Ottawa earnings week: Who’s up, down, firing and acquiring?

Tobi Lutke
Tobi Lutke

Shopify:

(TSX:SHOP): $116.90, up 12.53% on the week

(NASDAQ:SHOP): $85.48, up 12.55% on the week

The Ottawa e-commerce giant’s 2017 Q1 had CEO Tobi Lütke feeling that Shopify has “hit its stride as a public company.” The firm continued its impressive growth trends with revenues of $127.4 million for the first quarter, a 75 per cent increase year-over-year. (U.S. dollars)

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The firm also took its earnings report as a chance to tout some of the new products it launched at its annual Unite conference a few weeks back, including its first foray into hardware with a new point-of-sale card reader set to launch this summer.

Espial:

(TSX:ESP): $2.30, down 0.86% on the week

Espial made gains in North America on its way to a positive first quarter. The Ottawa-based company, which develops interactive television software platforms, brought in revenues of $8.6 million in Q1, a 63 per cent increase over the same period a year ago.

The majority of this revenue ($5.1 million) came from a large increase in its North American sales channel, while operations in Europe and Asia faltered slightly.

Mitel:

(TSX:MNW): $8.62, down 10.57% on the week

(NASDAQ:MITL): $6.28, down 10.91% on the week

Kanata-based Mitel had some bad news to report this week, as the telecom firm announced it would be cutting roughly 10 per cent of its workforce (about 320 jobs all together) over the rest of the year. CEO Rich McBee told OBJ these weren’t forced reductions; rather, the move is a proactive look at how to optimize Mitel’s performance as it merges its cloud and traditional enterprise divisions.

The earnings report saw a slight drop-off for Mitel, with revenues of $223.1 million for the first quarter, a $10-million decrease from 2016. The firm also posted a net loss of $19.7 million.

WiLAN:

(TSX:WIN): $2.15, down 21.53% on the week

WiLAN – soon to become Quarterhill – suffered a few “lumps” in the road this past quarter, as revenues stood at $7.6 million, down from $30.2 million a year ago. Interim CEO Shaun McEwan attributed the variability in the Ottawa firm’s results to the unpredictability of signing licences.

On the positive side, WiLAN announced the acquisition of Viziya, a software firm in the industrial Internet of Things sector that the company is looking to pivot into. The deal, valued at $40.5 million, is subject to approvals.

Kinaxis:

(TSX:KXS): $86.00, up 4.15% on the week

Executives at Ottawa’s Kinaxis were confident in the firm’s earnings report this past week, pointing to successful partnerships such as those with its channel partner Deloitte as a key to future growth.

Revenues were up for Kinaxis in Q1, coming in at $32.5 million, a 20 per cent increase year-over-year.

“The majority of our booked-customer business in Q1 is from our partners. That’s new … That’s a sign we’re on the right track,” CEO John Sicard told investors and analysts on Thursday’s earnings call.

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