By coinnews 
00:00 Speaker A
Lightspeed commerce reporting at an 18% rise in full year revenue for 2025. Looking ahead, the company is expecting lower revenue growth for 2026 in the range of 10 to 12%. The point of sale system, software solutions provider saying its outlook is reflective of its view on the macroeconomic environment. Here at the closer look, we’ve got the CEO, Dax DaSilva. Dax, great to have you on here. Talk to me about what you are most concerned about in the quarters to come. I know you cite macro uncertainty for the guidance that disappointed investors today. But we’re hearing other companies that I imagine utilize POS systems like Lightspeed, that they are not as concerned about the macro environment coming forward here. So which is it?
01:17 Dax DaSilva
Yeah, thanks. Thanks for, thanks for having me. So we did see some pressure, some macro pressure in, um, in Q4, which for us is the January to, to March quarter. Uh, I think it was mostly February and March where we saw softness in the macro. But we did see, um, we did see some stabilization in April, and no further deterioration in May. So I think that the change in the guide for us or the guide for fiscal 26 is really because we’ve revamped our strategy and we’re focusing on outbound sales in two growth markets: North America retail, hospitality, building up our outbound sales teams. And that’s going to take some time to ramp. We started hiring that in January and are halfway through the 150 reps that we’re hiring to capture that growth opportunity. And so as, as we go into, you know, into fiscal 26, we’ll start to see the results of those reps on the ground.
03:11 Speaker A
And Dax, you always have interesting line of sight into the consumer and so I wanted to get more color and commentary from you on that. I mean, if you were to characterize the consumer Dax and you would compare what you’re seeing now versus let’s say six months ago, how would you characterize it?
03:54 Dax DaSilva
Yeah, I think that there is, we’re hearing a lot from businesses in retail and hospitality in North America and Europe. And there is, there has been a different, different moments, you know, a lot of talk about changes in trade policy and it does create, it does shake consumer confidence. And so, as a software vendor that serves, you know, mid-market SMB retail and hospitality, we’ve been supplying, we’ve been pitching tools in terms of analytics and insights and tools for them to be able to order directly from brands or brands in different countries if they want to optimize their spend during such changes in trade policy, as well as tools for them to be able to borrow capital to be able to expand their business in times of economic uncertainty. And that’s all to respond to changing consumer sentiment and allowing them to sort of weather a period where there is perceived instability. Like I said, we saw a lot of the impact of that in February and March, and that sort of sentiment seems to have stabilized in April.
05:59 Speaker A
Talk to me too about the $556 million impairment charge. Again, I know you cite macroeconomic uncertainty, specifically for smaller retailers as part of that. Walk me through that number and how you got to that.
06:26 Dax DaSilva
Yeah, I think that number is triggered because there was a compression in our share price, and that’s sort of an accounting trigger that has caused us to do a write-down for a goodwill impairment. But it’s a non-cash charge, and it doesn’t impact our ability to operate the company or really impact our ability to do our strategic pivot.
07:07 Speaker A
What about restaurant spending, Dax? You know, economists often make a beeline for that because it is so discretionary. What do you see in there?
07:25 Dax DaSilva
Yeah, so we primarily operate in the European restaurant space. We have an incredible position there. If you want to open a restaurant chain or you have a restaurant chain that’s pan-European, Lightspeed is the number one choice. Uh, and yeah, the discretionary spend, especially since we’re a lot of Michelin star restaurants, high-end restaurants or resorts, we see consumer sentiment really affect discretionary spend. But like I said, we saw a lot of the softness in North America hospitality where we have a smaller base and primarily in the early months of the calendar year. But like I said, stabilized.
08:33 Speaker A
Sorry to cut you off there, Dax. I just thought it was interesting to hear you talk about the shift that you’re seeing in that higher income consumer outside of the U.S. Can you talk to me a little bit more about how you’re seeing different income groups behave differently in terms of their expenditures?
09:00 Dax DaSilva
Yeah, I think that as you, as you have consumers that may have higher discretionary income, there’s a little potentially less impact to their overall spending habits. And in the U.S., where we have a smaller base of restaurants, but potentially less of the Michelin star class restaurant that we have, you know, we see a bit more of an impact when there is a change in consumer confidence and sentiment.
09:58 Speaker A
Dax, really appreciate your time today. Thank you so much for joining us.
10:03 Dax DaSilva
Thank you.