management feedback
Tomaso Rodriguez, CEO, talabat, commented: “We have had a strong start to the year, delivering excellent financial results that reflect the effectiveness of our strategy and execution. Our continued focus on enhancing the consumer value proposition, expanding across multiple verticals and deepening customer loyalty is driving sustained growth.
“Notably, our groceries and retail vertical contributed approximately one-third of GMV when including instashop for the full quarter, reinforcing the opportunity in scaling this vertical further. We also saw our most successful launch yet of talabat pro, our premium subscription loyalty programme, in Egypt, marking an important milestone and strengthening our offering in one of our fastest-growing markets.”
“We were equally pleased to welcome the instashop team into our operations in the first quarter. As a leading grocery delivery e-marketplace in MENA, instashop is a strong strategic fit for talabat, and aligns closely with our ambition to expand and integrate our ecosystem. In a scale-driven business like ours, we expect to realize meaningful cost synergies as integration progresses over the next few quarters,” he added.
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