Kinaxis (TSE:KXS) reported what management described as a record-setting fourth quarter and a stronger-than-expected fiscal 2025, driven by accelerating Annual Recurring Revenue (ARR) growth, record incremental bookings, and improved profitability. The company also introduced more detail on its agentic AI product strategy and a new “Next-Gen Pricing” framework designed to monetize increased AI-driven usage of its Maestro platform.
Leadership updates and strategic focus
Chief Executive Officer Razat Gaurav, who recently joined the company, said he was attracted to Kinaxis by its position in supply chain software, its leadership in AI-powered planning and orchestration, and the organization’s culture and talent base. Gaurav outlined a focus on accelerating Kinaxis’ evolution from a supply chain planning solution provider to an AI-driven decision-making and orchestration platform.
Fourth-quarter results: revenue growth and improved margins
For the fourth quarter, Fitzgerald reported total revenue of $144.2 million, up 16% year-over-year (or 14% in constant currency). SaaS revenue was $97.2 million, up 19% (16% in constant currency), which management attributed to strong momentum in new business wins throughout the year, including record levels in the fourth quarter.
Professional services revenue grew to $40.0 million, up 14%, which Fitzgerald said was stronger than expected due to higher realized rates as the company works to ensure pricing reflects “premium services.” He added that Kinaxis continues shifting more implementation work to system integrator partners, noting partners participated in almost 70% of new customer implementations won by the direct sales team in 2025.
Kinaxis posted gross profit of $94.3 million, up 26%, with gross margin improving to 65% from 61% a year earlier. Software margin increased to 78% from 73%, which Fitzgerald attributed largely to more efficient software delivery, with additional improvement expected as the company completes its migration to the public cloud. Professional services gross margin was 32%, up from 29%.
Adjusted EBITDA rose 19% to a quarterly record $37.6 million, with adjusted EBITDA margin at 26%. Fitzgerald also reported a quarterly profit of $19.5 million, compared with a loss of $16.3 million in the prior-year quarter that he said included one-time items. Operating cash flow was $29.9 million, up 24%, and the company ended the quarter with $324.7 million in cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments, up $26.2 million year-over-year despite what he described as an active share buyback program.
Full-year 2025: SaaS and ARR outpaced initial expectations
For fiscal 2025, management emphasized that SaaS revenue grew 17%, above the company’s initial guidance range of 11% to 13% (constant currency SaaS revenue growth was 16%). Total revenue was $548 million, up 13%, which Fitzgerald said was at the top end of guidance despite revenue shifts tied to conversions from subscription term licenses to future SaaS revenue and lower-than-expected professional services revenue earlier in the year amid a challenging pricing environment.
Adjusted EBITDA for the year grew 30% to a record $138.4 million, with adjusted EBITDA margin at 25%, which Fitzgerald said was the highest since 2019 and achieved the company’s midterm profitability goal a full year early.
ARR growth accelerated to 20% year-over-year (18% in constant currency), compared to 12% growth in 2024. Kinaxis added $73 million to ARR in 2025, including $26 million in the fourth quarter, both described as records. Fitzgerald said the progress reflected go-to-market improvements and the company’s increasingly differentiated, AI-centered product.
Bookings highlights: larger deals and expansion within existing customers
Gaurav said Kinaxis won roughly a third more new business than any previous quarter and year in the company’s history, measured by total average annual contract value (ACV) in the period. He said the number of contracts with $1 million-plus average ACV reached record levels, with 21 deals over $1 million for the year versus six in 2024. He also said the company won over 100 deals above $1 million in total contract value (TCV) over committed terms.
Gaurav highlighted customer wins in multiple sectors, including a top-five global semiconductor foundry, a major global storage company, Marathon Petroleum Corporation, and one of the world’s largest aerospace engine makers. In consumer goods, he cited The Magnum Ice Cream Company and a top-five global chocolate company. He also noted that, by the end of 2025, roughly 85% of ARR was split among four vertical markets: life sciences, high-tech, consumer products, and industrial manufacturing (including aerospace and defense).
Management also stressed the role of expansion revenue. Despite the large-account wins in the quarter, Gaurav said 55% of gross additions to ARR in Q4 came from expansions with existing customers, and for the full year, expansions represented 53% of gross additions (up from 45% in 2024). He said 2025 was the company’s biggest year ever for expansion business, aided by changes to the structure and goals of installed account teams made at the end of 2024.
AI product strategy and new pricing model; 2026 outlook
Gaurav announced the commercial launch of Maestro Agent Studio, which he described as a no-code capability for composing AI agents grounded in customers’ operating context within the Maestro platform. He said the offering embeds leading large language models including OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Google Gemini, with Anthropic’s Claude in testing, while anchoring agent behavior in Maestro’s data, intelligence, and governance. He outlined early customer use cases, including automating forecast-quality analysis, assessing demand changes and mitigation strategies, and speeding inventory risk assessment from hours to seconds.
Kinaxis said monetization will occur via a Next-Gen Pricing structure that adds “Maestro Activity Units” (MAUs) as a broader usage-based component inside subscription contracts. Customers commit to MAU bundles for the term, with commitments tied to anticipated usage such as scenarios, AI tasks, automations, plan calculations, and data exports. Management said persistent overages would require additional MAU subscriptions, and noted the model is being rolled out in phases with an expectation of refinements over time.
For 2026, Fitzgerald guided to:
- SaaS revenue growth of 17% to 19%
- Total revenue of $620 million to $635 million
- Adjusted EBITDA margin of 25% to 26%, which he called a “new floor” as the company invests in AI and go-to-market initiatives
He also provided modeling assumptions, including professional services revenue expected to grow in the low single digits and maintenance and support expected to be flat to slightly down. Fitzgerald said subscription term and license revenue is expected to grow around 60% in 2026 versus 2025 and then decrease in 2027 by roughly 25%, with most 2026 subscription term license revenue recognized in Q1 and Q4.
On spending, Fitzgerald said sales and marketing is expected to grow by high single digits, research and development is expected to grow in the high 20% range, and general and administrative expenses excluding stock-based compensation are expected to rise around 10% (with higher growth including stock-based compensation due to senior hires). CapEx is expected to be $8 million to $10 million for office improvements in Japan and internal IT refresh.
Fitzgerald also said the company plans to maximize the size of its normal course issuer bid by doubling the repurchase limit to approximately 2.8 million shares, or 10% of its float, by October 31, 2025. He said Kinaxis has already invested $54 million under the buyback and repurchased about 448,000 shares, and that at the average price paid, the increased authorization could represent up to approximately $284 million in additional repurchases over the term.
About Kinaxis (TSE:KXS)
Kinaxis Inc is a Canada-based provider of software solutions for sales and operations planning (S&OP) and supply chain management. The firm’s flagship RapidResponse product is offered on the cloud. Its capabilities include consequence evaluation and alerting, responsibility-based collaboration, high-speed analytics, and scenario simulation. Kinaxis’s S&OP solution capabilities include supply and demand planning, capacity and inventory planning, and inventory management. The firm has operations in North America, Europe, and Asia-Pacific regions.
