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Grab, the southeast Asian ride-hailing, food delivery and payments company, deepened its net losses to $815m for the three months to June and trimmed its full-year forecast over pandemic uncertainty.

The company, with its headquarters in Singapore, expects earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation to equal a loss of $700m to $900m for the full year, compared with previous projections of $600m. The forecast was due to the extension of lockdowns in several of the countries it operates due to Covid-19, it said.

However, adjusted net sales hit $550m, up 92 per cent on the same period in 2020, as GrabSupermarket and other food delivery services gained traction during worsening lockdowns across the region.

“While the Covid-19 situation on the ground is challenging, our business continues to be resilient, and we are increasing our investments in our superapp ecosystem in anticipation of the market recovery as vaccination rates improve,” said Peter Oey, chief financial officer.

The higher net loss, which exceeded last year’s $718m, was largely due to an increase in interest expense on Grab’s convertible redeemable preference shares, the company said.

Grab has now launched its third online supermarket — in the Philippines, following launches in Malaysia and Singapore. It plans to launch another GrabSupermarket in one more country before the end of the year.

Grab’s management expects demand for ride-hailing to improve as vaccination rates increase across the region.

The company said it was still on track to merge with Altimeter Growth Corp, a US-listed special purpose acquisition company, later this year. Grab is targeting a valuation of $40bn.