WAND.L Regulatory News (WAND)

26 June 2023

WANdisco plc

("WANdisco" or the "Company")

Turnaround Plan Momentum

· Interim Non-Executive Chair, Ken Lever, to engage in an open process to become permanent Non-Executive Chair upon successful completion of the fundraise.

· Stephen Kelly and Ijoma Maluza interim roles to become permanent, conditional on completion of a $30m issue of ordinary shares.

· Further cost savings achieved, improving visibility towards cash-flow break-even.

· New customer win with Accenture, supporting a leading Australian bank's data modernization program.

· Pipeline refresh provides increasing confidence in execution of the Turnaround Plan.

WANdisco (LSE: WAND), the data activation platform is pleased to confirm that, following the successful passing of both recent General Meeting resolutions with 97.8% shareholder support, it continues to make good progress towards the launch of a $30m issue of ordinary shares (the "Equity Issue"). A successful Equity Issue will be a key step towards lifting the current suspension of the Company's shares. The re-establishment of admission to trading on AIM will further help to restore partner, customer and employee confidence in the Company. Further updates on this process will be provided in due course but the Company is pleased to confirm the following today:

· Board Update

Conditional on the successful completion of an Equity Issue, the Board is delighted to announce that Stephen Kelly and Ijoma Maluza have agreed that their current interim roles will become permanent, upon which they will join the Board. In addition, Interim Non-Executive Chair Ken Lever will engage in a process to become permanent Non-Executive Chair on completion of the fundraise. The team is committed to seeing the Company through the Turnaround Plan and beyond. 

Furthermore, the Company is also encouraged by the progress it continues to make with its Turnaround Plan workstreams and in its commercial engagements. Of particular note:

· Further reduction in cost base

On 15 May, the Company announced that it had reduced WANdisco's annualized cost base from $41 million to circa $25 million. The Board now expects to bring down the annualized run rate overhead cost for 2024 to $22-23 million. Management believes this provides a realistic foundation for an accelerated path to cash-flow break-even. 

· Commercial momentum

The Board is pleased to confirm that commercial activities with customers, prospective customers and partners have resumed and returned to a level of engagement in line with the ambitions of its Turnaround Plan, giving the Company increasing confidence in its growth ambitions. This resumption follows the strong support customers and partners have expressed in the proposed governance and control changes as well as in the 'Equity Issue', 'FY22 Audit Completion' and 'Share Suspension Lifting' milestones of the Turnaround Plan.

As evidence of this, WANdisco has today announced a new two-year agreement valued at $113,125 with Accenture, which will use WANdisco Data Migrator to support the data modernization program for a leading Australian bank.

· Pipeline testing and confidence

As announced on 15 May, steps have been taken to review the existing pipeline as part of ensuring proper alignment with the Board's internal forecasts for funding and cashflow requirements. The cleansing of the pipeline combined with the re-engagement of commercial activity with customers, prospects and partners has given the Board improved visibility and confidence in the rebuild of the pipeline in H223, aligned with its Turnaround plan. The pipeline building during H223 will be a key milestone to support the Company's accelerated growth plans in FY24 as it progresses towards cash-flow break-even.

· Rebranding and change of company name

On 9 June 2023 the Company noted that it intended to commence work to propose a change of the Company's name at WANdisco's upcoming Annual General Meeting ("AGM"). This change is part of a broader update to the Company's overall brand to best reflect the values and vision embodied in the Turnaround Plan, including but not limited to improvements in disclosure, governance, and the Board's future ambitions for the Company. The Company is pleased to confirm that this rebranding workstream is progressing well and in-line with its anticipated AGM approval timeline. 

Ken Lever, Interim Non-Executive Chair of WANdisco said:

"I am pleased with the progress we continue to make across key parts of our Turnaround Plan. Our ability to further control costs, cleanse our pipeline and restore the faith, trust and engagement of our customers and partners are significant achievements and should enhance shareholder confidence in the Company's future. We have come a long way since the dark day of the 9th March and I want to thank every employee and stakeholder for the part they have played in delivering such concrete achievements.

Now, attention turns to the most significant of all milestones in our Turnaround Plan: the execution of an Equity Issue to underpin our future ambitions for the Company. Further announcements on this workstream will be made in due course. I hope shareholders share my delight that we now have a world class management team who have committed to lead the Turnaround Plan on successful completion of an Equity Issue."

This announcement contains 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 WANdisco plc is Larry Webster, Company Secretary 

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About WANdisco

WANdisco is the data activation platform for accelerating digital transformation at scale. WANdisco makes infinite data actionable across clouds and enterprises in real time. WANdisco customers unleash the business value of the cloud with zero downtime, data loss, or disruption to fuel AI and machine learning, create new services, and transform businesses. For more information about WANdisco, visit www.wandisco.com