Shopify Announces Third-Quarter 2019 Financial Results

Third-Quarter Revenue Grows 45% Year on Year

Shopify Now Powers Over One Million Merchants Worldwide

Shopify reports in U.S. dollars and in accordance with U.S. GAAP

Ottawa, Canada - October 29, 2019 - Shopify Inc. (NYSE:SHOP)(TSX:SHOP), a leading global commerce company, today announced strong financial results for the quarter ended September 30, 2019.

“More than a million merchants are now building their businesses on Shopify, as more entrepreneurs around the world reach for independence,” said Tobi Lütke, Shopify’s CEO. “These merchants chose Shopify because we’re making entrepreneurship easier, and we will continue to level the playing field to help merchants everywhere succeed.”

“Our strong results in the quarter were driven in part by the success of our international expansion, which is just one of the many ways we are investing in the platform,” said Amy Shapero, Shopify’s CFO. “By carefully balancing these multiple opportunities that have different investment time horizons, we can keep investing in the innovations that will power merchants in the future while helping them grow rapidly today.”

Third-Quarter Financial Highlights

• Total revenue in the third quarter was $390.6 million, a 45% increase from the comparable quarter in 2018.
• Subscription Solutions revenue grew 37% to $165.6 million. This increase was driven primarily by growth in Monthly Recurring Revenue1 ("MRR"), largely due to an increase in the number of merchants joining the Shopify platform.
• Merchant Solutions revenue grew 50%, to $225.0 million, driven primarily by the growth of Gross Merchandise Volume2 ("GMV").
• MRR as of September 30, 2019 was $50.7 million, up 34% compared with $37.9 million as of September 30, 2018. Shopify Plus contributed $13.5 million, or 27%, of MRR compared with 24% of MRR as of September 30, 2018.
• GMV for the third quarter was $14.8 billion, an increase of $4.8 billion, or 48%, over the third quarter of 2018. Gross Payments Volume3 ("GPV") grew to $6.2 billion, which accounted for 42% of GMV processed in the quarter, versus $4.1 billion, or 41%, for the third quarter of 2018.
• Gross profit dollars grew 45%, to $216.7 million, compared with $149.7 million recorded for the third quarter of 2018.
• Operating loss for the third quarter of 2019 was $35.7 million, or 9% of revenue, versus a loss of $31.4 million, or 12% of revenue, for the comparable period a year ago.
• Adjusted operating income4 for the third quarter of 2019 was 3% of revenue, or $10.5 million; adjusted operating loss for the third quarter of 2018 was 1% of revenue, or $2.4 million.
• Net loss for the third quarter of 2019 was $72.8 million, or $0.64 per share, compared with $23.2 million, or $0.22 per share, for the third quarter of 2018. Net loss for the third quarter of 2019 includes a tax provision of $48.3 million.  This provision is primarily due to a one-time capital gain triggered by the transfer of regional relationship and territory rights from our Canadian entity to regional headquarters, which allows us to develop and maintain merchant and commercial operations in their respective regions as we expand internationally.
• Adjusted net loss4 for the third quarter of 2019 was $33.6 million, or $0.29 per share, compared with adjusted net income of $5.8 million, or $0.05 per share, for the third quarter of 2018.
• At September 30, 2019, Shopify had $2.67 billion in cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities, compared with $1.97 billion on December 31, 2018. The increase reflects $688.0 million of net proceeds from Shopify’s offering of Class A subordinate voting shares in the third quarter of 2019.

Third-Quarter Business Highlights

In the third quarter, Shopify continued to build for the long term by lowering the barriers to entry for entrepreneurship, extending the functionality of the platform for merchants, and enriching our offering as a global commerce operating system:

• Shopify surpassed one million merchants worldwide on our platform, hitting a major milestone and reflecting the continued expansion of Shopify’s global community of entrepreneurs.
• Shopify Fulfillment Network continued to lay the foundation for timely and affordable direct-to-consumer fulfillment for merchants that value their brands and customer experience.  With strong interest from merchants, we will continue to add select merchants and partners as we focus on high performance and optimize for the merchant experience.
• Shopify announced availability for merchants in most U.S. states to start selling hemp or hemp-derived cannabidiol (CBD) products on our platform, both online or in brick-and-mortar retail locations.
• Shopify launched the Shopify Sustainability Fund, which commits at least $5 million annually to invest in areas like carbon sequestration,  neutralizing our carbon footprint, sustainable packaging, and enabling our merchants and their buyers to participate.
• Shopify launched Shopify Chat, our first native chat function that allows merchants to have real-time conversations with customers visiting their stores and provide a better shopping experience.
• Shopify launched native language capabilities in Turkish, bringing the total number of languages in which the Shopify Admin is available to 19.
• Shopify launched Shopify Payments in Italy, expanding the availability of Shopify Payments to 14 countries.
• Shopify Shipping adoption continued to expand, with approximately 44% of eligible merchants in the United States and Canada using Shopify Shipping in the quarter.
• Purchases from merchants’ stores coming from mobile devices versus desktop continued to climb in the quarter, accounting for nearly 81% of traffic and 71% of orders for the three months ended September 30, 2019, versus 77% and 67%, respectively, for the third quarter of 2018.
• Shopify Capital issued $141.0 million in merchant cash advances and loans in the third quarter of 2019, an increase of 85% versus the $76.4 million issued in the third quarter of last year. Shopify Capital has grown to approximately $768.9 million in cumulative cash advanced since its launch in April 2016 through the third quarter of 2019, approximately $166 million of which was outstanding on September 30, 2019.

Subsequent to the close of our third quarter, Shopify completed the acquisition of 6 River Systems, Inc., a leading provider of collaborative warehouse fulfillment solutions.

Financial Outlook

The financial outlook that follows constitutes forward-looking information within the meaning of applicable securities laws and is based on a number of assumptions and subject to a number of risks. Actual results could vary materially as a result of numerous factors, including certain risk factors, many of which are beyond Shopify’s control. Please see "Forward-looking Statements" below.

In addition to the other assumptions and factors described in this press release, Shopify’s outlook assumes the continuation of growth trends in our industry, our ability to manage our growth effectively and the absence of material changes in our industry or the global economy. The following statements supersede all prior statements made by Shopify and are based on current expectations. As these statements are forward-looking, actual results may differ materially.

These statements do not give effect to the potential impact of mergers, acquisitions, divestitures or business combinations that may be announced or closed after the date hereof. All numbers provided in this section are approximate.

For the full year 2019, Shopify currently expects:

• Revenues in the range of  $1.545 billion to $1.555 billion 
• GAAP operating loss in the range of  $158 million to $168 million 
• Adjusted operating income4 in the range of $27 million to $37 million, which excludes stock-based compensation expenses and related payroll taxes of $180 million, and amortization of acquired intangibles of $15 million

For the fourth quarter of 2019, Shopify currently expects:

• Revenues in the range of $472 million to $482 million
• GAAP operating loss in the range of $47 million to $57 million
• Adjusted operating income4 in the range of $10 million to $20 million, which excludes stock-based compensation expenses and related payroll taxes of $57 million, and amortization of acquired intangibles of $10 million

Quarterly Conference Call

Shopify’s management team will hold a conference call to discuss our third-quarter results today, October 29, 2019, at 8:30 a.m. ET. The conference call will be webcast on the investor relations section of Shopify’s website at https://investors.shopify.com/events/Events-Presentations/default.aspx. An archived replay of the webcast will be available following the conclusion of the call.

Shopify’s Third-Quarter 2019 Interim Unaudited Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements and Notes and its Third-Quarter 2019 Management’s Discussion and Analysis are available on Shopify’s website at www.shopify.com, and will be filed on SEDAR at www.sedar.com and on EDGAR at www.sec.gov.

About Shopify

Shopify is a leading global commerce company, providing trusted tools to start, grow, market, and manage a retail business of any size. Shopify makes commerce better for everyone with a platform and services that are engineered for reliability, while delivering a better shopping experience for consumers everywhere. Headquartered in Ottawa, Canada, Shopify powers over one million businesses in more than 175 countries and is trusted by brands such as Allbirds, Gymshark, PepsiCo, Staples, and many more. For more information, visit www.shopify.com.

Non-GAAP Financial Measures

To supplement our consolidated financial statements, which are prepared and presented in accordance with United States generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP), Shopify uses certain non-GAAP financial measures to provide additional information in order to assist investors in understanding our financial and operating performance.

Adjusted operating income (loss), non-GAAP operating expenses, adjusted net income (loss) and adjusted net income (loss) per share are non-GAAP financial measures that exclude the effect of stock-based compensation expenses and related payroll taxes and amortization of acquired intangibles and related taxes.

Management uses non-GAAP financial measures internally for financial and operational decision-making and as a means to evaluate period-to-period comparisons. Shopify believes that these non-GAAP measures provide useful information about operating results, enhance the overall understanding of past financial performance and future prospects, and allow for greater transparency with respect to key metrics used by management in its financial and operational decision making. Non-GAAP financial measures are not recognized measures for financial statement presentation under U.S. GAAP and do not have standardized meanings, and may not be comparable to similar measures presented by other public companies. Such non-GAAP financial measures should be considered as a supplement to, and not as a substitute for, or superior to, the corresponding measures calculated in accordance with GAAP. See the financial tables below for a reconciliation of the non-GAAP measures.

Forward-looking Statements

This press release contains certain forward-looking statements within the meaning of applicable securities laws, including statements regarding Shopify’s financial outlook and future financial performance. Words such as "expects", "continue", "keep", "will", "anticipates" and "intends" or similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements.

These forward-looking statements are based on Shopify’s current projections and expectations about future events and financial trends that management believes might affect its financial condition, results of operations, business strategy and financial needs, and on certain assumptions and analysis made by Shopify in light of the experience and perception of historical trends, current conditions and expected future developments and other factors management believes are appropriate. These projections, expectations, assumptions and analyses are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties, assumptions and other factors that could cause actual results, performance, events and achievements to differ materially from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements. Although Shopify believes that the assumptions underlying these forward-looking statements are reasonable, they may prove to be incorrect, and readers cannot be assured that actual results will be consistent with these forward-looking statements. Actual results could differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements as a result of numerous factors, including certain risk factors, many of which are beyond Shopify’s control, including but not limited to: (i) merchant acquisition and retention; (ii) managing our growth; (iii) our history of losses; (iv) our limited operating history; (v) our ability to innovate; (vi) a disruption of service or security breach; (vii) payments processed through Shopify Payments; (viii) our reliance on a single supplier to provide the technology we offer through Shopify Payments; (ix) the security of personal information we store relating to merchants and their customers, and consumers with whom we have a direct relationship; (x) evolving privacy laws and regulations, cross-border data transfer restrictions, data localization requirements and other domestic or foreign regulations; (xi) our potential inability to hire, retain and motivate qualified personnel; (xii) international sales and the use of our platform in various countries; and (xiii) other one-time events and other important factors disclosed previously and from time to time in Shopify’s filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and the securities commissions or similar securities regulatory authorities in each of the provinces or territories of Canada. The forward-looking statements contained in this news release represent Shopify’s expectations as of the date of this news release, or as of the date they are otherwise stated to be made, and subsequent events may cause these expectations to change. Shopify undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as may be required by law.