REG - Cirata PLC - Trading Update

CirataAnnouncement

09/01/2024 07:00

For best results when printing this announcement, please click on link below:
http://newsfile.refinitiv.com/getnewsfile/v1/story?guid=urn:newsml:reuters.com:20240109:nRSI0121Za&default-theme=true

RNS Number : 0121Z  Cirata PLC  09 January 2024

9 January 2024

Cirata plc

("Cirata" or the "Company")

Trading Update

 

Trading in line with management expectations

YE Cash balance exceeds expectations.

 

 

Cirata plc (LSE: CRTA), announces a trading update for the quarter period
ended 31 December 2023 ahead of reporting its preliminary results.

 

 

Trading update

 

Cirata's closing cash balance at 31 December 2023 is $18.2m compared to a
guidance of $16.0m - $16.5m. This is due to good cash collections and strong
cost management during the period.  Cirata is targeting cash flow breakeven
as we exit FY 2024.

 

The Company expects to announce that bookings 1  (#_ftn1) in Q4 2023 were
$2.7m (Q4 2022: $2.2m), representing c.23% growth year-on-year. Management has
highlighted previously some slippage in Q2 and Q3; Q4 was no exception with
transactions moving out of Q4 into 2024.

 

Cirata expects FY23 H2 bookings to be $4.4m (FY 22 H2, $4.1m) representing
c.7% year-on-year growth and within our previously stated guidance of $4.3m -
$6.0m.

 

The Company has seen sequential growth in FY23 in bookings, from Q2, Q3
through to Q4, in both Data Integration (DI) and Application Lifecycle
Management (ALM). The approximate mix of DI to ALM bookings in Q4 was 57% to
43%, respectively.

 

During FY23 H2, 8 (DI) 2  (#_ftn2) contracts were closed, including 5 new
contracts and 3 renewals. Of note are the previously announced contracts
within the Automotive sector including General Motors, and validation of the
'land and expand' strategy with a marquee financial services company, NatWest
and the landing of a new logo, Experian.

 

The pipeline build is progressing in line with Management expectations. The
focus as we exit FY2023 is to leverage the completed workstreams from the
Turnaround plan into significantly improved pipeline conversion and greater
levels of visibility for the business.

 

 

New sales organization

 

Historically inadequate focus on sales pipeline management has resulted in
some slippage of the closure of contracts.  As we have referenced in the
Turnaround Plan, which sets the stage for growth in FY24, we have addressed
many of the predictability weaknesses in the sales & marketing process.

 

Today, we announce the final step of the Turnaround plan, realigning the
Go-to-Market resources to better focus our team on the opportunities ahead and
to drive world-class selling disciplines of enterprise software. With this
realignment Rich Baker has been appointed as Chief Revenue Officer (CRO) for
International, Chris Cochran has joined the leadership team as CRO for North
America and Justin Holtzinger has begun the work to revitalize our ALM
opportunity as CRO ALM. All three business heads report directly to Stephen
Kelly, CEO. With these changes, a management layer has been removed. This
flattened, more focused structure will improve visibility around pipeline
build, predictability, and closure rates.

 

 

Stephen Kelly, Chief Executive Officer, commented:

 

"FY2023 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.
The March 9 announcement represented an existential crisis. Against all odds,
the turnaround is well underway. Our Q3 and our Q4 reflect the first steps of
a company coming back 'off the canvas'. Sequential growth in bookings through
Q2, Q3, Q4 and transacting with companies such as GM, NatWest and Experian
amplify the progress this company has made since the dark days after March
9.  We completed the FY23 Turnaround Plan and now shift gears into the FY24
Growth Plan. We are getting into our stride, but this is minimum table stakes
- we need to drive a much higher quality execution in our Go-to-Market
model. The new structure of our sales organization with the leadership of
Rich, Chris and Justin reflects a flatter, sharper, more customer focused
Cirata. My personal thanks go to my colleagues and shareholders for their
trust, diligence, and patience as we set the stage for growth in FY24. I am
excited for the year that lies ahead."

 

 

Investor disclosures

 

An accompanying video presentation of the FY23 Q4 trading update will be
available on the Company's website
(https://cirata.com/investors/reports-and-presentations) shortly after the
release of this RNS.

 

Investors should expect the preliminary full year FY2023 results update
between mid-March and mid-April 2024. Cirata will provide full year 2024
guidance for both bookings and December 31, 2024 year-end cash balance in the
earlier of the Q1 Trading Update or the FY23 preliminary results. An in-depth
review and commentary of the Turnaround Plan will be provided in the FY23
results.

 

An unaudited version of the "KPI tracker" will in future be posted on the
Company's website as soon as practically possible after the closure of the
quarter. We will continue to provide quarterly trading updates throughout the
year as soon as possible after the quarter close.

 

This announcement contains information that qualifies or may qualify as inside
information for the purposes of Article 7 of the Market Abuse Regulation (EU)
596/2014 as it forms part of UK domestic law by virtue of the European Union
(Withdrawal) Act 2018 ("MAR"), and is disclosed in accordance with the
company's obligations under Article 17 of MAR. The person responsible for
arranging the release of this announcement on behalf of Cirata plc is Larry
Webster, Company Secretary.

 

 

For further information, please contact:

 

 Cirata plc                                     Via FTI Consulting
 Stephen Kelly, Chief Executive Officer
 Ijoma Maluza, Chief Financial Officer
 Daniel Hayes, Investor Relations

 FTI Consulting                                 +44 (0)20 3727 1137
 Matt Dixon / Kwaku Aning / Usama Ali

 Stifel (Nomad and Joint Broker)                +44 (0)20 7710 7600
 Fred Walsh / Richard Short / Tom Marsh

 Liberum (Joint Broker)                         +44 (0)20 3100 2000
 Max Jones / Ben Cryer / Miquela Bezuidenhoudt

 

About Cirata

 

Cirata accelerates data-driven revenue growth by automating data transfer and
integration to modern cloud analytics and AI platforms without downtime or
disruption. With Cirata, data leaders can leverage the power of AI and
analytics across their entire enterprise data estate to freely choose
analytics technologies, avoid vendor, platform, or cloud lock-in while making
AI and analytics faster, cheaper, and more flexible. Cirata's portfolio of
products and technology solutions make strategic adoption of modern data
analytics efficient and automated. For more information about Cirata,
visit www.cirata.com (http://www.cirata.com)

 

 

 1  (#_ftnref1) All reported data relating to the Q4 and FY23 H2 trading
update are unaudited.

 2  (#_ftnref2) Data Integration solutions (DI) includes Live Data Migrator
(LDM) and Live Data Plane (LDP).

This information is provided by RNS, the news service of the London Stock Exchange. RNS is approved by the Financial Conduct Authority to act as a Primary Information Provider in the United Kingdom. Terms and conditions relating to the use and distribution of this information may apply. For further information, please contact
rns@lseg.com (mailto:rns@lseg.com)
 or visit
www.rns.com (http://www.rns.com/)
.

RNS may use your IP address to confirm compliance with the terms and conditions, to analyse how you engage with the information contained in this communication, and to share such analysis on an anonymised basis with others as part of our commercial services. For further information about how RNS and the London Stock Exchange use the personal data you provide us, please see our
Privacy Policy (https://www.lseg.com/privacy-and-cookie-policy)
.   END  TSTFLFLTLEITIIS