Lightspeed Commerce reports U$114.5M Q4 loss, revenue up from year ago
Lightspeed Commerce reports U$114.5M Q4 loss, revenue up from year ago
Lightspeed Commerce reports U$114.5M Q4 loss, revenue up from year ago
Lightspeed Commerce Inc.'s new chief executive JP Chauvet, left, and founder Dax Dasilva are seen in Montreal in an undated handout photo. Chauvet unveiled his plans for the Montreal tech company a day after Dasilva stepped down from the top job. THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO-Lightspeed,
Lightspeed Commerce Inc. reported a loss of US$114.5 million as the COVID-19 pandemic hampered its fourth quarter, but the company is optimistic that shifts in consumer spending habits that come with the health crisis easing will help it recover and even reach profitability.
The loss reported by the Montreal point-of-sale technology company on Thursday compared with a loss of US$42 million in the same quarter last year.
"It was a tale of two quarters in Q4. January and February saw the effects of Omicron disrupt our selling efforts and our customer volumes," said Brandon Nussey, the company's chief financial and operating officer, on a call with analysts.
"But as restrictions eased, we saw our best month ever in March in terms of new locations added and new business brought into the company. This gives us optimism as we look ahead to a post-pandemic world."
The quarter ended March 31 is typically the slowest for Lightspeed's clients because they process lower sales volumes after the previous busy holiday shopping season.
This time, the quarter also encompassed a period where Canada and many other countries were slowly starting to lift measures imposed to quell the spread of COVID-19.
Many of Lightspeed's restaurant, retailer and hospitality clients were thus allowed to welcome increasing numbers of customers back to their brick-and-mortar locations, necessitating point-of-sale technology.
Lightspeed is particularly exposed to the effects of the pandemic because most of its gross merchandise value — a metric measuring the value of products sold through its technology — is derived from physical retail, said JP Chauvet, Lightspeed's chief executive, on the same call as Nussey.
"Simply put...the pandemic was not our environment," he said.
But Chauvet is seeing the retail environment change in Lightspeed's favour.
Restaurants are fully-booked again, GMV is rebounding and online purchases are moving back to brick-and-mortar channels, Chauvet noticed.
There is also a slew of entrepreneurs toying with new concepts and restaurants after having to shut down businesses during the pandemic. Chauvet believes they will deliver new business.
"I don't know of any restaurants here who would use a legacy system," he said. "They'll go towards platforms like Lightspeed as they open their operations, so (I'm) feeling really good."
These trends have Lightspeed predicting that it will reach adjusted EBITDA break even by the end of March 2024 and achieve revenues between US$740 million and US$760 million in 2023. Revenue for the first quarter of its 2023 financial year is expected to be between US$165 million and US$170 million.
However, there are challenges ahead.
Within the durable goods category, people shifted away from purchasing bikes, sporting goods and home improvement products and toward spending money on fashion, apparel and hospitality.
Then, there are stock woes that have festered since Spruce Point Management accused Lightspeed of hiding massive inflation and misleading investors around its growth potential in September. That contributed to a steady plunge for Lightspeed's stock, which had hit a 52-day high of $165.87 in September but sat at $26.49 in mid-morning trading on Thursday.
Exacerbating the plunge is a fall in tech stocks that is being seen across the sector as much of the globe returns to pre-pandemic pastimes and thus, spends less time online, and a tight labour market, which has pushed companies to have to sweeten employee compensation and benefits packages.
"What's happened in the broader stock market and the downstream effect of that, Lightspeed certainly not been immune to that," said Nussey. "Having said that, we've been pretty pleased with our ability to attract and bring in new folks."
Lightspeed announced Thursday that Randy Hammond recently joined as chief people officer and Asha Bakshani will replace Nussey as chief financial officer. Nussey will hold onto his chief operating officer role.
The appointments came as Lightspeed, which keeps its books in U.S. dollars, said its loss amounted to 77 cents per diluted share for the quarter compared with a loss of 34 cents per diluted share a year earlier.
Revenue for the fourth quarter of its 2022 financial year totalled US$146.6 million, up from US$82.4 million a year ago.
On an adjusted basis, Lightspeed said it lost 15 cents per diluted share in the quarter compared with a loss of 10 cents per diluted share in the same quarter last year.
-- This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 19, 2022.
The Conservative Party of Canada's leadership election organizing committee says it has disqualified candidate Patrick Brown from the race. Election committee chair Ian Brodie says in a statement the party became aware of 'serious allegations of wrongdoing' by Brown's campaign that appear to violate financing rules in the Canada Elections Act.
An emergency resolution before the Assembly of First Nations annual meeting to reaffirm the suspension of National Chief RoseAnne Archibald has failed in Vancouver.
Two young emergency room doctors, raised and trained in Montreal, are leaving their jobs after only two years to move back to Toronto – and they say the Quebec health-care model and Bill 96 are to blame.
The Crown is seeking to revoke bail for Tamara Lich, a leader of the 'Freedom Convoy,' after she appeared alongside a fellow organizer in an alleged breach of her conditions.
A man charged Tuesday with seven counts of murder after firing off more than 70 rounds at an Independence Day parade in suburban Chicago legally bought five weapons, including the high-powered rifle used in the shooting, despite authorities being called to his home twice in 2019 for threats of violence and suicide, police said.
The Bank of Canada's strategy of rapidly increasing its key interest rate in an effort to tackle skyrocketing inflation will likely trigger a recession, says a new study released Tuesday from the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives.
Canada became the first country to ratify Finland and Sweden's accession protocols to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced Tuesday.
A U.S. basketball commentator has found himself in the hot seat over comments he made about Toronto and its relationship with Black athletes amid rumours one of the best in the game could be headed north of the border.
As flight delays and lost luggage bring chaos to summer travel plans, Air Canada is advising travellers on how much time they should leave between connecting flights.
The London Children’s Museum is a step closer to building a new state-of-the-art facility on Kellogg Lane. It’s one of ten community projects in London to receive $3.7 million in federal funding, announced Tuesday.
Since 1996, Carla Alexiuk has been increasing the quilting population in northern Ontario by providing workshops, knowledge and her passion for the hobby.
The Conservative Party of Canada's leadership election organizing committee says it has disqualified candidate Patrick Brown from the race. Election committee chair Ian Brodie says in a statement the party became aware of 'serious allegations of wrongdoing' by Brown's campaign that appear to violate financing rules in the Canada Elections Act.
As police try to track down the man believed to have paved a Puslinch woman’s driveway without her permission, another person has come forward claiming to be the victim of a similar alleged fraud.
A string of serious collisions over the last few days has Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) sending a heightened warning to drivers to not let their guards down during the summer months.
There were no ambulances available to respond to emergencies in Guelph for a short period on Monday, as paramedics waited outside the hospital to offload patients.
A high school friend of B.C. teen Amanda Todd has testified he took action when he saw what he described as a “pornographic” picture of her on Facebook in November 2011.
The long-awaited Vancouver Plan is set to go before council on Wednesday after almost four years of work – and Mayor Kennedy Stewart is adding a last-minute amendment.
Chiefs representing Indigenous communities from coast to coast have descended on Vancouver for the Assembly of First Nations General Assembly — with several resolutions on the agenda that could determine the political fate of their elected leader.
The father of the Edmonton girl who was missing for nine days said he was getting ready to post another update on Facebook last Saturday when police knocked on his door.
A young man who cuts the grass at Fergie Jenkins Field — and plays baseball at a Tennessee university — could potentially be on the roster when a new inter-county baseball league franchise makes its debut in Chatham, Ont.
Benjamin Dufour, the seven-year-old boy who was gravely injured after being hit by a truck in Regina last month, has shown positive signs of recovery, according to a news release from his family.
Sharon Lloyd has been waiting 22 days for her baggage to arrive after being lost on a direct flight form Ottawa to Toronto. Gatineau, Qc.. Jul. 5, 2022. (Tyler Fleming / CTV News).
Ottawa Public Health is reporting six new COVID-19 deaths in the city in the last week, bringing the city’s death toll from the pandemic to 825 residents.
Environment Canada has issued a tornado warning for the R.M. of Kindersley including Kindersley Brock and Flaxcombe, and the R.M. of Oakdale including Coleville.
Lightspeed Commerce Inc.'s new chief executive JP Chauvet, left, and founder Dax Dasilva are seen in Montreal in an undated handout photo. Chauvet unveiled his plans for the Montreal tech company a day after Dasilva stepped down from the top job. THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO-Lightspeed,
