VANCOUVER, British Columbia—Kits Eyecare Ltd. (TSX: KITS) (OTCQX: KTYCF), a vertically integrated, digital eyecare platform, reported first-quarter results late last week that showed a record quarterly revenue of $20.4 million, representing organic growth of 42 percent from the year-ago period, and active customers exceeding 750,000 at quarter’s end. It also was a record quarter for new customer additions, the company said. Kits reported a net loss of $3.6 million in the quarter, which included a one-time IPO related costs of $0.7 million, share-based compensation expense of $0.3 million, and brand investment of $1.3 million from proceeds earmarked from the IPO.

Kits completed a successful initial public offering in January, as VMAIL reported and raised more than $40 million in the IPO process. Roger Hardy, one of the co-founders and now chief executive officer, was involved with the online eyewear brands Clearly.ca, Coastal.com and Lensway.se. The brands were acquired by Essilor in 2014.
 
In its first-quarter earnings report, Kits said it delivered 41,000 pairs of eyeglasses in the first quarter, its highest eyeglasses volumes to date. “Even at this early stage in our eyeglasses ramp-up, consumers are attracted to our unique offering of premium quality, attractive prices, and incredible convenience,” the company noted. The company also is in the midst of expanding production capacity to four automated production lines with a total capacity of 4,000 eyeglasses per day and broadening its specialty lens capabilities, the announcement noted.

In an effort to improve both revenue and margins, Kits said it has recently launched prescription sunglasses and photochromatic lenses. “In the short term, we will incur higher fulfillment costs as we scale up our expanded facility, however, in the long-term, we believe this investment will lead to significantly lower manufacturing costs and better speed of fulfillment.

"We are focused on building our optical platform into one of the largest eyecare retailers in North America and our current traction reinforces our belief that this large market is seeking an alternative to our more traditional competitors.”