(Alliance News) - WANdisco PLC on Monday confirmed a near halving in revenue in the first half of 2023, leading to a wider loss, as the company soon to be renamed Cirata PLC faced a "traumatic time" amid the discovery of illegitimate purchase orders.
Shares in the Sheffield, England-based data analysis platform were down 5.9% to 62.29 pence on Monday morning in London. 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.
As part of its effort to move on, WANdisco will change its name to Cirata by early October. This was approved by shareholders at the end of last month and is meant to provide "a new and positive canvas where the company can build positive brand equity going forward".
On Monday, WANdisco said its pretax loss widened to USD22.5 million in the six months that ended June 30 from USD7.0 million a year before. Revenue dropped to USD3.0 million from USD5.8 million, and the company swung from net finance income of USD10.2 million to cost of USD3.8 million.
Adjusted loss before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation was USD14.8 million, steady from USD14.1 million a year before.
Looking ahead, WANdisco said it has bookings of USD2.8 million, down from USD7.3 million a year before. In the second half, it expects bookings of USD4.3 million to USD6.0 million, up by between 5% and 46% from a year before. For all of 2023, bookers are expected to be between USD7.1 million and USD8.8 million.
Following the discovery in March of "significant, sophisticated and potentially fraudulent irregularities" involving one senior sales employee, WANdisco 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".
"Sadly, very little from the past deserves preservation, except for the excellence of the technology, strong engineering, marquee customers and loyal committed colleagues," said Chief Executive Officer Stephan Kelly, who was brought into WANdisco in May.
By Tom Waite, Alliance News editor
Comments and questions to newsroom@alliancenews.com
Copyright 2023 Alliance News Ltd. All Rights Reserved.
