Welcome to the Delivery Hero Taiwan divestment conference call. Today's presentation will be followed by a Q&A session. For those of you who have joined by the Zoom webinar, you can use the raise hand function at the bottom of your Zoom screen at any time to join the queue to ask a question, and you will be called upon during the Q&A session. If you have dialed in, please press star nine to enter the queue. If you want to withdraw your question, please lower your hand using the raise hand function in the Zoom app or, via telephone, press star nine. I will now hand the call over to Andrea Ferraz Estrada to begin the presentation.
Hello and welcome, everyone. Thank you for joining us on short notice for this update regarding the significant milestone in Delivery Hero's ongoing strategic review. Joining me today are Niklas Östberg, CEO, and Marie-Anne Popp, CFO at Delivery Hero. Following a brief presentation, we will open the floor for Q&A. Please note that we will be publishing our full year results on Thursday, and we will be hosting an analyst call on the day. We will therefore not be commenting on business performance or provide 2026 guidance for the Delivery Hero group today. I will now turn the call over to Niklas. Please go ahead.
Thank you, Andrea, and thank you all for joining us today. We are pleased to announce the divestment of our food delivery operations in Taiwan to Grab for $600 million in cash. This marks a decisive first step in the strategic review we announced back in mid-December 2025. While our operational performance remains strong, we recognize that public markets have not fully reflected the intrinsic value of our global operations. This is our fifth asset monetization to date, and it allows us to crystallize fundamental value for a market-leading asset. Executing a successful carve-out like this is no easy feat, and I like to thank the team for many long nights over the past nine months. The negotiations had many ups and downs, but the outcome is good for both Grab and Delivery Hero.
Let me now hand over to Marie-Anne to brief us on the transaction details.
Thanks, Niklas. Let's look at what it means for our financials, balance sheet, and capital structure. In full- year 2025, the Taiwan business generated a GMV of EUR 1.5 billion, representing around 3% of the group's total GMV. This move significantly strengthens our capital structure, reducing our net leverage from approximately 2.7 x to 2.2 x. We anticipate the transaction will close in the H2 of 2026, subject to the usual regulatory approvals. To ensure a seamless decoupling from our global infrastructure, Delivery Hero will provide support services for a migration period of up to 12 months following the close. While Taiwan is a decisive first step, it is just one of several ongoing reviews. To protect the integrity of these processes, we will not provide interim updates. We will inform the market only when definitive agreements are signed.
With that, we can move on to questions. Operator, please go ahead.
Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, we will now begin the Q&A session. For those of you who have joined the Zoom webinar, if you have a question, we ask that you please use the raise hand function at the bottom of your Zoom screen. Once called upon, please unmute your audio and ask your question. If you have dialed in, please press star nine to enter the queue, and star six to unmute once called upon. Our first question comes from Joe Barnet-Lamb from UBS. Please unmute your line and ask your question.
Excellent. Thank you very much for taking my question. I'll open with one and get back into the queue. Yeah, I just wanted to start with regard to your balance sheet. You obviously announced the issuance of a term loan a week or so back. There's been substantial debate in the market as to why you felt the need to issue $1.4 billion, $600 million or so more than the converts you explicitly stated you would buy back. The company line seemed to be sort of prudent balance sheet management. I think many investors struggled to get their heads around that, and obviously, that debate is only going to be exacerbated with an additional $600 million eventually coming from this sale.
Can you give us a bit of an explanation for sort of the size of the term loan issuance, and maybe more broadly, why you feel the need to sit on such a substantial cash balance? Thank you very much.
Sure. Yes. We have obviously raised the term loan, you know, a week ago. We're now expecting $600 million from this transaction. I think the explanation for that would be, you know, similar and in line with what we said previously to focus on repaying existing debt, and overall, you know, strengthening our capital structure. With that, you know, with those amounts in our balance sheet, we deem that we can remain flexible, we can remain well prepared to respond to future opportunities or challenges, and this supports the long-term interests of the company and the stakeholders. I would say that's very much in line with what we communicated previously to overall, you know, optimize our debt structure, reduce it, and strengthen the capital structure.
Thank you. Our next question comes from Monique Pollard from Citi. If you'd like to unmute your line and ask your question.
Oh, hi. Can you hear me?
Yes.
Oh, hi. I just had one question, if I can. It was just around the profitability of that Taiwanese business and how we should think about the business going forward without it in. I understand it's positive EBITDA before central cost. Should we think that the sort of net EBITDA impact is immaterial for losing that business? Are there any fees that you will get for the 12 months in which you help with the kind of service agreement of the asset? Thank you.
Yes. If we think about 2026, we indeed expect the impact to be marginal. As mentioned on a country level, Taiwan contributes to adjusted EBITDA. When you include the platform cost allocation, the impact is marginal. That's the way to think about 2026. As mentioned, we expect to continue to provide Taiwan with technology for 2026 and the most part of 2027. That would follow you know, a normal approach to transitional services. Again, that would mean that the impact on the EBITDA and cash flow would be marginal for those years that, or for the period where we provide those transitional services. I think if you think beyond that, you know, that's obviously then quite a while.
We would expect to have managed to adjust the cost level to the size of the business at that point in time. Again, I think, you know, think about it as a marginal effect.
Thank you. Very clear.
Thank you. Our next question is from Luke Holbrook, from Morgan Stanley. Please unmute your line and ask your question.
Yeah. Good afternoon, everyone. Thanks for taking my question, and congrats on getting the deal announced. Mine is just really on how you're thinking about the multiple and the value that Grab has paid compared to what Uber was effectively announced to be paying 18 months or so ago. Just trying to get your thinking on how that's changed and the multiple for this deal size. Thank you.
Do you want to take this Niklas, or shall I go ahead?
Sorry, I was on mute.
No.
I'm happy to take it. Repeat the answer.
No worries.
Every deal has certain uniqueness in it. Of course, and then the market is always different now versus back then. I think the biggest difference we have here is that Uber was and still is operating in the market. For them, this would have been incremental gross profit contribution and so on. Therefore, of course, more value in that in-market consolidation than someone now entering the market. If you look at someone entering market, you have to look at the value of that business as a standalone, so versus integrating into an existing business. Yeah.
We think, and given the market environment and both multiple contractions and war and other things going on, I think we managed to agree on a good deal that is good both for Grab, and it leaves them a lot of upside going forward, but also a good deal for us. That is significantly incremental to at least the way Delivery Hero is valued today. I think we can both be very happy with the outcome of the deal.
Thanks, Niklas.
Thanks.
Thank you. As a reminder, if you would like to ask a question, please use the raise hand feature. If you have dialed in, please press star nine. Once you've been invited to ask your question, please unmute and ask your question. Our next question comes from Joe Barnet-Lamb from UBS. If you'd like to unmute your line and ask your question.
Excellent. Thank you for allowing me back in. Just so you referenced that Taiwan's small, adjusted EBITDA is positive precentral cost allocation, and you gave some color on total adjusted EBITDA in answer to Monique's question. My understanding is there's a major tech hub in Singapore, and obviously, the business of that service is sort of somewhat dwindling. I guess the premise of my question is: Is there a degree to which the sale of Taiwan potentially unlocks sort of a larger evolution in central costs and tech costs over time? If you give a little bit more color on the evolution of central costs would be great. Thank you.
Yeah. I mean, I think as mentioned, right, for the transition period, you know, that technology and product support will still be existing and be provided to the Taiwan hub, right? I think that, you know, very much continuously the ongoing support to the hub that we have right now. I think over time, you know, there will definitely be a process of adjusting the operations of that hub, right? I think again, for now, we, you know, we have to reach the closing point of the transaction, and then we have to move into the post-closing migration period, which is designed to last up to 12 months.
I think, you know, it is definitely a topic to obviously size the activities and operations of our tech hubs to the businesses they serve, but it's also an ongoing process as we still will have to continue to support that business for quite a while.
Thank you. Our next question is from Silvia Cuneo, from Deutsche Bank. Please unmute your line and ask your question.
Thanks. Good afternoon, everyone. Just wanted to ask a question, if you could tell us a little bit more about your market position in Taiwan versus competitors, right now, just, as a way to get a little bit of extra background, as that would be helpful to understand the context for valuation of assets in the current market and the potential for the remaining portfolio. Yeah, like, what can you tell us about your Taiwan's position?
I think we have a very strong position in the Taiwan market. The business has been operating very well. Over the last couple of years, we have also significantly improved our profitability in the market. I don't know, we believe to have a very strong position in the market. There are some geographical differences. I don't know, with our main competitor, Uber, there will be some areas where they will be slightly larger, and there will be some areas where we will be larger. But I think overall, we have a very strong position.
This concludes the Q&A session. I will now hand back to Niklas Östberg for closing remarks.
Yeah. Well, thank you everyone for listening in. Yeah, thank you also for everyone who's been working hard on this. It's a first good step. Also a big thanks to the Taiwan team for having built a tremendous business. I believe there is a very exciting future ahead of you. I think Grab is an excellent owner. Yeah. Thank you very much, everyone.