Lightspeed reports in US dollars and in accordance with
IFRS.
MONTREAL, March 24,
2025 /PRNewswire/ - Lightspeed Commerce Inc.
("Lightspeed" or the "Company") (TSX: LSPD) (NYSE: LSPD), the
one-stop commerce platform empowering merchants to provide the best
omnichannel experiences, today provided an update on its financial
outlook for the fiscal year ending March 31,
2025.
The following outlook supersedes all prior statements made by
the Company and reflects current expectations.
Since reporting third quarter Fiscal 2025 results on
February 6, 2025, several
macroeconomic conditions have deteriorated, primarily due to
heightened inflationary pressures, increased job insecurity, and
weakened consumer confidence, impacting discretionary spending
among consumers. This shift has led to a decline in same-store
sales through February and March to date. In addition, declining
small business optimism is dampening new business formation. As a
result of these factors, Lightspeed experienced significant
pressure on transaction-based revenue and, to a lesser extent, on
subscription revenue.
Lightspeed is revising its Fiscal 2025 revenue outlook to
reflect year-over-year growth of ~18%1, from the
previously expected ~20%, primarily due to these impacts on
transaction-based revenue. Despite the macroeconomic
headwinds, the Company remains focused on profitable growth and is
proactively managing costs. Lightspeed continues to expect Fiscal
2025 Adjusted EBITDA of over $53
million1,2. The Company will remain agile in
navigating the evolving environment while continuing to execute on
its core strengths—delivering innovative commerce solutions,
empowering merchants, and driving long-term value for
stakeholders.
The Company looks forward to hosting its Capital Markets Day on
Wednesday, March 26 at the New York
Stock Exchange where it will present its three year strategy and
transformational journey.
____________________________________________
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1 The
financial outlook is fully qualified and based on a number of
assumptions and subject to a number of risks described under the
heading "Forward-Looking Statements" and "Financial Outlook
Assumptions" of this press release.
|
2 Non-IFRS
measure or ratio. See the section entitled "Non-IFRS Measures" and
the reconciliation to the most directly comparable IFRS
measure.
|
Financial Outlook Assumptions
When calculating the Adjusted EBITDA included in our financial
outlook for the full year ending March 31,
2025, we considered IFRS measures including revenues, direct
cost of revenues, and operating expenses. Our financial outlook is
based on a number of assumptions, including assumptions related to
inflation, changes in interest rates, consumer spending, foreign
exchange rates and other macroeconomic conditions; that the
jurisdictions in which Lightspeed has significant operations do not
impose strict measures like those put in place in response to
pandemics like the COVID-19 pandemic; requests for subscription
pauses and churn rates owing to business failures remain in line
with planned levels; our Customer Location count remaining in line
with our planned levels (particularly in higher GTV cohorts); ~7-8%
subscription revenue growth in our fourth quarter; revenue streams
resulting from certain partner referrals remaining in line with our
expectations (particularly in light of our decision to unify our
POS and payments solutions, which payments solutions have in the
past and may in the future, in some instances, be perceived by
certain referral partners to be competing with their own
solutions); customers adopting our payments solutions having an
average GTV at our planned levels; continued uptake of our payments
solutions in line with our expectations in connection with our
ongoing efforts to sell our POS and payments solutions as one
unified platform; our ability to price our payments solutions in
line with our expectations and to achieve suitable margins and to
execute on more optimized pricing structures; our ability to manage
default risks of our merchant cash advances in line with our
expectations; seasonal trends of our key verticals being in line
with our expectations and the resulting impact on our GTV and
transaction-based revenues; continued success in module adoption
expansion throughout our customer base; our ability to selectively
pursue strategic opportunities and derive the benefits we expect
from the acquisitions we have completed including expected
synergies resulting from the prioritization of our flagship
Lightspeed Retail and Lightspeed Restaurant offerings; market
acceptance and adoption of our flagship offerings; our ability to
attract and retain key personnel required to achieve our plans,
including outbound and field sales personnel in our key markets;
our ability to execute our succession planning; our expectations
regarding the costs, timing and impact of our reorganizations and
other cost reduction initiatives; our expectations regarding our
growth strategy for retail in North
America and hospitality in Europe and our strategies for other
geographies and verticals; our ability to manage customer churn;
and our ability to manage customer discount requests. Our financial
outlook does not give effect to the potential impact of
acquisitions, divestitures or other strategic transactions that may
be announced or closed after the date hereof. Our financial
outlook, including the various underlying assumptions, constitutes
forward-looking information and should be read in conjunction with
the cautionary statement on forward-looking information below. Many
factors may cause our actual results, level of activity,
performance or achievements to differ materially from those
expressed or implied by such forward-looking information, including
the risks and uncertainties related to: macroeconomic factors
affecting small and medium-sized businesses, including inflation,
changes in interest rates and consumer spending trends; instability
in the banking sector; exchange rate fluctuations and the use of
hedging; any pandemic or global health crisis; the Russian invasion
of Ukraine and reactions thereto;
the Israel-Hamas war and reactions thereto; uncertainty and changes
as a result of elections and changes in administrations in the
U.S., Canada and Europe (including the impacts of tariffs,
trade wars, other trade conditions or protective government
actions); certain natural disasters (including wildfires in
California); our inability to
attract and retain customers, including among high GTV customers;
our inability to increase customer sales; our inability to
implement our growth strategy; our inability to continue to
increase adoption of our payments solutions, including our
initiative to sell our POS and payments solutions as one unified
platform; our ability to successfully execute our pricing and
packaging initiatives; risks relating to our merchant cash advance
program; our ability to continue offering merchant cash advances
and scaling our merchant cash advance program in line with our
expectations; our reliance on a small number of cloud service
suppliers and suppliers for parts of the technology in our payments
solutions; our ability to manage and maintain integrations between
our platform and certain third-party platforms; our ability to
maintain sufficient levels of hardware inventory; our inability to
improve and enhance the functionality, performance, reliability,
design, security and scalability of our platform; our ability to
prevent and manage information security breaches or other
cyber-security threats; our ability to compete against competitors;
strategic relations with third parties; our reliance on integration
of third-party payment processing solutions; compatibility of our
solutions with third-party applications and systems; changes to
technologies on which our platform is reliant; our ability to
effectively incorporate artificial intelligence solutions into our
business and operations; our ability to obtain, maintain and
protect our intellectual property; risks relating to international
operations, sales and use of our platform in various countries; our
liquidity and capital resources; pending and threatened litigation
and regulatory compliance; any external stakeholder activism;
changes in tax laws and their application; our ability to expand
our sales, marketing and support capability and capacity; our
ability to execute on our reorganizations and cost reduction
initiatives; our ability to execute on our growth strategy focused
on retail in North America and
hospitality Europe and our
strategies for other geographies and verticals; our ability to
successfully make future investments in our business through
capital expenditures; our ability to successfully execute our
capital allocation strategies; our ability to execute on our
business and operational strategy; and maintaining our customer
service levels and reputation. The purpose of the forward-looking
information is to provide the reader with a description of
management's expectations regarding our financial performance and
may not be appropriate for other purposes.
About Lightspeed
Powering the businesses that are the backbone of the global
economy, Lightspeed's one-stop commerce platform helps merchants
innovate to simplify, scale and provide exceptional omnichannel
customer experiences. Our cloud commerce solution transforms and
unifies online and physical operations, multichannel sales,
expansion to new locations, global payments, financial solutions
and connection to supplier networks.
Founded in Montréal, Canada in
2005, Lightspeed is dual-listed on the New York Stock Exchange and
Toronto Stock Exchange (NYSE: LSPD) (TSX: LSPD). With teams across
North America, Europe and Asia
Pacific, the company serves retail, hospitality and golf
businesses in over 100 countries.
For more information, see www.lightspeedhq.com.
Follow us on social media: LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram,
YouTube, and X (formerly Twitter).
Non-IFRS Measures
The information presented herein includes certain non-IFRS
financial measures such as "Adjusted EBITDA". These measures are
not recognized measures under IFRS and do not have a standardized
meaning prescribed by IFRS and are therefore unlikely to be
comparable to similar measures presented by other companies.
Rather, these measures are provided as additional information to
complement those IFRS measures by providing further understanding
of our results of operations from management's perspective.
Accordingly, these measures should not be considered in isolation
nor as a substitute for analysis of our financial information
reported under IFRS. These non-IFRS measures are used to provide
investors with supplemental measures of our operating
performance and thus highlight trends in our core business
that may not otherwise be apparent when relying solely on IFRS
measures. We also believe that securities analysts, investors and
other interested parties frequently use non-IFRS measures in the
evaluation of issuers. Our management also uses non-IFRS measures
in order to facilitate operating performance comparisons from
period to period, to prepare operating budgets and forecasts and to
determine components of management compensation.
"Adjusted EBITDA" is defined as net
loss excluding interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, or
EBITDA, as adjusted for share-based compensation and related
payroll taxes, compensation expenses relating to acquisitions
completed, foreign exchange gains and losses, transaction-related
costs, restructuring, litigation provisions and goodwill
impairment. We believe that Adjusted EBITDA provides a useful
supplemental measure of the Company's operating performance, as it
helps illustrate underlying trends in our business that could
otherwise be masked by the effect of the income or expenses that
are not indicative of the core operating performance of our
business.
See the financial tables below for a
reconciliation of the non-IFRS financial measures.
Forward-Looking Statements
This news release contains "forward-looking information" and
"forward-looking statements" (collectively, "forward-looking
information") within the meaning of applicable securities laws.
Forward looking information may relate to our financial outlook
(including revenue and Adjusted EBITDA), and anticipated events or
results and may include information regarding our financial
position, business strategy, growth strategies, addressable
markets, budgets, operations, financial results, taxes, dividend
and capital allocation policy (including share repurchase
initiatives), plans and objectives. Particularly, information
regarding: our expectations of future results, performance,
achievements, prospects or opportunities or the markets in which we
operate; macroeconomic conditions such as inflationary pressures,
interest rates, the international trade environment and related
restrictions or disputes, and global economic uncertainty; our
expectations regarding the costs, timing and impact of
reorganizations and cost reduction initiatives and personnel
changes; our expectations regarding our growth strategy for retail
in North America and hospitality
in Europe and our strategies for
other geographies and verticals; geopolitical instability,
terrorism, war and other global conflicts such as the Russian
invasion of Ukraine and the
Israel-Hamas war; and expectations regarding industry and consumer
spending trends, our growth rates, the achievement of advances in
and expansion of our platform, our focus on complex, high GTV
customers, our revenue and the revenue generation potential of our
payment-related and other solutions, the impact of our decision to
sell our POS and payments solutions as one unified platform, our
pricing and packaging initiatives; our gross margins and future
profitability, acquisition outcomes and synergies, the impact of
pending and threatened litigation, the impact of any external
stakeholder activism, the impact of foreign currency fluctuations
and the use of hedging on our results of operations, our business
plans and strategies and our competitive position in our industry,
is forward-looking information.
In some cases, forward-looking information can be identified by
the use of forward-looking terminology such as "plans", "targets",
"expects" or "does not expect", "is expected", "an opportunity
exists", "budget", "scheduled", "estimates", "suggests", "outlook",
"forecasts", "projection", "prospects", "strategy", "intends",
"anticipates" or "does not anticipate", "believes", or variations
of such words and phrases or statements that certain actions,
events or results "may", "could", "would", "might", "will", "will
be taken", "occur" or "be achieved", the negative of these terms
and similar terminology. In addition, any statements that refer to
expectations, intentions, projections or other characterizations of
future events or circumstances contain forward-looking information.
Statements containing forward-looking information are not
historical facts but instead represent management's expectations,
estimates and projections regarding future events or
circumstances.
Forward-looking information is necessarily based on a number of
opinions, estimates and assumptions that we considered appropriate
and reasonable as of the date of such forward-looking information.
Forward-looking information is subject to known and unknown risks,
uncertainties, assumptions and other factors that may cause the
actual results, level of activity, performance or achievements to
be materially different from those expressed or implied by such
forward-looking information, including the risk factors identified
in our most recent Management's Discussion and Analysis of
Financial Condition and Results of Operations, under "Risk Factors"
in our most recent Annual Information Form, and in our other
filings with the Canadian securities regulatory authorities and the
U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, all of which are available
under our profiles on SEDAR+ at www.sedarplus.com and on EDGAR at
www.sec.gov.
Although we have attempted to identify important risk factors
that could cause actual results to differ materially from those
contained in forward-looking information, there may be other risk
factors not presently known to us or that we presently believe are
not material that could also cause actual results or future events
to differ materially from those expressed in such forward-looking
information. You should not place undue reliance on forward-looking
information, which speaks only as of the date made. The
forward-looking information contained in this news release
represents our expectations as of the date hereof (or as of the
date they are otherwise stated to be made), and are subject to
change after such date. However, we disclaim any intention or
obligation or undertaking to update or revise any forward-looking
information whether as a result of new information, future events
or otherwise, except as required under applicable securities laws.
All of the forward-looking information contained in this news
release is expressly qualified by the foregoing cautionary
statements.
Reconciliation
from IFRS to Non-IFRS Results
Adjusted
EBITDA
(expressed in
thousands of US dollars)
|
|
|
|
|
|
Fiscal year
ended
March
31,
|
|
|
|
|
|
2024
|
|
|
$
|
|
|
|
Net
loss
|
|
(163,964)
|
Share-based
compensation and related payroll taxes(1)
|
|
73,785
|
Depreciation and
amortization(2)
|
|
109,628
|
Foreign exchange
loss(3)
|
|
882
|
Net interest
income(2)
|
|
(42,531)
|
Acquisition-related
compensation(4)
|
|
3,105
|
Transaction-related
costs(5)
|
|
2,208
|
Restructuring(6)
|
|
7,206
|
Litigation
provisions(7)
|
|
7,470
|
Income tax
expense
|
|
3,476
|
|
|
|
Adjusted
EBITDA
|
|
1,265
|
|
|
|
(1)
|
These expenses
represent non-cash expenditures recognized in connection with
issued stock options and other awards under our equity incentive
plans to our employees and directors, and cash related payroll
taxes given that they are directly attributable to share-based
compensation; they can include estimates and are therefore subject
to change. For the fiscal year ended March 31, 2024, excluding
$1,995 of share-based compensation expense acceleration that was
classified as restructuring, share-based compensation expense was
$72,918, and related payroll taxes were an expense of $867. These
amounts are included in direct cost of revenues, general and
administrative expenses, research and development expenses and
sales and marketing expenses (see note 8 of the audited annual
consolidated financial statements ending March 31. 2024 for
additional details). These expenses exclude share-based
compensation classified as restructuring, which has been included
in the restructuring expense.
|
(2)
|
In connection with the
accounting standard IFRS 16 - Leases, for Fiscal 2024, net loss
includes depreciation of $7,946 related to right-of-use assets,
interest expense of $1,211 on lease liabilities, and excludes an
amount of $7,814 relating to rent expense.
|
(3)
|
These non-cash gains
and losses relate to foreign exchange translation.
|
(4)
|
These costs represent a
portion of the consideration paid to acquired businesses that is
contingent upon the ongoing employment obligations for certain key
personnel of such acquired businesses, and/or on certain
performance criteria being achieved.
|
(5)
|
These expenses relate
to professional, legal, consulting, accounting, advisory, and other
fees relating to our public offerings and acquisitions that would
otherwise not have been incurred. These costs are included in
general and administrative expenses.
|
(6)
|
Certain functions and
the associated management structure were reorganized to realize
synergies and ensure organizational agility. The expenses
associated with reorganization initiatives were recorded as a
restructuring charge (see note 24 of the audited annual
consolidated financial statements ending March 31. 2024 for
additional details).
|
(7)
|
These amounts represent
provisions taken, settlement amounts and other costs, such as legal
fees, incurred in respect of certain litigation matters, net of
amounts covered by insurance and indemnifications. These amounts
are included in general and administrative expenses (see note 24 of
the audited annual consolidated financial statements ending March
31. 2024 for additional details).
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SOURCE Lightspeed Commerce Inc.