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This is SK's playbook to get away with failure. Slap a shiny buzzword like "Agentic AI" onto a desperate 15p fire sale and hope investors forget three years of wealth destruction.

Let us deal with reality:

1. The AI Mirage: Cirata is a legacy data plumbing company. Typing "Agentic AI" into an RNS does not turn moving old data into Skynet. It is pure buzzword bingo designed to distract from a massive 24% shareholder dilution.

2. The "Massive" Director Buys: SK extracts nearly $600,000 a year in guaranteed cash. Yet he tossed a pitiful £25,000 into this whip round. The CEO just invested less than a single month of his own salary to bail out his own company. That isn't confidence. That's doing the bare minimum for optics.

3. The Phantom Pipeline: You bought the $21m pipeline hype? Remember 2024 when they boasted about 110 opportunities? That led to zero genuinely new business and this 15p begging bowl.

4. The Breakeven Lie: The company is not at breakeven. They posted a massive $14.4m loss for 2024 and quietly shoved the goalposts to 2026.

SK is treating Cirata like a has-been striker in League Two, shouting big words to the fans while collecting a Premier League wage packet.

You cannot pay the bills with AI marketing jargon. Watch the actual Q2 cash while Kelly goes back to running his $600,000 doggie daycare on LinkedIn.

We really should have seen this coming, because Kelly has a documented history of this exact playbook. Look at his disastrous exit from Sage. The timeline is a mirror image of the current disaster at Cirata. In April 2018, Kelly issued a massive growth warning, specifically blaming "contract licence slippage" and "inconsistent operational execution." Does that excuse sound familiar? That warning triggered a 17% share price crash, the biggest single-day drop Sage had suffered in 25 years. How did Kelly respond? According to The Telegraph, he frantically culled 30 executives to mask his own strategic failures. By August 2018, with his grand rhetoric completely failing to match the actual financial results, the board ousted him. Big talk, contract slippage excuses, slashed guidance, and a trail of mess...

I aksed my tech man about this and here's their summary:

Someone trying to link Cirata to "Agentic AI" is the ultimate act of desperation. Its buzzword bingo.

To be absolutely clear about what Cirata does. They move legacy data from onprem servers into the cloud. They are data plumbers. Agentic AI refers to highly advanced, autonomous artificial intelligence systems capable of executing complex, multi-step reasoning without human intervention. Cirata does not build AI. Claiming Cirata is an "Agentic AI" company just because they move data is like a company that makes cardboard boxes claiming to be a global e-commerce giant just because Amazon uses boxes.

Stephen Kelly is treating Cirata like a washed up striker who drops down to a struggling League Two club at the end of an average career. He arrived kissing the badge, promising promotion, and hyping up his big league experience. But three years later, it is obvious he is just here to walk around the pitch, avoid heavy tackles, and collect a massive wage packet while the club faces relegation.

Let us review the highlight reel. After the fundraise in July 2024, management boasted about "good progress" with 110 pipeline opportunities and 143 percent growth. Fast forward to June 2026. The pipeline is completely dry, the growth was an illusion, and they just diluted loyal shareholders by a massive 24 percent in a desperate placing at a pitiful 15 pence per share just to keep the stadium lights on. They brought him in as the Red Adair of tech to save the rig, but all he has delivered is Red Ink.

The most insulting part of today's RNS is his absolute lack of skin in the game. Kelly extracts nearly $600,000 a year in a guaranteed cash salary from this deeply unprofitable company. Yet in this desperate 15p whip round, he subscribed for exactly 166,666 shares. That is an investment of just £25,000. The "saviour" CEO just invested less than one single month of his own salary to save the business. He expects retail investors to empty their pockets and suffer massive dilution, while he risks virtually nothing and turns his LinkedIn into a $600,000 doggie daycare.

It looks like he already has his eyes on the exit door anyway. He is currently on a PR push to crawl back into a comfortable government job, trying to rewrite history by taking credit for digital initiatives like gov.uk. There is just one massive problem with his CV padding. The entire gov.uk platform was famously built in the open on GitHub by the Government Digital Service well before his civil service contract even started.

Taking credit for the hard work of other people seems to be his only real talent. It perfectly explains his entire strategy at Cirata. He points to recycled IBM renewals, calls them game changing turnarounds, and pockets a fortune while the company burns.

If the government actually wants to rehire a guy who dilutes loyal shareholders at 15p while risking a pitiful £25,000 of his own money, they can have him. The fans are tired of paying Premier League wages for non league performances. It is time for both Stephen Kelly and Ken Lever to resign today. Hang up the boots, Stephen.

Well, there it is. The absolute final nail in the "turnaround" coffin.

Stephen Kelly and Ken Lever have just rushed out a desperate £4.6m whip-round at a pathetic 15p per share. Let that sink in. 15p! They are diluting loyal, long-term shareholders by a massive 24% just to keep the lights on and the CEOs massive salary paid.

The hypocrisy of this management team is staggering. They expect retail investors to blindly hand over more cash, yet the entire board and senior management team combined are only throwing in £140,000. That is barely a quarter of what Stephen Kelly extracts from this deeply unprofitable company in a guaranteed cash salary every single year.

They told us breakeven was coming. They told us the IBM deal was a game-changer. The reality is they burned through the cash, missed every target, and are now wiping out our equity at fire sale prices just to fund their own survival.

Red Adair? More like Red Ink to the bitter end. Anyone buying into this 15p placing is just paying Kelly's salary for another few months while he runs his $600,000 doggie daycare.

This is a total disgrace. Both Kelly and Lever need to resign today.

As you seem to be a former sales guy at the company, can you shed any light on why, since Kelly joined, they haven't been able to close a single new customer?

We heard from one group that there was a deal with a major automotive company (GM?) that was all agreed ($5m?), and he came in and tried to double it++, so they walked and did a de minimis order. Seems like a product nobody needs any more and/or abysmal sales execution?

Correct - there are no net new customers, and that is the problem. Change is needed now before it's too late.

6. Distracted Leadership

While shareholders watch their life savings evaporate, the CEO treats his public social media channels like a personal blog for his dogs. We need leadership that spends 100% of its time closing deals and hitting financial targets, not running a $600,000 a year doggie daycare while the business burns.

Mr. Lever, your primary fiduciary duty is to the shareholders, not to shielding an underperforming CEO. By enabling this prolonged failure, you have proven unfit to lead the board.

I demand that both of you step down immediately, halt any further executive equity handouts, and allow a new leadership team to initiate a full strategic review to salvage whatever fraction of value remains.

Subject: URGENT: Demand for Immediate Resignation of the CEO and Chair

Dear Mr. Lever and Mr. Kelly,

I am writing to you today as a deeply frustrated shareholder to formally demand both of your immediate resignations.

When you both took control of this company in 2023, shareholders backed your recapitalization plan and trusted your promise of a disciplined rescue operation. It is now June 2026. Three full years have passed. The grace period is over. You cannot keep hiding behind the excuse of a "turnaround" to justify 36 months of missed targets, collapsed share value, and zero genuine growth. A turnaround that takes three years just to establish a baseline is not a turnaround at all. It is a failure.

The sheer volume of value destruction and broken promises under your joint leadership requires immediate accountability:

1. The Share Price Collapse and Wealth Destruction

Since you took the helm to "rescue" the business, shareholder value has been entirely decimated. Retail and institutional investors have watched their equity bleed out day after day. Yet, instead of feeling that pain, Mr. Lever, your board simply repriced the CEO's share options down to 22 pence to protect his potential upside. The board insulated management from the very stock collapse they engineered, leaving the actual shareholders to absorb the devastating losses.

2. The FY24 Guidance Collapse

Management spent the bulk of 2024 assuring the market that FY24 bookings of $13 million to $15 million were achievable. In reality, the company closed FY24 with just $7.1 million in bookings. That is a staggering 50 percent miss from the bottom end of your guidance and barely matches the numbers from the 2023 crisis year.

3. The Breakeven Illusion

We were explicitly sold on the aspiration that the company would exit FY24 at cash flow breakeven. Instead, you delivered a massive adjusted EBITDA loss for 2024. You then quietly shoved the cash flow breakeven goalposts all the way out into 2026. A perpetual "wait until next year" strategy is not a business plan. It is a masterclass in capital destruction.

4. Three Years of Zero Pipeline Predictability

Mr. Kelly frequently emphasized the need for sales predictability. Three years later, your own updates still describe the sales pipeline as "inherently lumpy." The business continues to survive on recycled contract renewals masquerading as growth. OEM partnership announcements like IBM sound great in press releases, but they have failed to guarantee a single dollar of actual new revenue.

5. Unjustified Pay for "Red Ink" Performance

You were brought in to be the Red Adair of the tech sector and save the rig. Instead, you have delivered nothing but Red Ink. Despite this, Mr. Kelly continues to extract nearly $600,000 annually in a guaranteed cash salary. He has pocketed almost $1.8 million in cash from a business that remains deeply unprofitable.

continues...

Fair enough, at least we agree on the core metric: no new revenue, no real turnaround.

The problem is that holders have been told to wait for "the next quarter" for three years now. While we sit here waiting for Q2/Q3 to prove whether this IBM deal has actual substance, the cash continues to drain away.

Actually, it drains straight into Stephen Kelly’s bank account. Hard to stomach a guy pocketing nearly $600,000 a year in a guaranteed cash salary while presiding over a mountain of Red Ink and zero new business.

We all want to see actual billings hit the register. But until the numbers prove otherwise, most of us expect the usual outcome from this management team: more missed targets, more excuses, and more LinkedIn posts about his dogs. Let's see if Q2 finally changes the record.

A renewal though NOT a net new customer (even though the company obfuscated it). There is NO proof at all. They are living on deals done by others years ago. That's what will eventually kill this thing. Unless we get very lucky and the big blue buys them.

Wow, did I just stumble into a Cirata boardroom presentation? You sound like you belong on the sales and marketing team.

That was a beautiful pitch, but we cannot pay our bills with marketing copy. They brought Stephen Kelly in as the Red Adair of tech to put out the corporate fire, but given the massive guidance misses and zero genuinely new business in three years, he is more like Red Ink.

Yet while shareholders eat the losses and watch recycled renewals masquerading as growth, Kelly continues to extract nearly $600,000 a year in a guaranteed cash salary. That is a massive payout for the CEO of a tiny, unprofitable business.

If Kelly has an opening on his team, you should definitely send over your CV unless you're not already inside the tent, of course. Until these technical buzzwords actually turn into cold, hard cash on the balance sheet, the skepticism here is completely warranted.

Nice try, but this is the exact same script we’ve been fed for three years.

"Wait for the next quarter." "Wait for the channel to convert." "The pipeline is building." This is the corporate equivalent of Lucy pulling the football away from Charlie Brown. Every time the "key test" quarter actually rolls around, the goalposts get shoved back again, the guidance gets quietly missed, and management blames an "inherently lumpy" sales cycle while continuing to pocket their guaranteed cash.

You say there is a "meaningful difference" between an April Statement of Direction and today's OEM agreement. For shareholders, there is absolutely zero difference, because neither of them puts a single cent on the balance sheet today. It is just more smoke and mirrors from a CEO who was brought in to be Red Adair, but has turned out to be pure Red Ink.

The fact that you are already setting up Q2 and Q3 as the real test proves the point perfectly. It is always the next quarter with Cirata. If this IBM channel was actually going to rescue the bottom line, we wouldn't need to constantly cross our fingers and hope for the future.

The definition of insanity is buying the "wait and see" excuse one more time. Until actual revenue hits the register, Stephen Kelly is just using this listing as a $600,000-a-year doggie daycare while shareholders fund the losses. Skepticism isn't just warranted here; it is the only logical response left.

Welcome to the board, but forgive those of us who have been here a while if we do not share your optimism.

They say the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. Buying into the hype of another partnership announcement definitely fits the bill.

They brought Stephen Kelly in as the Red Adair of tech to put out the corporate fire. Given the massive guidance misses and shoved breakeven targets, he is more like Red Ink.

Getting Cirata branded for IBM sounds great on paper, but an OEM agreement guarantees zero cash. Look closely at the actual sales pipeline. There is absolutely nothing new. The company has essentially signed zero genuinely new business in three years. The only revenue keeping the lights on consists of recycled contract renewals masquerading as growth.

Meanwhile, Kelly is extracting nearly $600,000 a year in guaranteed cash salary. That is a massive payout for the CEO of a tiny, unprofitable business, leaving shareholders to eat the losses while he hypes up distribution channels.

Access to IBM’s network is useless until it converts to actual billings. Until the cash hits the register, the deep skepticism here is completely warranted. Good luck, but watch the real numbers, not the press releases. Or his social media feeds, unless you are just here to watch a CEO treat a listed public company like a $600,000 doggie daycare.

Been holding $IQE through all the ups and downs, but I just added to my position.

Yesterday’s multi-year deal with Tower Semiconductor is an absolute game-changer. Not only does it finally settle that old IP dispute, but it locks our InP epiwafers right at the heart of the AI data center boom.

With the recent fundraise behind us and a clean balance sheet, the turnaround is real. Scooped up another batch around 56p. The silicon photonics super-cycle is just getting started! 🚀

Couldn't agree more! By my reckoning, Kelly's cash extraction stands at nearly $1.8 million over his three-year tenure.

Just a long holder thats finally had enough - only a voyeur previously...

Enough is enough

The Cirata "Turnaround": Missed Targets and Dog Pictures

When Stephen Kelly took the helm at Cirata, investors were promised a disciplined rescue operation. What they’ve gotten instead is a masterclass in moving goalposts, while the CEO treats his LinkedIn and X feeds like a personal pet blog.

Let’s review the actual scorecard:

📉 The Bookings Collapse: Kelly’s team pumped FY24 bookings guidance of $13M to $15M, insisting it was "achievable." The reality? They scraped together just $7.1M—a staggering 50% miss that barely matched the crisis-year numbers.

💸 The Breakeven Illusion: We were sold on the promise of exiting FY24 at cash flow breakeven. Instead, the company posted a $13.5M adjusted EBITDA loss for the year, and management quietly shoved the breakeven goalposts all the way into 2026.

🤡 The "Predictable" Pipeline: Kelly hyped up a return to sales cycle predictability to reassure battered shareholders. The actual delivery? Endless "deal slippage" and a recent admission that the pipeline remains "inherently lumpy."

And what is the CEO doing while the promised turnaround stalls and guidance craters? If you look at his X and LinkedIn accounts, you’d think he was running a doggie daycare instead of a publicly traded enterprise software company.

Shareholders don't need frivolous posts about his dogs or personal musings. They need a CEO who spends less time hunting for social media engagement and more time closing deals and honoring his financial guidance.

*I used AI to help me

This is just a ruse. The main news of this IBM partnership is months old. IBM publicly published its Statement of Direction to include Cirata Symphony back in April. Everyone knew this integration was already a done deal months ago. Today's release is just the administrative sign-off of the final legal terms, repackaged as breaking news to artificially manufacture a positive headline.

Management pulled this old trick out of the playbook to create an artificial cushion right as technical selling pressure hits. By dressing up months-old momentum as a brand-new breakthrough today, they handed us a shiny distraction to absorb the upcoming wave of liquidations. The timing is an attempt to protect the share price. Not sure it will work though. This is going to zero. No customer announcements, only fluffy dogs and letters to the PM.

To be clear this wasn't an open-market sale. It was an off-market, in-kind distribution where the fund simply transferred the physical shares directly into the private accounts of its individual investors.

However, an open-market sale is probably coming next. These individual partners may well dump their distributed shares down to the absolute penny so they can crystallize an official loss and reduce a tax bill against gains elsewhere. To claim the write-off, they must fully exit the position, meaning the immediate tax savings from dumping Cirata are worth far more to them than waiting for a price recovery.