Renault among Kinaxis’s big-name signings in record-breaking Q3 for Kanata software firm

November 6, 2025

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Kinaxis signed a slew of new enterprise customers in the third quarter, fuelling record-breaking sales that prompted the firm to raise its full-year guidance for several key metrics. Kinaxis, which makes software that helps major manufacturers such as Ford and Unilever manage their supply chains, said Thursday it signed more new customers in the three-month period ending Sept. 30 than in any previous third quarter in its history. The new bookings included big names such as automaker Renault and European petroleum giant Repsol. It was Kinaxis’s second-biggest quarter ever in terms of securing new accounts, trailing only the fourth quarter of 2024. “It was a phenomenal quarter,” chief financial officer Blaine Fitzgerald told analysts Thursday morning on a conference call to announce the company’s quarterly earnings. “We don’t talk about win rates every single quarter, but we won all the major deals. I would say when we looked at any deal that was over a million dollars and the opportunities there, we won the vast majority of those. It was beyond expectations.” More and more of those new contracts, interim CEO Bob Courteau added, are with global enterprise customers that are turning to Kinaxis to help them plan for an array of what-if scenarios. “Quite simply, we’re winning the big deals in our space,” Courteau said. “There are over 14,000 prospects remaining in the vertical and geographic markets we target, and we’ve never been in a better position to win them.” Courteau sounded particularly bullish on oil and gas, an industry that traditionally hasn’t been a major growth driver for Kinaxis but has been growing in importance in recent years. In addition to signing Repsol, the Kanata firm also successfully deployed its software for petroleum giants Exxon Mobil and Castrol in the third quarter and finalized a “very significant expansion” with a top-five global oil and gas company, Courteau said. “We can’t help but be optimistic about this market,” he said. Kinaxis, which keeps its books in U.S. dollars, earned revenues of $134.6 million in the three-month period ending Sept. 30, up 11 per cent from the same period a year ago. The company turned a profit of $16.8 million, or 58 cents per diluted share – a 150 per cent increase from the net income of $6.8 million, or 23 cents per diluted share, it reported a year earlier. Fitzgerald said that in addition to landing new business that’s driving up revenues, Kinaxis has boosted its gross margins and EBITDA numbers as tools such as AI have made its software faster and more efficient at helping clients plan inventories and manage other supply-chain issues. The Kanata firm recently began rolling out AI-powered agents to all of its 400-plus customers on a 30-day trial basis through its Maestro planning software. Courteau said the company is partnering with “early innovators” in the AI space to develop a range of products it will soon start offering on a subscription basis, such as custom-made tools tailored to a client’s specific needs as well as a suite of prebuilt agents that address common queries. “I can tell you that the enthusiasm (for AI-powered products) is high,” he said. “These agents enable a new revenue stream for Kinaxis and allow for faster and better outcomes for our customers.” Later in the call, Fitzgerald said innovations in AI and new partnerships with other applications such as Workday – which will integrate real-time HR data into Kinaxis’s scenario-planning tools – are helping fuel rising demand for the company’s products, particularly among multinationals. “That’s where we’re starting to see a lot of traction that we didn’t see in maybe ’23 and ’24,” he said. “The large enterprises are back. They’re having a lot of discussions. They like our AI road map and where we’re going, and I’m confident that we’re going in the right direction right now.” The surge in new customer signings prompted Kinaxis to raise its projected full-year growth in software-as-a-service revenues to 15-17 per cent, up from 13-15 per cent that it had forecast in the previous quarter, and its adjusted EBITDA margins to between 24 and 26 per cent, up from a range of 23-25 per cent forecast in the previous quarter. Meanwhile, the company reiterated its revenue guidance, saying it expects to bring in revenues of between $535 million and $550 million in fiscal 2025. Courteau told analysts he expects the firm’s momentum to continue in the fourth quarter despite the cloud of uncertainty over the global economy. With trade wars still raging, he said big manufacturers are seeking new ways to gain more control over costs and make better planning decisions. “I think what we’ll see is a situation where customers are absolutely looking more and more for these types of (supply-chain) solutions,” he said. “We’re in a place now where I don’t think the world is going to get less complex. It doesn’t mean that people are racing to buy these applications, but when they come to the conclusion that they need it inside their business, we’re winning against traditional competitors and new entrants. I feel like we’re in a good place.” Courteau, who has served as interim chief executive since former CEO John Sicard stepped down at the end of last year, also provided an update on the firm’s hunt for a new C-suite leader. He told analysts the search “has narrowed” and the company hopes to introduce Sicard’s successor in January. “Our new CEO will be welcomed into a tremendous, ready-for-scale organization,” he added. Kinaxis shares were up $8.80, or about five per cent, to $179.43 on the Toronto Stock Exchange early Thursday afternoon.