Southeast Asia-based super app Grab Holdings Ltd is preparing its largest round of layoffs since the pandemic, Bloomberg reported on Tuesday.

The reductions are set to be announced as soon as this week and are likely to surpass a 2020 round that shrank staff by 5 percent or about 360 employees, the newswire reported, quoting people familiar with the matter. The final number is under discussion and could fluctuate as conditions change, the report added.

While the NASDAQ-listed company leads Southeast Asia’s ride-hailing and delivery markets, it has yet to reach profitability.The Singapore-headquartered company still spends on growth as it faces competition from rivals such as Indonesia’s GoTo Group.

Grab reduced its losses and pledged to report a profit on an adjusted basis by the final quarter of this year, according to earlier reports.

The cuts suggest Grab is “succumbing to investor pressure for faster cost reduction”, Bloomberg added.

Grab has been slower to slash expenses than regional competitors. As GoTo and Singapore’s Sea Ltd eliminated thousands of jobs last year, Grab refrained from mass layoffs.

It added more than 3,000 employees in 2022, largely because of its acquisition of supermarket chain Jaya Grocer, taking its total headcount north of 11,000, the report added.

Grab has yet to response to Technode Global’s query at press time.

Grab could also be facing potentially slowing growth as customers grapple with a higher rate of inflation and rising interest rates. The company reported a narrower quarterly loss last month, it said its gross merchandise value grew just 3 percent in the three months through March, down from 24 percent for the full-year 2022, the report added.

Grab’s adjusted losses before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization in the first quarter narrowed to $66 million. On a net income basis, it is further away from profitability. In the first quarter, its net loss narrowed to $244 million from $423 million a year earlier.

Last month, Grab said it is ‘on track’ to achieve breakeven by the fourth quarter after its losses narrowed in the first quarter.

The group also said then it has revised up its full year adjusted EBITDA guidance range by $80 million to $90 million.

Grab says ‘on track’ to achieve breakeven by 4Q after losses narrow in 1Q