Talabat Boosts Full-Year Outlook as MENA Markets Surge in Q2 2026

Talabat has put in a solid second quarter for 2026 and, on the back of that, lifted its full-year guidance across all five of its main performance measures. For anyone watching the MENA startup and tech scene, that is not a small thing. At Arageek, we often see companies talk a big game about scale, but turning that into healthy margins and cash flow is where the rubber hits the road.

The Dubai-headquartered company said its first-half performance came in ahead of its own full-year expectations, helped by steady underlying growth and strong free cash flow generation. Gross merchandise value, or GMV, rose 11% year on year in Q2 on a reported basis, and 12% at constant currency. There was a calendar wrinkle, though: Eid al-Fitr came ten days earlier this year, which boosted the first quarter and made the Q2 2025 comparison look tougher. Adjusted for that shift, Talabat said underlying Q2 growth was around 15%, in line with the wider first-half trend.

That matters because it suggests the momentum was not just a quirk of timing. And believe it or not, in a region where seasonality can sometimes make quarterly figures a bit of a faff to read, that extra context is pretty spot on.

Talabat’s strategic investment plan for 2026, a board-approved programme worth USD 120 million, is also moving ahead as planned. The money is aimed at building out its “everyday app” model, with roughly USD 75 million set aside for operating spend and USD 45 million for capital expenditure. The focus is on expanding talabat mart dark-store density and supply chain infrastructure, widening talabat pro’s cross-vertical benefits, and adding new retail and nearby service offerings. By the end of the first half, close to USD 58 million had already been deployed across operating, capital and lease expenses.

The early signs seem encouraging, especially in Grocery and Retail, where adoption has accelerated. Talabat also said food delivery remained resilient, with the company keeping its leading position across all markets while spending less than its full marketing budget. On the flip side, lower gross profit margins did show up in the quarter, largely due to investments meant to strengthen food delivery leadership and support the broader everyday app ecosystem.

I reckon that trade-off makes sense, at least for now. Plenty of platforms say they want to become the app for everything, but the hard part is funding that push without blowing up the balance sheet. Talabat, so far, looks like it still has room to breathe.

The company generated USD 162 million in free cash flow during the second quarter and USD 266 million in the first half. Its financial position was strong enough for it to begin a share buyback programme approved by shareholders at the April 2026 annual general meeting. As of 12 August 2026, Talabat had repurchased 108.1 million shares at an average price of AED 1.182 each, for a total cost of about USD 35 million. That represents 0.46% of its issued capital. Its dividend policy remains unchanged, with a 90% payout ratio, and interim dividends tied to first-half 2026 earnings are expected to be declared in September and paid in October.

Looking deeper into the quarter, GCC markets still made up the lion’s share of business, with GMV reaching USD 2.3 billion, up 5% year on year and accounting for 78% of the total. Non-GCC markets, namely Egypt, Jordan and Iraq, grew much faster, with GMV jumping 41% to USD 642 million and lifting their contribution to 22% from 17% a year earlier. That shift is worth watching. It gives a better sense of how regional demand is broadening beyond the Gulf, which, from a startup ecosystem angle, is often where the next layer of growth starts to appear.

Revenue grew faster than GMV, driven mainly by a bigger share of own-grocery revenue through talabat mart and stronger advertising technology margins. These gains were partly offset by lower commission rates, because Grocery and Retail now form more of overall GMV, as well as higher incentives designed to attract and retain customers.

Talabat’s operating base also expanded. Active partners increased 14% year on year to around 97,000, with Grocery and Retail partners now making up nearly one in four. Its rider network grew 25% to roughly 189,000, helping support delivery quality at scale. Multi-vertical engagement deepened too, with 75% of GMV now coming from customers ordering across more than one category, up four percentage points from the previous year.

One detail that jumped out at me, well... I mean, because it says a lot about platform stickiness, is talabat pro. The subscription service reached a 51% GMV share on the platform, which is 1.4 times the prior-year penetration rate, and more than one in four active customers are now subscribed. Partners, meanwhile, funded a record USD 404 million in customer savings in the first half, up 30% year on year. Advertising revenue margin also improved to 3.4% of GMV, up 0.3 percentage points.

Chief executive Toon Gyssels said the company had carried its strong start to the year into the second quarter. He said Talabat delivered 15% GMV growth and 19% revenue growth in the first half, alongside adjusted EBITDA margins of 4.9%, beating its own full-year expectations. Gyssels added that the company strengthened its lead in food delivery while spending less than budgeted, while its investment programme for the everyday app was already showing encouraging early results.

Talabat, founded in Kuwait in 2004 and now headquartered in Dubai, operates across the UAE, Oman, Qatar, Bahrain, Jordan, Iraq and Egypt. It serves more than seven million monthly active customers, based on figures from December 2025, and completed its IPO on the Dubai Financial Market in December 2024. As a Delivery Hero subsidiary, it also has the backing of a bigger global platform, which certainly does not hurt.

For MENA founders, there is something familiar in this story. Growth is great, yes, but durable growth is better. We’ve seen enough ventures in the region chase expansion first and sort out the economics later. Talabat’s latest quarter does not magically remove the pressures ahead, but it does suggest the company is keeping its hand steady on the tiller. In this market, that is definately worth noting.

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