The boss of data tech firm Cirata says the business has improved on "almost every metric" but has admitted the turnaround has taken a toll on staff.

Stephen Kelly, who was brought in to rescue the business in 2023, said he believed much of the hard work had been done and that FY2025 heralded a growth phase. A trading update for the final quarter of last year shows Cirata bookings of $3m (£2.4m) at their strongest since Q2, 2022 thanks to a new contract with a "top three" US bank customer.

The Sheffield company's partnerships were now said to be on a stronger commercial footing, and its engineering team now better aligned with the demands of customers. Data integration work, which constitutes 66% of the 2024 bookings total, is thought to be the future of the business with Q4, 2024 bookings of $2.3m (£1.87m).

Mr Kelly highlighted some disappointment around establishing greater sales predictability, and slippage on contract closure. Weaker than planned performance in Cirata's international and DevOps businesses resulted in a "disappointing headline outcome for Q4 and the full year".

Cash overheads were reduced by about $4m (£3.2m) at the end of the first quarter, 2025. Looking ahead, the firm wants to strike a balance between preservation of long-term working capital and growth initiatives.

Mr Kelly said: "This management team came together to drive value creation for shareholders. Phase 1 in FY23 was a company rescue phase. Phase 2 in FY24 was the recovery phase and with the recent cost reductions, this phase is completed.

"With FY25, the company is moving into it's growth phase. Q4FY24 brings to a close a year in which we have done much to rearchitect, restabilise and reposition Cirata for more predictable, sustainable growth. The business is improved on almost every metric. We are driving growth in our key Data Integration product on a significantly reduced cost base.