By Alastair Sharp
TORONTO, Oct 31 (Reuters) - Shopify Inc SHOP.TO posted a 72-percent increase in third-quarter revenue as the fast-growing Canadian retail software company reported an adjusted profit for the first time as a public company and increased its fourth quarter forecasts.
The company is fending off criticism from short-seller Andrew Left of Citron Research, who has complained about payments to bloggers and others who get merchants to sign up to Shopify's commerce platform. said it signed up another record batch of new merchants in the three months to Sept. 30, adding to the more than half a million customers who use its commerce software.
The Ottawa-based company's net loss on an unadjusted basis was $9.4 million, or 9 cents per share in the quarter, compared to a loss of $9.1 million, or 11 cents per share, a year earlier.
On an adjusted basis, it made 5 cents a share, handily beating the average analyst estimate for a loss of 2 cents a share. It is the first adjusted operating profit the company has reported since going public in May 2015.
Revenue was $171.5 million, which also exceeded analyst expectations for sales of $166.4 million, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.
Subscriptions services made up $82.4 million of that, while merchant solutions added $89 million.
Shopify mostly serves small and medium-sized online businesses with services that include payment processing and inventory management and shipping solutions. It also is building a higher-end service for larger customers.
The company said its Shopify Capital program issued $44.1 million in merchant cash advances in the quarter, almost triple the amount from a year earlier and bringing the total advanced since April last year to more than $130 million.
It said it now expects to report revenue of between $206 million and $208 million in the fourth quarter, with an operating loss of between $12.5 million and $14.5 million and adjusted income excluding stock-based compensation and related payroll taxes of between $2 million and $4 million.