Feb 9 Reuters Uber Technologies Inc on Wednesday reported its second quarterly operating profit as demand for its ridehailing service approached prepandemic levels and its food delivery business turned profitable for the first time.

Shares were up nearly 6 in afterhours trading.

The company39;s firstquarter outlook fell short of Wall Street expectations as the Omicron coronavirus variant dampens travel, but Uber Chief Executive Dara Khosrowshahi said business had started picking up into February.

While the Omicron variant began to impact our business in late December, mobility is already starting to bounce back, with gross bookings up 25 monthonmonth in the most recent week, Khosrowshahi said in a statement.

Uber39;s earnings release came shortly before the company39;s firstever investor day, to be held on Thursday in New York. Executives on Wednesday said they would provide more details on their longterm strategy and how Uber could expand its current business.

For the fourth quarter of 2021, Uber reported 5.8 billion in revenue.

The Californiabased company reported adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, a measure that excludes onetime costs, primarily stockbased compensation, of 86 million for the quarter ended Dec. 31, significantly ahead of analyst expectations for 62 million.

That compared with a loss on the same basis of 454 million a year ago. It marked the company39;s second profitable quarter since it first reported…