The top executive of Lightspeed Commerce Inc. says its latest results marked a transitional period for the company, as it reported a net loss alongside gains in revenue.
Shares of the Montreal-based tech company, which keeps its books in U.S. dollars, were trading nearly seven per cent lower during early afternoon trading Thursday after it reported a net loss of US$575 million in the fourth quarter, compared to $32.5 million a year earlier, according to a release.
Total revenue during the quarter came in at $253.4 million, rising 10 per cent on an annual basis from $230.2 million.
“Q4 was a transitional quarter. We spoke about our new growth strategy in our two core growth markets…and so Q4 was really ramping outbound reps, outbound sales reps in our two growth markets and cutting back some of the aggressive spend in the rest of world markets, our efficiency markets where the ROI (return on investment) is less from a new business perspective,” Lightspeed Founder and CEO Dax Dasilva said in an interview with BNN Bloomberg Thursday.
In March the company announced it expects to grow its outbound sales team to over 150 representatives by the end of the 2026 fiscal year.
For the full fiscal year, Lightspeed reported a net loss of $667.2 million, compared to $164 million a year earlier. Total revenue for the fiscal year came in just over $1 billion for the first time, marking an 18 per cent increase compared to the previous year.
“We’re really thrilled about crossing that billion-dollar revenue mark in F25 (fiscal year 2025) and also delivering profitable growth. Since I came back as the CEO a year ago, we’re talking about increased profitability, so delivering $54 million in EBITDA, up from about a million in the previous fiscal year. That’s significant, and of course we’re guiding to over $70 million in EBITDA for this, for this fiscal year 26,” Dasilva said.
Shares of Lightspeed are trading around 30 per cent lower compared to May 2024.
“I think for many years Lightspeed was growing on the top line. Right now, we’re very focused on profitable growth. That means focusing on gross profit and adjusted EBITDA and free cash flow,” Dasilva said.
“And so that shift, in terms of really doubling down in our areas of right to win, our two growth markets and investing in product, investing in outbound sales.”
Going forward, he highlighted “new motions” intended to help the firm deliver on its profitable growth strategy and shift its “financial profile” over the next three years.
“We have a lot of pieces that are being ramped right now in that strategy. For example, the 150 outbound reps, we’ve hired half, but they’ll take six months to ramp up,” he said.
“These are the best strategies for the company. I think everybody accepts and is excited about that, but it will take time to ramp the strategy.”
Dasilva said Lightspeed is not considering any large mergers and acquisitions at this time, but said it is always looking for “small tuck-ins” that could help boost software revenue.
With files from The Canadian Press.
