Uber's Q4 results

Uber on Wednesday summarised its Q4 and full year 2020 results, reporting a modest recovery in taxi service trips and a 130% growth in delivery services.

Uber shares, which have shown a strong 102.4% rise over the past six months, fell almost 4%.

Uber also gave no forecast for the next quarter and full year 2021 due to uncertain macro conditions due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshani, in comments on the report, expressed concern that the company could face a shortage of drivers once demand for the taxi service recovers to previous levels.

The company reports that there has been a rapid recovery in demand in regions where incidence rates have fallen significantly, although some business journeys are expected to be lost as many office workers have switched to a remote working from home format. At the same time, Uber has made great strides and new acquisitions, growth in partnerships and subscription programmes bode well for increased sales and profitability in 2021.

Q4 and all of 2020 for Uber

Uber reported a Q4 loss per share of $0.54.

Total revenue fell 21% to $3.2bn.

For all of 2020, Uber's revenue fell 14% to $11.14bn, but the company managed to reduce its loss by 20%.

Uber delivery services

While the coronavirus pandemic dealt a big blow to Uber's international taxi business, at the same time, it also accelerated growth in the company's other businesses Uber Eats food delivery and Uber Freight delivery.

Uber executives noted that the company's delivery business more than doubled over the year to nearly $44 billion.

During Q4, the total number of bookings of the delivery segment increased by 130% and the Uber Freight segment increased by 43%. The number of taxi service trips decreased by exactly half of last year's value, but improved compared to the previous quarter.

The company also reported that Uber Eats surpassed 600,000 in the fourth quarter.

Uber is ramping up its non-food shipments, in the fourth quarter partnering with retailers such as H&M in Canada and Seiyu grocery shops and department stores in Japan.

To reduce its costs, Uber sold its loss-making divisions. Both deals were closed in January 2021. Uber also completed the sale of its Didi shares for about $207 million.