CEO confident in Wandisco performance after 2016 boardroom strife
AFTER a turbulent year for its management team in 2016, the chief executive of software business Wandisco has said he expects further progress towards profitability in 2017.
The company, which specialises in Big Data solutions for global business and also has a base in San Francisco, struggled to deal with boardroom strife last year which saw chief executive and founder David Richards leave and then return a month later.
His return in October 2016 coincided with the departure of chairman Paul Walker and non-executive director Ian Duncan.
This year things look brighter according to a trading update from the Sheffield-based firm this morning. It said that it had seen record bookings in Q4 2016 up 97% to $6.1m (£5.1m). Total bookings for the full year 2016 up 72% to $15.5m (£12.9m).
Wandisco also declared that ‘cash burn’ had been reduced to $200,000 in Q4 2016, in comparison with the $6.9m bill it received in the same period in 2015, which is said showed a significant reduction in overheads
David Richards, chief executive officer and interim chairman of WANdisco, commented:”We are delighted to have achieved record bookings in the fourth quarter of $6m and total bookings for the year up 72%.
“Additionally, operating at nearly cash flow break-even during the quarter reflects the significant action taken to reduce our operational cost base, which coupled with our improved booking performance has dramatically reduced our cash burn rate, ending the year with no net debt.
“The key focus for 2016 was to establish our partner network and during the year we successfully secured our IBM OEM agreement, as well as two significant channel partnerships with Oracle and Amazon. These partnerships are both strategically important to WANdisco as well as already significantly contributing to our bookings performance.
“We have begun 2017 with a strong new business pipeline and a significantly reduced cost base, which together, will further our progress towards profitability.”
