NEWS Coverage

WANdisco shares jump on biggest ever contract win

April 24 2017

The company’s founder won a bruising leadership battle last year when WANdisco’s then chairman abruptly fired him after years of losses and share price declines, only for Mr Richards to return with support from big shareholders a week later.

In a first-quarter trading update on Monday, WANdisco said it had cut cash burn to zero, a step towards profitability that will reassure investors about the company’s financial reserves. It also said it had signed a $4.1m (£3.2m) deal with an “major financial services multinational”, its biggest ever contract, sending shares up by 18pc.

The Sheffield-based company, which floated on London’s Alternative Investment Market in 2012, saw its value hit £350m but shares had lost almost 95pc of their value by early 2016 amid continuing losses.

In October, WANdisco’s then chairman Paul Walker fired Mr Richards in the lobby of London’s Halkin Hotel and took charge as executive chairman before Mr Richards rallied shareholders and returned a week later, insisting the company was being turned around.

Shares have now doubled in value since last autumn’s boardroom dramatics.

Mr Richards said that the company signing larger deals “demonstrates that our technology has significant value”. He said that the company’s business selling software meant that costs would not have to rise even as revenue does.

WANdisco’s replication technology allows IT departments at companies to move large amounts of data from their own servers to cloud computing centres without having to stop operating.