Thursday, November 20, 2014

Xero's US Expansion Hasn't Gone Exactly To Plan But It's Getting Back On Track

Alex Heber for Business Insider Australia writes:Xero has just posted its half yearly results and it’s a bit of a mixed bag.
The cloud accounting company set its sights on US expansion earlier this year but it hasn’t gone exactly to plan.
Earlier this year the company said there were a number of product gaps, that its sales model needed refining and that is was having a tough time recuriting is San Francisco.
It also said it was “dissatisfied with execution and leadership” in the US.
The weaker than expected performance in the US market to date has resulted in the company recruiting three senior executives and relocating its CFO Ross Jenkins to manage its growth in North America.
“Xero did not execute to plan during the period. Key leadership changes are being made in the region and Xero expects to accelerate growth over future periods,” the company said.
New recruits include two former Microsoft execs, Angus Norton who will take on the chief product officer role, and James Maiocco who has been appointed GM of business and corporate development as well as John Forrester who will head up the company’s US marketing division.
After raising $180 million in October last year, the company has been executing an aggressive expansion plan. Staff numbers have grown 70% year-on-year to 993 people at the end of September.
Growing customer numbers has pushed the company’s subscription revenue up 85% from $NZ28.1 million to $NZ52 million.
Investment in the product and growing its headcount saw the company post an after tax loss of $24.5 million for the six months to September 30 compared with a loss of $17.1 million for the corresponding period in 2013.
At September 30, Xero had $NZ170.8 million in cash.
Here are the numbers.


[snip]  The article continues @ Business Insider Australia, click here to continue reading....

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