Lightspeed eyes growth in retail and hospitality amid second-quarter loss

Lightspeed Commerce Inc.‘s chief executive says the company is now focusing on finding new growth in two key areas.
“We are going to really double down and reallocate resources … to North America retail and Europe, the Middle East and Africa hospitality, where we have the highest right to win,” Dax Dasilva said in a Thursday interview.
“Those are our biggest markets and our biggest opportunities.”
The refocus comes a little over a month since media reports surfaced claiming the Montreal-based company was exploring a potential sale. The tech firm eventually admitted it is conducting a review of its operations designed to help it with “realizing its full potential.”
Dasilva said Thursday the review has “no presupposed outcome” and he’s “open to every option,” whether that be remaining a standalone company or otherwise.
He wouldn’t say whether chatter of a potential sale has been overblown or if the company has even conducted a strategic review before.
“All I can say is that it’s business as usual at Lightspeed,” he told The Canadian Press.
His remarks came as Lightspeed reported a loss of US$29.7 million in its latest quarter compared with a loss of US$42.5 million a year ago as its revenue rose 20 per cent.
The payment technology firm, which keeps its books in U.S. dollars, said the loss amounted to 19 cents US per share for the quarter ended Sept. 30 compared with a loss of 28 cents US per share a year ago.
On an adjusted basis, Lightspeed said it earned 13 cents per share compared with an adjusted profit of four cents per share a year earlier.
Revenue for the quarter totalled US$277.2 million, up from US$230.3 million in the same quarter last year.
“We’re really happy with the quarter in terms of what we said we would be focused on in the first half which is more payments penetration,” Dasilva said.
The success of those initiatives has led Lightspeed to project that its adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization for its full year will now be at least US$50 million, up from earlier guidance for at least $45 million.
The company also announced Thursday that its capital markets day, once planned for Nov. 20, has now been postponed.
Richard Tse, a National Bank analyst, called the postponement “abrupt” and in an email to clients, hypothesized that it means Lightspeed’s strategic review “is further along than anticipated.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 7, 2024.
Companies in this story: (TSX:LSPD)
Note to readers: This is a corrected story. A previous version said Lightspeed was seeking growth in North America retail and hospitality.