Uncertainty prompts big data business to withdraw guidance for FY24 bookings
Big data company, Cirata, has confirmed it has withdrawn its FY24 bookings guidance.
The Sheffield-headquartered firm explains this is partly due to some major customers opting for one-year terms rather than multi-year terms.
It also cites some movement of pipeline opportunities and bookings expectations from Q4FY24 to H1FY25, which has caused a “sufficiently wide variation to expected outcomes” for bookings in FY24.
Cirata, which was previously known as WANdisco, had to be rebuilt following last year’s discovery of millions of pounds worth of false purchase orders made by one of its senior sales employees.
Stephen Kelly, CEO, today acknowledged that forecasting has proved challenging for the business, even as it has won a data migration contract with a major bank in the US.
But he added: “Our focus continues to be on the long-term potential of our support for this top US bank, our partner IBM and our other customers.
“I thank our colleagues for getting us towards the end of the recovery phase of the company.
“We inherited a broken business from a peak annualised cost base of $45m per annum to a company exiting FY24 with a cash overhead of circa $20m per annum.
“Our cash burn in Q1FY23 was an unsustainable $11m per quarter and as we exit Q4, Cirata will be on a path towards cash flow breakeven.
“That adjustment has involved more than halving the workforce, with all the trauma that entails.
“However, our colleagues are responding to that challenge by building and hardening a differentiated product and selling successfully into one of the most demanding environments in IT.”
Cirata says it has secured a one-year term live data migrator (LDM) contract with a top three US bank, which is worth about $2m/£1.6m.
This will begin on 31 December 2024 and represents Cirata’s largest LDM contract signed so far in financial services.
Kelly said: “Cirata has set itself the challenge of delivering its LDM product to meet the needs of the most demanding enterprise technology environments.
“The announcement of the LDM contract through IBM Big Replicate proves Cirata is well positioned to meet those needs.
“We look forward to shaping a long-term relationship with this top three US bank as they build out their data architecture in response to the rapidly changing AI and Machine Learning landscape.”
