Feb 7 (Reuters) - Uber Technologies          forecast
quarterly core profit and gross bookings above estimates and
reported market-beating results for the holiday quarter on
Wednesday, fueled by higher demand in its ride sharing and food
delivery segments. 
    The company, which posted its first full-year profit on net
basis, is expanding initiatives like memberships, corporate
travel and advertising. Coupled with a pickup in travel, this is
helping the company improve user retention. 
    After a drop during the COVID years, travel demand picked up
last year as people stepped out more and many companies called
their employees to work from offices.
    "Uber's platform advantages and disciplined investment in
new growth opportunities resulted in record engagement and
accelerating Gross Bookings in Q4," Chief Financial Officer
Prashanth Mahendra-Rajah said.
    The company expects adjusted earnings before interest,
taxes, depreciation, and amortization of $1.26 billion to $1.34
billion in the quarter ending March, compared with expectations
of $1.26 billion, according to LSEG data. 
    Uber's gross bookings forecast of $37 billion to $38.5
billion came in higher than expectations of $37.33 billion.
    The outlook follows strong results in the seasonally strong
October-December period. Revenue increased 15% to $9.9 billion
and gross bookings rose 22% to $37.6 billion in the fourth
quarter, exceeding Wall Street targets.
    Its net profit nearly tripled to $1.43 billion, thanks to a
$1 billion net pre-tax benefit from re-evaluation of the
company's equity investments.
    Uber said revenue from its core ride-share business grew
34%, driven in part from "outsized trip growth" in Latin America
and Asia Pacific markets. 
    Delivery business revenue grew 6%, while gross bookings
growth for the segment was the highest in two years.
    "An increasing percentage of our Delivery Gross Bookings
growth is coming from trip and audience growth this year versus
pricing last year," Chief Executive Officer Dara Khosrowshahi
said.
    Monthly active platform consumers, unique users who have
completed a mobility ride or delivery order on Uber at least
once a month, rose 15% to 150 million.
    

 (Reporting by Yuvraj Malik in Bengaluru; Editing by Arun
Koyyur)