Cirata PLC on Tuesday said its turnaround plan is ‘well underway’ as it expects growth in its second half bookings, following a ‘traumatic’ year.
This comes after the Sheffield, England-based data analysis platform, formerly known as WANdisco, almost collapsed in 2023 amid the discovery of illegitimate purchase orders.
As part of its effort to move on, WANdisco changed its name to Cirata in early October.
The firm said bookings in the final quarter of 2023 were 23% higher at $2.7 million from $2.2 million a year ag.
Bookings for the second half of the year are expected to be $4.4 million, up 7.3% from $4.1 million the previous year.
Closing cash balance at December 31 was $18.2 million, above its guidance range of $16.0 million to $16.5 million.
Following the discovery in March of ‘significant, sophisticated and potentially fraudulent irregularities’ involving one senior sales employee, Cirata, or WANdisco at the time, said its sales pipeline has been ‘cleansed and qualified’ and what remains is ‘robust and of high quality’.
But it admitted that the scandal was a ‘traumatic time for shareholders and employees’ and had a ‘significant impact’ on prospective customers and partners. Therefore, its sales pipeline is in the ‘early stages of a rebuild’.
Chief Executive Officer Stephen Kelly said: ‘[2023] has been an eventful year for all Cirata stakeholders, a near collapse of the business followed by a Herculean effort to rebuild from the ground up... Our [third quarter] and our [fourth quarter] reflect the first steps of a company coming back off the canvas.’
Shares in Cirata fell 2.7% to 72.00 pence each in London on Tuesday morning. Trading in the stock had been suspended from March until late July after its disclosure of overstated revenue. The price is down 85% over the past 12 months.
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