(Reuters) – Uber reported on Wednesday of a profit below expectations for the fourth quarter, due to the increase in costs, while the US online taxi operator announced to anticipate reservations in the first quarter lower than estimates.

It was down 7% in foreign trade.

The total cost and Uber expenses increased by 20.5% to 11.19 billion dollars, an operating profit of $ 770 million, much lower than the estimates of a profit of 1.22 billion dollars.

The group also expects raw reservations in the first quarter to be between $ 42 and $ 43.5 billion, taking into account an estimated impact at 5.5 percentage points due to the vigor of the dollar.

Analysts expect reservations of $ 43.42 billion.

Uber director general Dara Khosrowshahi said the group planned to stimulate growth in 2025 by offering customers better prices, notably by slowing down insurance costs.

“To maximize the request, we remain determined to maintain prices as low as possible, by repercussions only the increases in insurance costs on consumers,” he said in a press release, adding that it is waited until Uberx prices in the United States are increasing slightly in 2025.

Uber’s turnover has nevertheless exceeded analysts’ expectations to reach $ 11.96 billion (11.48 billion euros), the group having benefited from the stability of demand for car transportation services With driver (VTC) and a good holiday season for his delivery activities.

The group, which already dominates the North American VTC market, now seeks to convince investors that it has additional growth margin by attracting more companies and adolescents to its platform, as well as developing on less saturated markets.

The Uber service for companies has increased a 50% increase in reservations in the last three months of 2024, in particular thanks to the return to office policies in certain companies.

‘Uber for teenagers’, the Uber service dedicated to adolescents, has recorded a similar increase and is now available in around fifty countries, including France since October.

Overall, Uber’s turnover in the VTC sector jumped 25% and sales turnover increased by 21%, both of expectations.

Gross reservations reached $ 44.2 billion, exceeding expectations of $ 43.45 billion.

In the field of autonomous driving and Uber robot taxi said on Wednesday that its partner Waymo, of Alphabet, will launch its self-circular taxi offer in Austin, Texas, exclusively on its platform next month.

(Written by Akash Sriram in Bangalore; Etienne Breban; edited by Augustin Turpin)

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