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WANDISCO PLC ANNUAL REPORT AND ACCOUNTS 2017

Welcome to the  
LIVE DATA WORLD

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Financial statements

41 

 Independent auditor’s report 
to the members of WANdisco plc
45   Consolidated statement of profit and 
loss and other comprehensive income

46  Consolidated balance sheet
47   Consolidated statement of changes 

in equity

48  Consolidated statement of cash flows
49   Notes to the consolidated financial statements
72  Five year record
73  Notice of Annual General Meeting
 Secretary, advisers and share 
76 
capital information

TO STAY UP TO DATE WITH ALL THE LATEST NEWS VISIT 
WWW.WANDISCO.COM

Overview

02  Our year in review

04  At a glance

Strategic report

06  Chairman and Chief Executive’s report
08  Our markets
14  Our business model
15  Sales strategy
19  Product strategy
20  Key performance indicators
21  Risks
24  Financial review
26  Our people

Governance

28  Board of Directors
30  Chairman’s introduction to governance
31  Corporate governance report
34  Nomination Committee report
35  Audit Committee report
36   Remuneration Committee 
and remuneration report

38  Directors’ report
40  Statement of Directors’ responsibilities

Shaping the future
of data infrastructure

WANdisco is shaping the future of data infrastructure with its groundbreaking  
LIVE DATA platform, enabling companies to finally put all their data to  
work for the business – all the time, at any scale.

Only WANdisco makes data always available, always accurate, and always 
protected, delivering hyperscale economics to support exponential data growth 
within the same IT budget. With significant OEM relationships with IBM and  
Dell EMC and go-to-market partnerships with Amazon Web Services, Cisco, 
Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Oracle and other 
industry titans – as well as hundreds of customers among the Global 2000 – 
WANdisco is igniting a Live Data movement worldwide.

ANNUAL REPORT AND ACCOUNTS 2017 WANDISCO PLC

01
01

OverviewOUR YEAR IN REVIEW

Making strong
progress

Financial highlights

Revenue ($m)

Cash overheads2 ($m)

Adjusted loss ($m)3

Cash ($m)

$19.6m +73%

$24.5m +5%

$(0.6)m -92%

$27.4m +262%

17

16

15

14

13

11.4

11.0

11.2

8.0

19.6

17

16

15

14

13

24.5

23.4

21.7

34.6

36.0

(0.6)

(7.5)

(16.0)

(17.9)

(7.8)

17

16

15

14

13

17

16

15

14

13

7.6

2.6

2.5

27.4

25.7

Our achievements in 2017

13

1

New Big Data – WANdisco 
Fusion customers

New OEM with Virtustream, 
a Dell Technologies company

The year in milestones

75%

Product performance 
improvements in WANdisco 
Fusion® 2.11

2

Record contract wins through 
IBM OEM each valued over $4m

MARCH

APRIL

JUNE

JULY

• First anniversary of IBM OEM 
deal marked with reports of 
a strong Q1 thanks to strong 
bookings, good cash collection 
and expense efficiencies 

• Signs a new 3.5 year 

contract with a major 
American multinational retail 
corporation for WANdisco 
Fusion, valued at $2m

• Announces support for 

EU-funded data science project, 
led by the University of Sheffield, 
which could make it easier for 
doctors to spot the early signs 
of dementia

•  Releases WANdisco Fusion® 2.10, 
adding live data replication 
support for Network File Systems 
(“NFS”)/NetApp devices 

• IBM OEM partnership brings 
in record $4.1m contract 
with a major financial 
services multinational 
for WANdisco Fusion

• WANdisco Fusion recognised 

as an enterprise-grade solution, 
meeting Oracle’s Maximum 
Availability Architecture (“MAA”) 
best practice guidelines

• Announces first contract 

in health sector. The three 
year subscription licence deal 
will allow large volumes of 
continuously changing critical 
patient data to be confidently 
sent to the Cloud 

•  Reports a strong first half of the 
year, with new sales bookings 
for WANdisco Fusion of $7.0m 
(up from $2.6m for the same 
period in 2016), and recognised 
revenue of $5.1m (up from $1.4m)

02

WANDISCO PLC ANNUAL REPORT AND ACCOUNTS 2017

OverviewOperational and strategic highlights

•  Record bookings1 secured in 2017, up 45% year-on-year 

•  Commercial strategy delivering clear results in new 

to $22.5 million (2016: $15.5 million)

and established sectors

•  Big Data bookings for WANdisco Fusion (“Fusion”) 
up 121% in 2017 to $15.7 million (2016: $7.1 million)

•  Source Code Management bookings in line with expectations

•  Bookings in H2 2017 up 28% year-on-year to $12.3 million 

(H2 2016: $9.6 million)

•  Announced a new $5.0 million term loan facility with 
Silicon Valley Bank, with an additional $3.0 million 
revolving credit facility

•  Successfully placed 2.97 million shares on 4 December 2017, 

raising gross proceeds of $22.0 million

•  Cash burn reduced to $5.3 million (2016: $8.3 million)

•  Established a partner ecosystem further enhancing our 

market potential

•  Secured another significant OEM partnership with 

Virtustream, a Dell Technologies company, worth a 
minimum of $3.6 million over three years, increasing 
the leverage of our distribution channel

•  Fully integrated WANdisco Fusion with Amazon Web 
Services (“AWS”) Snowball, Microsoft Azure Databox 
and HD Insights

•  Our OEM partnership with IBM is delivering clear results 
securing two record contract wins with major global 
financial institutions, each worth in excess of $4 million

•  Our product is gaining traction in new sectors with the 
first contract wins for WANdisco Fusion secured with 
marquee clients in the retail and healthcare sectors

•  Continued investment in research and development 

to evolve our product

•  Released WANdisco Fusion® 2.11 which includes substantial 
performance improvements to the Fusion core replication 
engine, resulting in flexible installation processes for users, 
as well as significant product performance improvements 
of up to 75% from the prior version

•  Appointed new VP of Research to explore new 

applications for our unique replication technology

•  Strong order book and sales pipeline going into 2018

Note: Throughout this document, alternative performance measures have 
been used which are non-GAAP measures that are presented to provide readers 
with additional financial information that is regularly reviewed by management 
and should not be viewed in isolation or as an alternative to the equivalent 
GAAP measure. See Note 2(e) for details.

1   Bookings as defined in this Annual Report and Accounts represent the 
total value of all contracts received in the year including both new and 
renewal bookings.

2   Operating expenses adjusted for: depreciation, amortisation, capitalisation 
of development expenditure and equity-settled share-based payment. 
See Note 6 for a reconciliation.

3   Loss from operations adjusted for: depreciation, amortisation, capitalisation 
of development expenditure and equity-settled share-based payment. 
See Note 6 for a reconciliation.

SEPTEMBER

OCTOBER

NOVEMBER 

DECEMBER

• Announces integration 

of WANdisco Fusion into 
Microsoft Azure Data Box

• Announces availability of 
WANdisco Fusion in the 
Oracle Cloud Marketplace 

• Launches one of the first 

hybrid data lake architectures 
in collaboration with Amazon 
Web Services, so changing data 
from AWS on-premises data 
lakes can be reliably replicated 
to and from Amazon’s 
Cloud infrastructure

•  Unveils plans for full integration 

of WANdisco Fusion with 
Microsoft Azure HDInsight 
so Microsoft Azure customers 
can add WANdisco Fusion 
via the Azure Marketplace

• IBM relationship brings in 

another record contract win 
with another world-leading 
financial institution, this time 
worth $4.3m 

•  Appoints Ramki Thurimella, PhD, 
an experienced specialist in 
algorithm design and information 
security, as VP of Research, 
based in San Ramon, California

• Announced successful 

placing raising gross proceeds 
of $22.0m

•  Launches OEM sales partnership 
with Dell EMC’s Virtustream, 
which will see WANdisco 
Fusion embedded as a key 
replication solution for hybrid 
Cloud across Virtustream 
solutions worldwide worth 
a minimum of $3.6m over 
three years

• Introduces WANdisco Fusion® 

2.11, a major new product 
release featuring substantial 
performance improvements 
to the core replication engine

• Announces integration of 
WANdisco Fusion with AWS 
Snowball for hybrid 
Cloud scenarios

ANNUAL REPORT AND ACCOUNTS 2017 WANDISCO PLC

03

OverviewAT A GLANCE

We think differently
with future-proof technology

WANdisco Fusion is a next-generation LIVE DATA platform that enables the replication of continuously 
changing data to the Cloud and on-premises data centres. Built on unique, patented technology, 
WANdisco Fusion guarantees data consistency, 100% availability and no business disruption across 
environments, regardless of distance or data source, all at hyperscale economics to support exponential 
data growth within the same IT budget.

ALWAYS AVAILABLE
Shared logical pool of data

Public Cloud  A
East Region

FUSION
LIVE
DATA

Public Cloud  A
West Region

FUSION
LIVE
DATA

FUSION
LIVE
DATA

ALWAYS 
ACCURATE
Full integrity with 
mathematical 
consistency

Data users

ALWAYS 
PROTECTED
No single point 
of failure

HYPERSCALE 
ECONOMICS 
Fundamentally lower 
cost structure

Public
Cloud B

FUSION
LIVE
DATA

FUSION
LIVE
DATA

RUNS  
ANYWHERE
On premises, 
hybrid Cloud, 
Cloud,  
multi‑Cloud

Big Data in 
production 
HDFS, NFS, S3

Dev/test or 
disaster recovery 
HDFS, NFS, S3

04

WANDISCO PLC ANNUAL REPORT AND ACCOUNTS 2017

OverviewWhy companies are choosing WANdisco

Organisations around the world can work more effectively and efficiently with the benefits our patented 
technology provides.

Always available

Full data portability

Lower cost structure

Always protected

Resynchronise your data 
automatically in the event of 
hardware and network outages.

Selectively replicate changes 
across different environments 
with guaranteed consistency and 
no vendor lock-in.

Scale up with no increase  
in hardware costs with  
Cloud migration.

Reduce your possible exposure  
to hackers as only our firewalls  
are exposed.

Always accurate

Recovery

Transparency

Productivity

Guaranteed access to the same 
data everywhere on any distribution.

Automatic failover and recovery 
with no admin or third party 
intervention.

Continue to use the tools you  
are familiar with.

Teams across the world 
collaborate as one, with no 
downtime and no disruption.

Our customers

Our patented technology is creating remarkable results for our customers across all sectors.

Automotive

Improves self-driving car technology 
and enables predictive maintenance.

Entertainment

Allows players to continue to enjoy 
entertainment experiences with 
no downtime.

Government

Gains actionable insights from real-time data 
analysis of unstructured data.

Telecommunications

Improves mobile and location services 
for hundreds of millions of customers.

Developer collaboration

Enables collaboration across multiple 
locations to improve productivity.

Financial services

Meets government regulations and reduces 
losses due to fraud with no downtime.

Health care

Monitors patients outside of hospital and 
contributes to groundbreaking research with 
continuous access to data.

Utilities

Provides valuable insights into energy usage 
and improves engineering operations.

Retail

WANdisco Fusion lets retailers move active, critical data 
seamlessly between primary and disaster recovery sites and the 
Cloud with no downtime. This enables more efficient and robust 
business continuity provision, and greater flexibility when it 
comes to analysing live customer data.

Manufacturing

From monitoring and servicing assets to building greater 
intelligence into products and production lines, efficient 
manufacturing depends increasingly on reliable, continuous 
access to real-time data. WANdisco Fusion ensures this, 
enabling manufacturers to maximise productivity, reduce 
costs, conform with regulatory demands and innovate using 
smarter connections.

ANNUAL REPORT AND ACCOUNTS 2017 WANDISCO PLC

05

OverviewCHAIRMAN AND CHIEF EXECUTIVE’S REPORT

A year of
delivery

2017 WAS A PIVOTAL YEAR 
FOR WANDISCO. WE SHIFTED 
THE FOCUS TO GROWTH 
WITH A NEW COMMERCIAL 
STRATEGY THAT RECORDED 
CLEAR, DEMONSTRABLE 
AND MEANINGFUL RESULTS.

•   Major contract wins through IBM 

OEM agreement

•  Secured Virtustream OEM agreement

•   Signed new or added to partnerships 
with IT and Cloud industry leaders

•   New release of WANdisco 

Fusion® 2.11 including significant 
performance improvements

06

WANDISCO PLC ANNUAL REPORT AND ACCOUNTS 2017

Business review

2017 was a pivotal year for WANdisco. Where 2016 saw us transform 
our financial position, realign our cost base and enjoy the first 
operational benefits of these actions, in 2017 we shifted the focus 
to growth with a new commercial strategy that recorded clear, 
demonstrable and meaningful results.

All of our strategic priorities are aligned with this growth plan, and 
we delivered on each one in 2017. First is our aim to capitalise on the 
significant growth opportunity for our Fusion product in the Cloud 
and Big Data markets, leveraging our unique position to ensure that 
our customers can realise uninterrupted value from the data they hold. 
To that end, we are developing the scale and reach of our sales partner 
channel, and investing in the research and development activity 
necessary to evolve our product and strengthen our competitive 
advantage. At the same time, we continue to actively support our 
Source Code Management product, recognising that the ability to keep 
application development synchronised across distance is one of the 
original use cases and proof points for our technology.

In 2017 we delivered a new release of WANdisco Fusion, our live data 
replication platform, featuring more than 1,000 enhancements, enabled 
by our work with large data sets in live customer deployments. We also 
delivered on our indirect sales plan, with major new partnership signings 
during the year, as well as broadening and deepening our existing 
relationships. In 2017 these partnerships gave rise to our most significant 
customer wins to date, delivering tangible growth in revenues and 
bookings while controlling costs.

The investment community has continued to support our story 
and growth ambitions. In December 2017, we raised $22.0 million 
of gross proceeds from a secondary placing, which will allow us 
to invest ahead of customer and partner demand. The placing 
was well received by both existing and new shareholders.

Big Data – WANdisco Fusion 

The demand for WANdisco’s solutions continues to grow as 
organisations across a wide range of sectors recognise the value of 
being able to harness and react to very large live data sets in real time. 
Day to day, this capability is providing the basis for innovative customer 
service, service personalisation, social-media monitoring, online 
booking systems, fraud detection, complex diagnostics, and targeted 
maintenance. It is also central to emerging business models – those 
being built around the Internet of Things and artificial intelligence/
machine learning. Autonomous cars, smart transport systems, 
machine-assisted medical research, personalised advertising and 
media services, and new banking, retail and manufacturing models 
all rely on the ability to harness live data at significant scale.

DAVID RICHARDS  CHAIRMAN AND CEOStrategic reportAlthough businesses across a wide range of sectors are moving live 
data between locations, the lack of parity between the original source 
data and that data being held or used in secondary locations is limiting 
what those companies can do with it. As a consequence, this limits the 
ability for companies to realise the value of their data and potentially 
creates a tangible business risk. In a backup scenario, the impact of any 
data disparity is particularly acute; when, in the restore process, core 
systems have to be rolled back to the last copy of current data. Over 
the last four years, Fortune 1000 companies have cumulatively lost 
$3.7 billion of revenue because of failures in their systems, according 
to calculations by Wikibon Research1. WANdisco Fusion reduces 
companies’ exposure to such losses by dramatically reducing their 
recovery time in the event of an outage.

Source Code Management

Our long-standing Source Code Management revenue stream 
continues to produce healthy recurring revenues in line with 
expectations. This product set harnesses the same data replication 
technology that underpins WANdisco Fusion, to keep dispersed 
teams of software developers strictly in sync as they collaborate 
on code, even if they are on opposite sides of the world. 

Indirect sales strategy

From a strategic perspective, our most significant achievement in 
2017 was putting in place a partner ecosystem for WANdisco Fusion, 
based on OEM and other channel partner arrangements. Our initial 
OEM relationship with IBM, signed in 2016, has already justified this 
approach, producing two record contracts with major financial-
services multinationals in 2017, each worth in excess of $4 million. 

During the year we also signed new or added to partnerships 
with IT and Cloud industry leaders, expanding our opportunities to 
capitalise on those companies’ global reach and large international 
enterprise sales teams. IBM alone has 5,000 sales people who are 
now incentivised to sell WANdisco technology globally.

These partnerships serve as an important endorsement of WANdisco 
Fusion, too – confirming our leading position in the market. Our flagship 
platform meets customer needs that prominent technology brands 
have been unable to satisfy through other means.

Protecting our advantage

WANdisco’s intellectual property, which is based on complex 
mathematics developed over several years, is well protected; 
we have more than 27 patents filed to date with 11 now granted. 
Furthermore, WANdisco Fusion is used every day, at significant 
scale, by major brands in financial services, retail and manufacturing 
in North America – those applications feed back into our product 
development, allowing for continuous improvements.

People

Our people are vital to our success, and WANdisco is proud 
to employ some of the most qualified and experienced talent 
in distributed computing and data science. As a company, we 
are committed to providing competitive employment conditions 
as well as very challenging and stimulating work, to ensure we 
attract and retain the best people.

Our people also make a significant contribution to our local 
communities. We have initiated a range of creative schemes to inspire 
schoolchildren about the potential of data science. Our people are also 
working closely with the University of Sheffield to advance dementia 
research using WANdisco Fusion, as part of a major European project. 
On behalf of the Board, I would like to extend our heartfelt appreciation 
to everyone at WANdisco for their efforts this year.

The Board

In February 2017, Dr Yeturu Aahlad, 60, WANdisco’s Co-founder and 
Chief Data Scientist, was welcomed to the Board. Dr Aahlad is a pioneer 
in the field of live data replication, the patented process that forms the 
basis of WANdisco Fusion. At the same time, James (Jim) Campigli, 
Chief Operating Officer, Head of Marketing, Co-founder and member of 
the Board, stepped down to pursue other business interests.

Outlook

Looking ahead to 2018, WANdisco is well positioned to take 
advantage of a wide range of attractive growth opportunities. 
Currently, around 60% of WANdisco Fusion’s bookings are in the 
financial services sector, across applications ranging from fraud 
management to improved business continuity. We are now beginning 
to move into retail, manufacturing and healthcare, where there is 
significant opportunity and we have started to win business. Our 
strategic partners will help us unlock many more opportunities, both 
horizontally and internationally, as they introduce our technology to 
their existing enterprise customers and take it out to their target 
markets around the world as a means of migrating, exploiting and 
safeguarding live data at significant scale across locations.

As 2018 unfolds, our momentum with OEM and reseller partnerships 
continues. In January we secured a sales agreement with Bytes 
Technology Group UK, a leading provider of software licensing 
and Cloud services.

Our market does not stand still and nor does our product. As a 
multi-application, live data replication platform which we improved 
substantially in 2017, we have not only increased the opportunity for 
WANdisco Fusion but also made our core platform easier for 
partners to sell and deploy.

We have begun 2018 with a strong new business pipeline across 
multiple sectors, and, with the proceeds from our recent placing, 
we now have the resources to better capitalise on the sizeable 
market opportunity, as we deepen and broaden our strategic 
partnerships in order to maximise our sales pipeline.

David Richards
Chairman and CEO
23 March 2018

1   “Wikibon Big Data in the Public Cloud Forecast, 2017-2026”, Ralph Finos, 

31 May 2017.

ANNUAL REPORT AND ACCOUNTS 2017 WANDISCO PLC

07

Strategic reportOUR MARKETS

The future of
LIVE DATA

WANdisco: what we do

In the digital era, all organisations are in the data business 
whether they realise it or not. It is through the strategic use of 
data that new market entrants are disrupting established industries 
and traditional businesses are creating profitable new revenue streams. 
The ability to harness vast amounts of live data reliably, so as to inform 
intelligent actions, has the potential to revolutionise everything from 
customer service and fraud detection to health care delivery. It will 
be the key to advances in artificial intelligence, the Internet of 
Things and much more. 

Yet the ability to harness the same live data at vast scale for 
multiple applications in multiple locations is hard. It relies on having 
a guaranteed way to keep that data aligned and in sync at all times. 
Until WANdisco Fusion, this was simply not possible. 

WANdisco is the only company with a solution to the replication 
of continuously changing live data, at vast scale, between locations 
and with guaranteed consistency. Our foundational technology, 
Fusion Kernel, uniquely solves a complex problem in WAN-scope 
Distributed Computing. It ensures that an organisation’s live data is 
always available, always accurate, and always protected – wherever 
it is located and at any scale. 

In addition to companies’ growing appetite for exploiting live data 
in ever more ambitious ways and at vast scale, there are two other 
major factors driving our business. These are the rise of Cloud 
computing and the rapidly decreasing cost of storage. This means 
it is now both affordable and practical for enterprises to capture and 
store the digital universe, and to distribute continuous live copies to 
other locations for use in a range of business-critical applications. 
WANdisco’s technology supports mass-scale live data use across 
any combination of on-premise and Cloud deployments, including 
Cloud migration.

Size of the digital universe (exabytes)1

40,000

30,000

20,000

10,000

2009

2010

2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019

2020

0808

Strategic reportAs organisations become increasingly reliant on live data, their 
vulnerability to outage has grown too. The more they rely on live 
data for critical business activities, the greater the risks associated 
with losing access to that data. These risks are not only linked to the 
period of immediate downtime when productivity stops, but also to 
the recovery process as distributed systems are brought back in sync.

Downtime and poor data accuracy cannot be tolerated in the 
on-demand data age. The bigger the data set, and the more frequently 
it changes, the larger the disparity between end points and the 
longer the interruption to business if something fails. What might 
have been 15 minutes of downtime in the old world could be anything 
up to several days or weeks in a live, distributed, Big Data context.

Our WANdisco Fusion LIVE DATA platform, built on Fusion Kernel, 
allows enterprises to take advantage of strategic data and ensure that 
mission-critical applications meet business service-level agreements 
(“SLAs”). It does this without detracting from the performance of 
core systems by ensuring that distributed, real-time data is:

• always available as a shared logical pool of data;

• always accurate, with full integrity and mathematical consistency;

• always protected, with all nodes active and no single source 

of failure; and

• always run with a fundamentally lower cost structure than 

traditional IT infrastructures have allowed.

Today, some of the largest companies in the world use our 
technology, illustrating its effectiveness in solving mission-critical 
issues. The rationale for deploying our technology continues to 
grow and multiply across industries.

USE CASE — MEDICAL DIAGNOSTICS

ANNUAL REPORT AND ACCOUNTS 2017 WANDISCO PLC

09

Strategic reportAccelerating research via real-time analytics and machine learningAn EU-supported research project led by the University of Sheffield’s Centre for Computational Imaging and Simulation Technologies in Biomedicine is using WANdisco Fusion to accelerate dementia research. The technology enables huge volumes of unstructured and continuously changing data – from evolving patient data (e.g. worsening cognitive and motor skills) to the latest MRI scans – to be analysed using almost 1,000 applications distributed across eight different Cloud providers, toward a better understanding of dementia’s development. It marks the first time in history that the medical field has not only the volumes of the right data built up over time, but also the means to analyse and make sense of it in a meaningful and timely way.We analysed all the solutions on the market to transfer data from on-premises to Cloud providers. WANdisco Fusion was the only solution that offered the speed, guaranteed consistency and Active-Active WAN replication we required to analyse our patient data.Dr Susheel Varma, Technology Officer for the Centre for Computational Imaging and Simulation Technologies in BiomedicineOUR MARKETS CONTINUED

THE ABILITY TO HARNESS THE SAME 
LIVE DATA AT VAST SCALE FOR MULTIPLE 
APPLICATIONS IN MULTIPLE LOCATIONS 
IS HARD. IT RELIES ON HAVING A 
GUARANTEED WAY TO KEEP THAT DATA 
ALIGNED AND IN SYNC AT ALL TIMES. 
UNTIL WANDISCO FUSION, THIS WAS 
SIMPLY NOT POSSIBLE.

90%

of data in the world created 
in the last two years (IBM 2016)

19m

software developers in the world

Our market

The exponential rise in data consumption has been widely 
documented. Various estimates concur that the size of the digital 
universe will at least double every two years, equating to a 50-fold 
increase from 2010 to 2020. This growth is being fuelled by connected 
people and connected machines, where data is now growing at a 
rate that is around ten times faster than that for traditional business 
data2. At the same time, we have seen a 100-fold decrease in storage 
costs, driven by a reduction in the price of hardware as well as the 
accelerating adoption of Cloud IT services. 

These trends have converged to create a significant addressable 
market for WANdisco’s technology. Over the months and years to 
come, we expect more and more enterprises will seek competitive 
advantage from the exploitation of complex data sets. The ability 
to scrutinise more data in detail also offers organisations new scope 
to increase efficiency – by discerning where to focus resources, and 
hone problem solving and risk management. More sophisticated 
data-distribution plans can also help with regulatory compliance 
by building business resilience and enhancing data protection. 

These significant market drivers have led some of the biggest global 
names in banking, retail, health care and other markets to WANdisco. 
They are also the reason that prominent IT and Cloud providers 
have partnered with us to offer our technology to their customers 
– from the likes of IBM, Dell EMC and Cisco to Amazon Web 
Services, Google and Microsoft. 

10

Strategic reportScoping the data replication market opportunity

Business applications for our products are growing continuously, 
and so are our potential customers. We expect the market potential 
for WANdisco Fusion to continue to grow in proportion to the need 
to replicate large volumes of live data. 

To understand the vast size of our market opportunity, we need 
only look at estimates for stored data and data centre traffic. Statista 
estimates that data centre storage by 2020 across traditional data 
centres and private Cloud and public Cloud data centres will be 
around 1,800 exabytes of data by 20203. At a conservative estimate, 
based on Cisco’s predictions, 10% of this data will pass between 
data centres, meaning that 180 exabytes of data may be subject 
to replication within a couple of years4. This is the starting point for 
estimating WANdisco’s market opportunity for live data replication.

Expanding our opportunities

Up to now WANdisco has secured business in a number of vertical 
industries, most notably financial services, retail, manufacturing and 
health care. In 2017, through our roll-out of channel partnerships, 
we identified opportunities to apply WANdisco Fusion more 
horizontally across the enterprise market.

WANdisco Fusion is relevant to any organisation relying on vast 
quantities of live data for both core operations (disaster recovery, 
or synchronising branch and head office systems) and innovative 
onward purposes (such as real-time analytics in the Cloud). With this 
in mind, we are now actively promoting new uses for our technology 
and making it as easy as possible for our strategic partners to apply 
it widely. To this end, we have been developing a range of plug-ins 
to make WANdisco Fusion easy to integrate with other applications.

The common denominator for all users is that very high volumes of 
active data need to exist in more than one place at once. The greater 
the importance and scale of the data and the bigger the organisation’s 
ambitions for it, the more those businesses need WANdisco Fusion. 

USE CASE — FINANCIAL SERVICES

11

Strategic reportData availability complianceOne of WANdisco’s largest customer signings in 2017 was a North American bank. It needed to deploy a large “data lake” (a storage repository that holds a vast amount of raw data in its native format until it is needed) to support a range of business-critical applications. But, as strategic applications moved onto the new platform, the bank needed to be able to ensure that access to the latest data could never be compromised – in accordance with industry regulations. This required a level of live data synchronisation between core transactional systems and a new data lake platform that exceeded the bank’s existing capabilities.After extensively testing WANdisco Fusion to be sure it would be able to comply with stringent service levels at scale, the bank has begun moving new applications across to the data lake. We extensively evaluated WANdisco against our fundamental requirements for data availability. This was the only solution we could find that could meet and surpass these.C-level TechnologistApplications and use cases

As organisations review their IT infrastructures to enable them 
to exploit live data more efficiently and ambitiously, demand 
for WANdisco Fusion is linked to:

The need to operationalise LIVE DATA

Businesses are seeking to exploit real-time data in new and creative 
ways to drive competitive advantage. This may be existing data 
already being captured and processed in core business systems, 
which is simultaneously replicated to another part of the company’s 
infrastructure, or into the Cloud, for deep analytics (for example as 
part of fraud monitoring and prevention, or some form of continuous 
operations monitoring or customer sentiment tracking). Alternatively, 
it could be new data feeds, such as those captured by smart sensors 
and devices, as part of new Internet of Things applications designed 
to drive new service innovation or more intelligent asset management. 
Examples include real-time traffic and route management, 
and connected cars.

WANdisco Fusion makes it possible for organisations to 
simultaneously exploit the same live operational data in multiple 
ways in multiple places, with full confidence that data is continuously 
in sync and absolutely accurate all of the time.

Our patented Fusion Kernel guarantees data consistency across  
all nodes by treating all of these as equals. This means there is no 
single point of failure. Because all data exists in a shared logical 
pool, it is always live and always available, even if one end point 
fails. It also means that organisations do not need cold storage 
to keep copies of their data. 

2.5

quintillion bytes volume of data  
created every day (IBM 2016)

OUR MARKETS CONTINUED

USE CASE — HEALTH CARE

Ensuring continuous access 
to patient data

Health care organisations rely on uninterrupted access 
to patient data, whether for providing the best care 
or managing payment plans. Whatever the use case, 
health service providers must adhere to rigorous 
regulations designed to protect patient privacy as well 
as safety. With such large volumes of patient records 
being held and added to all the time, managing and 
harnessing all of this information needs the “Big Data” 
treatment – on a platform designed to cope with huge 
live quantities.

In 2017, a US health care payment solutions provider 
chose WANdisco Fusion to underpin the move of its 
patient data onto a Big Data platform run in a private 
Cloud. The company needed to ensure continuous 
data access, with no risk of the latest data being lost 
in the event of system failure. Anything more than 15 
minutes of downtime, and any data loss whatsoever, 
could create significant problems. Using WANdisco’s 
live data platform meant the organisation was able to 
exploit the scalable Big Data infrastructure hosted in 
a private Cloud, without risk of downtime or data loss.

Without this technology, our testing indicated 
we could suffer weeks of outage and that is 
not feasible for these applications.

Senior Director, Data and Analytics

12

WANDISCO PLC ANNUAL REPORT AND ACCOUNTS 2017

Strategic reportUSE CASE — RETAIL

The need to control IT costs as data volumes soar

In the Big Data age, companies can not afford to build out their 
infrastructures to cater for every data possibility. With WANdisco 
Fusion, organisations can migrate to the Cloud without any 
business disruption, transforming their IT cost structure and 
making their technology and data investments work harder. 
WANdisco Fusion is fully automated too.

The need to embrace continuous innovation

Because it supports live data existing in more than one place, 
WANdisco Fusion enables businesses to innovate and experiment 
with that data while simultaneously maintaining business as usual. 
They can do this on their own premises, in the Cloud or across any 
combination of the two. WANdisco Fusion’s growing spectrum of 
plug-ins, for easy integration, offer companies maximum options 
while full data portability means they are never tied to using a 
particular Cloud provider to host and process their data. WANdisco 
Fusion is highly scalable too, so companies do not need to be 
restricted in their ambitions to do more with their Big Data.

We expect WANdisco Fusion’s use cases to continue to expand and 
diverge in 2018 as our partners introduce it to their own customer bases.

1   The digital universe in 2020, IDC, December 2012: www.emc.com/

collateral/analyst-reports/idc-the-digital-universe-in-2020.pdf.

2   Global data centre IP traffic from 2012 to 2020 by type (in exabytes 

per year), Statista: www.statista.com/statistics/227259/forecast-of-global-
data-center-ip-traffic-by-type/.

3   Data centre storage capacity – traditional vs. Cloud storage – worldwide 

from 2015 to 2020 (in exabytes), Statista: www.statista.com/statistics/638593/
worldwide-data-center-storage-capacity-cloud-vs-traditional/.

4   Cisco Global Cloud Index 2016: newsroom.cisco.com/press-release-

content?articleId=1804748.

13

Strategic reportKeeping primary and disaster recovery sites in sync with the CloudWhen one of the world’s largest retailers decided to replace legacy storage systems with more flexible, scalable and cost-efficient resources in the Cloud (Hadoop running on Microsoft Azure) and use a second disaster recovery data centre for compute workloads, it needed to find a failsafe way to move around active, critical customer transaction data. This needed to transfer between primary and disaster recovery sites and the Cloud – with no downtime and no business disruption.In WANdisco Fusion, the retailer found the only enterprise-grade solution capable of moving critical data in large volumes and upgrading its systems seamlessly, while maintaining strict service-level agreements across its disaster recovery operations.Now that the retailer has implemented the technology across two data centres and Microsoft’s Azure Cloud platform, continuous data replication between the three end points is completely automated; server hardware requirements have been halved (disaster recovery sites are now used for compute workloads); and upgrades and server relocation are seamless. Throughout, there has been no interruption to the retailer’s ability to capture and analyse customer data from its stores and website.Quite simply, WANdisco enables us to use our disaster recovery data centre for compute workloads. This means we are able to fully utilise our server infrastructure, and that dramatically reduces our costs.Senior Director, Data and AnalyticsOUR BUSINESS MODEL

Developing our
indirect channels

WANdisco’s growing market penetration comes as its indirect strategy spans 
multiple types of indirect sales channel, which together offers the Company 
massive market reach.

There are four main categories of channel partner currently:

T h e O E M
chan n el

R esellers an d o nlin e
m arketplaces

C o-d evelo p m ent
partn erships

C o nsultin g an d syste m s
integrator partn ers

2

0

1

7

14

Strategic report 
SALES STRATEGY

Delivering on
our sales strategy

Summary of achievements

Of all the significant developments WANdisco has delivered in 
2017, the execution of our indirect sales plan has been the most 
strategically important. In 2016, WANdisco was still primarily a 
direct sales organisation, with a market reach that was limited 
by our finite sales force. In 2017, we won or deepened strategic 
relationships with market-leading IT and Cloud providers, including 
Amazon Web Services (“AWS”), Microsoft, Google, Dell EMC, Oracle, 
Cisco and HP Enterprise. By the end of 2017, our channel revenues 
outweighed direct sales.

These partnerships are significant for three reasons:

• they provide WANdisco with access to vast sales teams, adding 

significant global and horizontal market reach;

• they allow WANdisco to drive more bookings at lower cost; and

• their endorsement of WANdisco Fusion strengthens our brand 

and our portfolio of partners. This is highlighted by the speed at 
which WANdisco Fusion has been approved and embedded into 
our partners’ portfolios, and by the fact that industry giants such 
as Amazon and Microsoft are modifying their own products to 
take advantage of our technology.

Driving channel sales success: supporting our partners

Part of the $22m we raised in an equity sale towards the end 
of the year will be invested in developing our channel strategy. 
We will introduce dedicated channel account managers for key 
partner accounts, and create a dedicated software engineering 
team. Their remit will be to work with technology partners on the 
closer integration of our technologies and to accelerate speed 
to market with our joint solutions and speed to results for 
enterprise customers.

In tandem with this shift in emphasis, we have been reducing our 
direct sales and pre-sales staff. Building teams that support our 
customers and partners is a more efficient use of our resources, 
and will ultimately drive faster and more profitable revenue growth. 

The indirect sales plan: a breakdown by channel

WANdisco is targeting third party technology companies and Cloud 
platform providers who want to embed, offer or recommend our 
Fusion product as part of or an extension to their platforms. 

1 OEM partners

The ideal partner relationship, from WANdisco’s perspective, is an 
OEM arrangement, exemplified in our agreements with IBM and 
Dell EMC. Here, the core Fusion Kernel technology is built into their 
solutions and sold by their sales teams. This type of relationship offers 
the most cost-efficient path to market, and gives us maximum 
market reach. IBM and Dell EMC each have sales teams of several 
thousand people who will be incentivised to sell our technology 
with their own Big Data technologies.

Early in 2017, in keeping with our evolving channel account management 
strategy, we recruited a dedicated team of people to support the IBM 
OEM account. They are former IBM employees – people who understand 
the inner workings of the company and have extensive experience of 
selling IBM Big Data analytics solutions – who operate as an extension 
of IBM within WANdisco. They are based in the UK and the US to 
service our customers in Europe and North America respectively. 

We plan to replicate this dedicated account team model across 
other partnerships to ensure WANdisco Fusion is front of mind 
when sales teams go out to customers, and to provide all the 
necessary backup for both new sales and developing accounts.

ANNUAL REPORT AND ACCOUNTS 2017 WANDISCO PLC

15

Strategic reportSALES STRATEGY CONTINUED

During 2017, our OEM relationship with IBM bore significant fruit, 
bringing in two record contract wins with major global finance 
institutions, each worth in excess of $4m. WANdisco Fusion’s 
horizontal and international opportunities are extensive when 
combined with IBM’s hyperscale Cloud analytics proposition. 
Our biggest customer wins in 2017 resulted from this relationship, 
including two multimillion-dollar deals in financial services and 
contracts in health care, automotive manufacturing, retail, telecoms 
and government. Geographically, IBM is already opening up 
broader sales opportunities in regions such as Asia-Pacific, 
India and Latin America. 

IBM’s familiarity with handling large contracts, and its leadership 
in Big Data analytics, make this a very important partner account.

ONE OF OUR GOALS IS TO REPLICATE 
[OUR EXISTING SUCCESS] ACROSS MULTIPLE 
REGIONS. WE ARE ALREADY DOING THIS 
AND HAVE A PATTERN FOR DRIVING THIS 
EXECUTION. THE POTENTIAL NOW IS TO 
EXPAND TO ALL REGIONS – BEYOND THOSE 
SUCH AS NORTH AMERICA AND EUROPE 
WHERE WE ALREADY HAVE SUCCESS.

Nick Dimtchev, Business Unit Executive, IBM’s Analytics 
Division, speaking at WANdisco’s Capital Markets Day in 
London, UK (October 2017)

We signed our second strategic OEM sales partnership in November 
2017, with Dell EMC’s Virtustream, which provides Cloud management 
software and managed infrastructure services. The deal will see 
WANdisco Fusion embedded as a key replication solution for hybrid 
Cloud scenarios across Virtustream Cloud management solutions 
worldwide. This agreement, worth a minimum of $3.6m over three 
years to WANdisco, will further expand Fusion’s addressable market.

Significantly, EMC is a recognised leader in elastic Cloud storage (“ECS”) 
– technology that offers companies the flexibility and economics of 
Cloud-based data management but using appliances on their own 
premises in the form of local private Clouds. In Gartner’s Magic 
Quadrant for Distributed File Systems and Object Storage1, Dell EMC 
and IBM dominate this market.

Between these two major OEM deals and our strategic 
partnerships with AWS and Microsoft, WANdisco is now in a prime 
position to capitalise on the private and public Cloud markets for 
live data replication.

2

Reseller partnerships and online marketplaces

Another element of our strategy is to build strong resale partnerships, 
through which technology or Cloud service providers offer WANdisco 
Fusion as an authorised and preferred third party add-on to their 
own propositions. 

An important part of this strategy is ensuring that WANdisco Fusion can 
be accessed, consumed and billed to match the way in which enterprises 
are increasingly sourcing the technology they need – on tap from 
online marketplaces, for instance, via a Software-as-a-Service (“SaaS”) 
consumption-based model. 

Part of our Cloud and software partnership plan, then, is about being 
seen in the places where our end customers are likely to be looking 
for solutions – and being easy to access there. To date, WANdisco 
Fusion can be found on Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure 
and Oracle’s marketplace.

16

Strategic reportOur relationship with Amazon Web Services is based on the AWS 
marketplace and joint sales opportunities. It offers us the opportunity 
to target a massive global market as an approved and recommended 
Amazon Cloud partner solution.

As a measure of the perceived value of our technology to Amazon and 
its customers, in 2017 AWS appointed a dedicated partner management 
team to work alongside us on joint opportunities. This unusual move 
(towards a company of our relatively modest size and profile) recognises 
that WANdisco Fusion is an important enabler for AWS’s “data lake” 
plans. During 2017, AWS launched and funded campaigns with us, 
positioning WANdisco Fusion as the solution for enterprise customers 
looking to move their data lakes (vast data storage repositories) 
to the AWS Cloud without risk of downtime.

We are now talking to AWS consulting partners and systems integrators 
in different regions – those with competencies in Big Data and Cloud 
migration, for instance. Together we are positioning a joint AWS–WANdisco 
proposition, a 30 day, zero-cost pilot, to encourage enterprise customers 
to build a hybrid data lake to harness the economics of the Cloud. 
Our technology acts as the bridge, prompting customers to move 
data to AWS. For AWS, the addition of WANdisco Fusion removes 
potential friction from Cloud adoption and offers to accelerate 
the time to value for customers. 

In late November 2017, we extended our relationship with AWS 
to include a co-development agreement, involving the integration 
of WANdisco Fusion with Amazon’s Snowball appliance, which 
customers can use to physically move very large data sets to and 
from the AWS Cloud. The development will enable AWS customers 
to exploit the bulk transfer capabilities of AWS Snowball to transfer 
changing information from Big Data applications to Amazon Simple 
Storage Service (more commonly known as Amazon S3), with 
guaranteed data consistency – avoiding the downtime and cost 
usually involved in transferring data in bulk across a network.

IBM

What our partners see in us: 
WANdisco’s value to IBM

In 2016, IBM agreed to OEM WANdisco Fusion and 
offers it as an own-branded component of its Big Data 
analytics proposition. Technology white labelling is an 
unusual move for IBM; it confirmed the broader global 
market potential for WANdisco Fusion, and became the 
trigger for our indirect sales strategy. 

In October 2017, Nick Dimtchev of IBM’s Analytics Division, 
spoke at WANdisco’s Capital Markets Day for investors, 
highlighting what WANdisco’s technology means for 
IBM’s analytics business and its enterprise customers.

The goal for the customer is to drive better 
analytics – yet data can stand in the way, being 
scattered, difficult to find, and vast in scale. This is 
the opportunity we are addressing. We work with 
large multinational corporations – companies 
that have considerable data complexity, who 
need to simultaneously reduce their IT cost of 
ownership and their risk of exposure to system 
failures or compromised data quality.

Big Replicate [the branding IBM uses for 
WANdisco Fusion] allows us to address all 
of this. Best of all, this is a proposition that 
is infinitely repeatable.

Nick Dimtchev, Business Unit Executive, 
IBM’s Analytics Division

ANNUAL REPORT AND ACCOUNTS 2017 WANDISCO PLC

17

Strategic reportSALES STRATEGY CONTINUED

In the second half of 2017, we signed similar agreements 
with Microsoft – through which WANdisco Fusion:

• has become an authorised Azure solution for Cloud-based 

Big Data applications; and

• will provide a more resilient means for Microsoft customers to 

physically transfer large-scale data in and out of the Azure Cloud.

The integration of WANdisco Fusion with Microsoft Azure HDInsight, 
announced in September 2017, means Microsoft Cloud platform 
customers can source WANdisco Fusion via the Azure Marketplace 
– enabling them to continuously replicate live data at scale between 
any combination of Big Data and Cloud environments. This was 
followed by the news in October 2017 that Fusion was being integrated 
into Microsoft Azure Data Box, enabling Microsoft Cloud customers 
to transfer large volumes of live data to Microsoft Azure (for deep 
analysis, for example) without downtime or data disparity.

Even at this early stage, Microsoft has awarded us “co-sell” partner 
status – which is not usually bestowed until a partner has delivered at 
least 20 sales. This is an indication of our technology’s perceived 
strategic and monetary value to Microsoft’s Cloud strategy. This 
status means Microsoft sales people will be compensated whenever 
a WANdisco Fusion sale is made on Azure, so it is in their interests 
to promote our technology.

Microsoft, like AWS, has assigned dedicated partner management 
resources to WANdisco, in recognition of our strategic value to its 
Cloud business and customers. By the year end, within just two 
months of our relationship’s launch, we have collaborated on 
events and built up a healthy pipeline of business. 

As Microsoft’s established customer base includes some of the 
oldest financial services organisations in the world, the scope for 
WANdisco to grow its presence in this important market is considerable. 
That is in addition to all the other industry sectors where Microsoft 
has a strong presence.

3 Other technology partners

Oracle represents one of WANdisco’s first partnerships, taking 
the form of a co-sell agreement. In mid-2017, we announced our 
Maximum Availability Architecture (“MAA”) accreditation with Oracle 
– the highest possible across Oracle products in relation to disaster 
recovery and high data availability. Although Oracle has its own 
products to address such requirements, these do not cater for 
petabyte-scale unstructured data. WANdisco Fusion fills this gap. 

We are now working to extend this partnership and level of 
accreditation to other Cloud-like products that Oracle is developing. 
In September 2017 we announced WANdisco’s inclusion in the 
Oracle Cloud Marketplace, allowing Oracle Cloud Applications 
customers to purchase the technology via a consumption-based 
pricing model.

4

Consulting and systems integration partners

Another strand to our evolving indirect channel strategy is the 
third party consulting and systems integrator channel – those 
companies that are at the front line, solving real customer problems 
to do with IT infrastructure, Big Data and digital transformation. 
These partners will range from well-known international names 
to more specialist boutique operations. These companies might 
only go as far as providing consultancy and recommendations, 
or actively reselling and integrating our technology into final 
customer solutions. Existing partnerships in this category include 
47Lining, Cloudwick and Northbay.

Our strategic IT vendor and Cloud service partners are encouraging 
us to partner with these third parties too because of their close 
proximity to complex customer challenges and associated sales 
opportunities. 47Lining and Cloudwick, for instance, are preferred 
Amazon data migration partners, while some of the big wins we 
secured with large financial institutions earlier in the year were 
driven by Oracle’s strategic partners.

1   Magic Quadrant for Distributed File Systems and Object Storage, Gartner, 

October 2017.

18

WANDISCO PLC ANNUAL REPORT AND ACCOUNTS 2017

Strategic reportPRODUCT STRATEGY

Solving data
management challenges

WANdisco’s technology solves critical data management challenges 
across Cloud computing and Big Data for enterprise customers 
and their service providers. The ability to replicate live data at vast 
scale to the Cloud and on-premises data centres with guaranteed 
consistency, continuous availability and no business disruption frees 
companies to innovate in the way they exploit data for new business 
insights and initiatives.

WANdisco Fusion

WANdisco Fusion, launched two years ago, is our next-generation 
LIVE DATA replication platform, an architecture that supports a wider 
range of data environments than our original Hadoop deployments. 

In addition, WANdisco Fusion provides storage support for Cloud 
infrastructure including Amazon S3, Google Cloud, Microsoft Azure 
and IBM OpenStack Swift, as well as NAS and SAN networked storage 
environments. In March 2017, we added support for seamless data 
replication at vast scale from Network File Systems (“NFS”) for NetApp 
devices to any mix of on-premises and Cloud environments. All of 
these capabilities add to our market potential.

WANdisco Fusion® version 2.11: major 
performance improvements

In November 2017, we announced a major new release of 
WANdisco Fusion® – version 2.11. This featured more than 1,000 
improvements, including significant performance enhancements 
to our core replication engine, Fusion Kernel. These enhancements 
are the result of extensive testing and production use of WANdisco 
Fusion with substantial data loads from major global enterprise 
customers in financial services, retail and manufacturing. 

The most significant impact has been to overall product performance. 
WANdisco testing across a variety of load types shows a doubling of 
throughput as well as tangible reductions to memory requirements.

In addition, we have introduced greater flexibility in the way our 
partners and their customers can use our technology. Additional 
plug-ins mean WANdisco Fusion can address a wider range of use 
cases, including large-scale data migration between data centres 
and the use of Cloud storage ”appliances”.

Source Code Management

The need for live data replication across distance is exemplified 
in software development, where geographically dispersed teams 
of engineers need to stay continuously in sync, confident that they 
are all working with the latest code.

WANdisco Source Code Management (“SCM”) products, which 
harness the same patented Fusion Kernel as WANdisco Fusion, provides 
real-time data synchronisation between diverse development locations 
– between local and offshore software engineers, for instance. 
This continues to provide a strong revenue stream. 

Product protection: safeguarding our IP

WANdisco’s technology continues to be unrivalled in the marketplace. 
Until we developed WANdisco Fusion, there was no practical or 
affordable way for companies to keep mass-scale real-time data 
consistently and continuously replicated across distance. 

Our IP – as embodied in WANdisco’s Fusion Kernel and the products 
we have built from this – is well protected. To date, we have filed more 
than 27 patents, and eleven have been granted already. We also have 
a head start of more than twelve years over any potential competition. 
This early foothold, and the ongoing improvements we are making 
from experience with real-world applications of our technology at 
massive scale, continue to ensure our market advantage.

Product plans for 2018 and beyond

Our product strategy will continue to evolve in line with our indirect 
sales strategy, with further enhancements designed to capitalise 
on the cross-industry opportunities and high-growth use cases we 
have identified. Our main focus for 2018 will be to accelerate the 
speed to market of solutions co-developed with or optimised for 
our strategic partners. 

We are currently exploring how our unique replication technology 
can address challenges prevalent in new distributed ledger technologies 
such as blockchain, for example the current lack of transparency.

ANNUAL REPORT AND ACCOUNTS 2017 WANDISCO PLC

19

Strategic reportKEY PERFORMANCE INDICATORS

Measuring 
success

Our KPIs reflect the business’ financial performance in 2017.

Commentary on the actual performance of the Group against each of these KPIs is set out 
in the Chairman and Chief Executive’s report and the Financial review.

New sales bookings ($m)

Revenue ($m)

$22.5m +45%

17

16

15

22.5

15.5

9.0

$19.6m +73%

17

16

15

19.6

11.4

11.0

Performance in 2017

Performance in 2017

New sales bookings increased compared to the prior year. 
This was primarily due to Fusion, where bookings increased 
to $15.7m (2016: $7.1m), an increase of 121%. 

Revenue for the year ended 31 December 2017 was $19.6m 
(2016: $11.4m). The growth in revenue was due to a significant 
number of new customer contracts and a consistent revenue 
stream from existing contracts.

Big Data – WANdisco Fusion customer wins

Cash overheads ($m)

13 -13%

17

16

15

13

15

16

$24.5m +5%

17

16

15

24.5

23.4

34.6

Performance in 2017

Performance in 2017

During the year we continued to evolve our Fusion product 
in response to customer and channel partner requirements. 
Our customer base expanded by 13 (2016: 15). The new 
customer wins in 2017 were at a higher average value 
than the prior year. A number of these have developed 
through the new channel relationships established during 
the prior year, such as the IBM OEM.

We made targeted increases in expenditure during the year, 
principally in the areas of research and development and sales 
and marketing, resulting in a slight increase of $1.1m.

20

WANDISCO PLC ANNUAL REPORT AND ACCOUNTS 2017

Strategic reportRISKS

Key risks and
risk management

The Group’s operations expose it to a variety of risks.

Effective risk management aids decision making, underpins the 
delivery of the Group’s strategy and objectives and helps to ensure that 
the risks the Group takes are adequately assessed and actively managed. 

plans for mitigation, which are then reported to the Board. As with 
all businesses, the Group is affected by a number of risks and 
uncertainties, some of which are beyond our control.

The Group regularly monitors its key risks and reviews its management 
processes and systems to ensure that they are effective and consistent 
with good practice. The Board is ultimately responsible for the Group’s 
risk management.

The risk management process involves the identification and 
prioritisation of key risks, together with appropriate controls and 

The table below shows the principal risks and uncertainties which 
could have a material adverse impact on the Group. 

This is not an exhaustive list and there may be risks and uncertainties 
of which the Board is not aware, or which are believed to be immaterial, 
which could have an adverse effect on the Group.

Risk change

Decrease

PEOPLE

Risk description

Risk mitigation

Our Human Resources function oversees employee communications to 
ensure, given our rapidly developing markets, employees’ understanding of 
our strategic direction enables them to make meaningful contributions to the 
achievement of our goals.

Stock-based compensation has continued to be an important component 
of retaining, motivating and attracting key talent. 

Our future success depends on retention 
of senior management and key technical 
personnel. Whilst much of our proprietary 
knowledge is documented, our technical 
experts contribute valuable skills and 
knowledge and, despite contractual 
confidentiality agreements, there can be 
no guarantee that those individuals will 
not in the future join competitors or 
establish themselves in competition.

During the year the headcount increased 
from 118 to 132 heads. This increase was 
a targeted increase in the R&D and sales 
teams to support investment in our 
product and channel strategy. It is 
essential that we retain and motivate our 
workforce and attract the right talent in 
the case of any replacement and new 
hires in the future.

ANNUAL REPORT AND ACCOUNTS 2017 WANDISCO PLC

21

Strategic reportRISKS CONTINUED

FINANCING RISK

Risk description

Risk mitigation

Our product, Fusion, addresses a still 
emerging market in which we have limited 
forward visibility. We are a loss-making 
business; however, in 2017 we have 
significantly reduced our losses and 
reduced our levels of cash burn. 

Our own and partner sales pipelines continue to grow and we have continued 
to build on the OEM relationship established with IBM during 2016. Operating 
costs increased during the year due to some targeted investment in research 
and development and sales and marketing. We have prepared a detailed 
budget and forecasts of the Group’s expected performance over a period 
covering at least the next twelve months from the date of these financial 
statements. As well as modelling the realisation of the sales pipeline, these 
forecasts also cover a number of scenarios. During the year we raised $22.0m 
of gross proceeds through a successful placing and also negotiated a new debt 
facility for $5.0m and a revolving credit facility of $3.0m, secured on accounts 
receivable with Silicon Valley Bank. We maintain close relationships with our 
principal and potential providers of finance and continue to review the need 
for additional or alternative funding. See also Note 2(b).

COMPETITION

Risk description

Risk mitigation

There can be no guarantee that 
competitors will not develop superior 
products. Competitors may have or develop 
greater financial, marketing or technical 
resources, enabling them to successfully 
develop and market competing products.

As the open source software on which we 
depend is licensed for free, our ability to sell 
value-added products may be limited by 
potential customers opting to rely purely 
on the underlying open source software, 
together with any free extensions that 
might be developed to address the same 
challenges as our software.

We protect our intellectual property by securing patents whenever possible. 
To date, we have filed more than 27 patents, eleven of which have been granted. 
We continue to dedicate significant resource to the constant enhancement 
of our core intellectual property.

Senior management devotes significant time and resource to monitoring 
product releases by potential competitors in the data replication software 
market both for replication of Source Code Management and Big Data.

During the year, we have continued to invest in our products and there 
was a major new release of WANdisco Fusion® – version 2.11 announced 
in November 2017, which had some significant improvements in 
functionality and performance.

CHANNEL PARTNER ENGAGEMENT

Risk description

Risk mitigation

We have devoted experienced leadership resource, recruited from within the 
business, focused on proactively developing our new partner relationships 
and creating new commercial propositions that derive long-term value from 
these relationships.

Our replication products serve both the 
Source Code Management and Big Data 
market. In the Big Data market we are in 
partnership with an array of vendors that 
offer on-premises and Cloud solutions.

Some of these partnerships are relatively 
new business relationships. There is a risk 
that we mismanage these relationships or 
that partners decide not to devote significant 
sales or product integration resource to 
our products.

Risk change

Decrease

Risk change

No change

Risk change

No change

22

WANDISCO PLC ANNUAL REPORT AND ACCOUNTS 2017

Strategic reportRESOURCE ALLOCATION AND OPERATIONAL EXECUTION

Risk description

Risk mitigation

We address a significant and rapidly 
growing market, but, as a small company, 
we have limited people and capital 
resources. Over time it will be essential 
to keep adding to and refreshing this 
resource, but at all times it will remain 
essential that we ensure that resource 
is effectively directed to addressing and 
delivering on our strategic goals.

We have a business planning process which aims to ensure the investments 
we make and the allocation of existing resource are aligned with our strategic 
goals, which in turn are responsive to the evolution of our marketplace.

We continued to improve internal financial reporting and cost control 
processes. These financial reports are regularly monitored by senior 
management and the Board. 

PRODUCTS

Risk description

Risk mitigation

We have invested in quality control processes and training within our 
engineering team. We have a dedicated team committing code to relevant 
open source tools to ensure our products interact well with open source 
components and to monitor evolving open source projects to which 
we could potentially add commercial value.

Our product road map is based on requirements expressed by customers 
with whom we are pursuing sales opportunities. Our product managers are 
mandated to propose road map alterations if regulations render our intended 
features either more or less relevant.

The software on which our products is 
based is complex and the products may 
contain undetected defects which may 
be discovered after first introduction. 
Such defects could damage the Group’s 
reputation and reduce revenue from 
subscription renewals and extensions. Many 
of our products are designed for use with 
open source software, whose development, 
by the open source community, we do not 
solely control. Changes to its structure 
and development path may impair the 
effectiveness of our products.

Regulation of data transfer is rapidly 
evolving and additional compliance on user 
privacy, content liability, data encryption 
and copyright protection may reduce the 
value added by our products.

SALES CYCLES, CAPABILITY AND CUSTOMERS’ BUDGET CONSTRAINTS

Risk description

Risk mitigation

Our products enable significant savings on data storage and processing and, 
therefore, demand should be relatively insensitive to economic conditions.

Our strategy is oriented to generating a broad-based set of sales 
opportunities, across regions, industries, sizes of customer and technology 
use cases. We have invested in senior management and systems to manage 
the completion of sales engagement in an efficient and commercially 
beneficial manner.

Any economic downturn may have an 
adverse effect on the funds available for 
customers to invest in our products. 
Increasing budget scrutiny may periodically 
extend sales cycles, from customers’ 
evaluations through to commencement 
of subscription contracts.

Variability of sales cycles across different 
sizes and types of customer may bring 
volatility to our quarterly results.

Any new sales executives joining 
the business, in a rapidly changing 
marketplace, may take longer than 
expected to reach full productivity 
in concluding sales transactions.

Risk change

No change

Risk change

No change

Risk change

No change

ANNUAL REPORT AND ACCOUNTS 2017 WANDISCO PLC

23

Strategic reportFINANCIAL REVIEW

Strong 
performance

Summary

•   Revenue growth of 73% driven by new 

sales bookings

•   Targeted increases in expenditure

•   Adjusted EBITDA2 loss significantly reduced

•   Cash consumption3 reduced to $5.3 million

Cash consumption ($m)

$5.3m -36%

17

16

5.3

8.3

24

WANDISCO PLC ANNUAL REPORT AND ACCOUNTS 2017

WANdisco is shaping the future of data infrastructure with its 
groundbreaking Live Data platform, enabling companies to put 
all their data to work for the business – all the time, at any scale.

WANdisco makes data always available, always accurate, and always 
protected, delivering hyperscale economics to support exponential 
data growth with the same IT budget. With significant OEM relationships 
with IBM and Dell EMC and go-to-market partnerships with Amazon 
Web Services, Cisco, Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud, Hewlett Packard 
Enterprise, Oracle and other industry titans – as well as hundreds 
of customers among the Global 2000 – WANdisco is igniting 
a Live Data movement worldwide.

Big Data – WANdisco Fusion

Big Data revenue was $11.1 million (2016: $3.2 million), 
demonstrating strong growth on the previous year of 249%. The 
performance was driven by a number of significant new customer 
contracts and a consistent revenue stream from existing contracts.

In Q2 2016, we signed an OEM agreement with IBM for WANdisco 
Fusion to be sold as IBM Big Replicate, a significant milestone in 
establishing the credibility of our products in the large enterprise 
market. IBM, along with our other channel partners Amazon and 
Oracle, have increased the leverage in our distribution channel 
and increased our sales reach in a very cost-effective manner.

Average deal size continues to increase, with several of the bookings 
made through our channel partners in 2017 valued above $1 million. 

While contract wins continue to exhibit variability in the timing of 
their completion, demand for WANdisco Fusion continues to grow, 
with new sales bookings from initial and expanded contracts of 
$15.7 million (2016: $7.1 million), an increase of 121%.

Source Code Management 

Source Code Management revenue for the year was $8.5 million 
(2016: $8.2 million). Revenues were essentially flat because the 
product and market are relatively mature.

During 2016, the Source Code Management product line began 
generating positive margin contribution – a trend that continued 
through 2017 due to its product maturity, stable revenue base 
and the inherent operating leverage in the business.

ERIK MILLER CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICERStrategic reportOperating costs 

Balance sheet and cash flow

Trade and other receivables at 31 December 2017 were $6.0 million 
(2016: $6.1 million). This includes $2.1 million of trade receivables 
(2016: $3.9 million) and $3.9 million related to non-trade receivables 
(2016: $2.2 million). 

Principally as a result of significantly improved bookings performance, 
and with a slight increase in cash overheads, our net consumption 
of cash was significantly reduced during the course of the year. The 
cash balance at year end was $27.4 million (2016: $7.6 million) which 
included the benefit of funds from the equity placing which closed 
on 4 December 2017. In addition, we retain a revolving credit facility 
with Silicon Valley Bank of which $4.0 million was drawn as at 
31 December 2017.

With strong cash collection, a significant increase in bookings 
and billings in advance of revenue recognition, we have moved 
significantly closer to our goal of cash flow break-even.

Erik Miller
Chief Financial Officer
23 March 2018

1   Operating expenses adjusted for: depreciation, amortisation, capitalisation 
of development expenditure and equity-settled share-based payment. 
See Note 6 for a reconciliation.

2   Loss from operations adjusted for: depreciation, amortisation, capitalisation 
of development expenditure and equity-settled share-based payment. 
See Note 6 for a reconciliation.

3   Net increase in cash and equivalents before net cash from financing activities.

Operating expenses reduced by 2% to $27.4 million (2016: $28.0 million) 
due to lower amortisation on software development costs, offset by 
an increased share-based payment charge and an increase in underlying 
cash overheads. We made targeted increases in expenditure during the 
year, principally in the areas of research and development and sales and 
marketing, resulting in a slight increase in cash overheads year-on-year 
of $1.1 million. We continue to gain operating leverage through our 
channel partner strategy, driving more bookings with less cost. Our 
strong cost disciplines across all areas of the business have resulted in 
an efficient cost structure with significant future operating leverage.

Product development expenditure was $6.3 million (2016: $5.9 million), 
all of which was associated with new product features and 
was capitalised. 

Total cash overheads1 (excluding cost of sales and including capitalised 
product development) of $24.5 million was up slightly from the prior 
year (2016: $23.4 million). Cash overheads expected to increase at a 
lower rate than bookings as we make targeted investments in our 
engineering and go-to-market resources. 

Our headcount was 132 as at 31 December 2017 (31 December 2016: 118). 
Headcount increases were in the areas of research and development 
and sales and marketing, as we added key hires to capitalise on our 
market opportunity.

Profit and loss

The adjusted EBITDA2 loss for the year was $0.6 million 
(2016: $7.5 million loss), due to a significant increase in revenues 
offset by a slight increase in cash overheads.

The loss after tax for the year increased to $13.5 million 
(2016: $9.3 million), mostly as a result of two non-cash items: an 
exceptional finance loss of $4.0 million and an increased share-based 
payment charge which was partially offset by the significant reduction 
in EBITDA loss for the year. The exceptional finance loss arose from 
the retranslation of intercompany balances at 31 December 2017, 
reflecting the appreciation of sterling against the US dollar. There 
is uncertainty around the effect of future FX rates, but the impact 
of this on the financial statements should be restricted to the 
retranslation of non-USD denominated loans, as opposed 
to the operating activities of the business.

ANNUAL REPORT AND ACCOUNTS 2017 WANDISCO PLC

25

Strategic reportOUR PEOPLE

Delivering 
relevant talent

WANdisco prides itself on its wealth of talent and its retention record. 
This is important given the competition for good software engineers. 
We have a strong track record of keeping people challenged, motivated 
and enthused by the complex scenarios our technology addresses. 

In addition to providing work that stretches our people, we operate 
a mentoring scheme for those joining us fresh from university or 
early in their careers. Our young engineers are given the chance 
to shadow and work alongside data scientists with PhDs and 30 or 
more years’ real-world experience. Our Chief Data Scientist, Inventor 
and Co-founder, Dr Yeturu Aahlad, who developed the complex 
mathematical algorithm that forms the basis of WANdisco’s patented 
Fusion Kernel technology, is well known for being highly approachable. 
Our younger employees say that their day-to-day contact with 
Dr Aahlad and other senior engineers is more inspiring and useful 
than weeks of classroom training. Dr Aahlad is recognised as a 
global authority on distributed computing. He has a PhD in the 
subject from the University of Texas at Austin, as well as a BS 
in Electrical Engineering from IIT Madras.

Our engineers work in different locations around the world, 
reflecting the diversity of our talent pool and contributing 
to our international outlook. 

California: Silicon Valley

Silicon Valley is a recognised centre of excellence for open source 
development. In San Ramon, California, our engineering heritage 
goes back to our roots in the Hadoop open source community. 
Today, some 20 developers are based here, including our Chief Data 
Scientist, Dr Aahlad, and our Chief Technology Officer, Jagane Sundar, 
who is a skilled developer. Dr Ramki Thurimella, VP of Research, 
joined us at the start of 2018 and brings extensive experience in 
algorithm design and information security to the Company. He has 
published more than 50 peer-reviewed papers and three book chapters 
in these areas, and has a PhD in Computer Science with a thesis in 
Parallel Graph Algorithms from the University of Texas at Austin 
and an MSc in Computer Science from IIT Madras.

26

WANDISCO PLC ANNUAL REPORT AND ACCOUNTS 2017

UK

Our employees in the UK come from all over the world, and include 
graduates and PhD students from Belfast’s Queen’s University, in 
Northern Ireland, which is globally acclaimed for its IT credentials. 
Belfast is the location of our software development pool, including 
the core of the WANdisco Fusion development team. Sheffield is 
the Company’s European base and home to our main support 
organisation. It is also where some serious data science takes 
place, with the technology skills to match. 

Talent development and employment policy

Although we are very much a technology company, our people are 
hands on and used to liaising with clients and being at the front end 
of a project, rather than tucked away in a back room – even at an 
early stage in their career. As a Company, we pride ourselves on 
developing well-rounded professionals. We allow employees to take 
ownership of what they do and make a recognisable contribution to 
the business.

We look forward to building our partner engineering capability, 
using recent funding to hire new digital engineers. As Cloud platforms 
and Big Data application skills become more important to our business, 
reflecting the expanding role of WANdisco’s technology in customer 
projects, we also anticipate some redeployment of talent to these 
new areas. 

We continue to look for opportunities to achieve gender balance 
in our hiring policies, in addition to seeking the best professionals 
across the age and experience spectrum. Our approach continues 
to be to match the most appropriate person to the role, but in light 
of findings that female representation in technology companies is 
still below 20% in some Western markets, we are taking proactive 
steps, such as improving our maternity provision, to ensure that our 
Company policies are not a barrier to women considering IT as a 
long-term career.

In addition, we have taken proactive steps during the year to 
attend local events which aim to encourage more women into 
careers in engineering.

At grass-roots level, we are also committed to attracting talented 
new generations to data science.

Strategic reportDelivering on
corporate social responsibility

USA

Covenant House California

Covenant House, located in Oakland, CA, is a non-profit agency 
that reaches out to at-risk youths living on the streets to help them 
turn their lives around.

St Anthony’s

St Anthony’s is an organisation providing essential support to 
San Franciscans living in poverty. It offers a hot meal daily and fresh 
clothing to those in need.

Food drive

Regular donations to the Contra Costa Food Bank, which distributes 
more than eight million lbs of food, feeds more than 190,000 people 
through a range of local programmes.

Toys for Tots drive

We make an annual donation to the Toys for Tots drive at Christmas. 
Toys for Tots is a nationwide programme, sponsored by the US 
Marine Corps for more than 50 years, operating at both a national 
and local level. It distributes toys to children whose parents cannot 
afford to buy them gifts for Christmas.

Donation of shares to the University of Texas at Austin

In May 2017, Dr Yeturu Aahlad, WANdisco’s Chief Data Scientist, 
Inventor and Co-founder, made a charitable donation of 50,000 
ordinary shares to the James C Browne Graduate Fellowship Fund 
at the University of Texas at Austin’s Department of Computer Science, 
to directly support graduate students for educational and research 
success. The fund is managed by Professor James C Browne, 
who was Dr Aahlad’s PhD supervisor and is credited with inspiring 
Dr Aahlad’s work in distributed computing, culminating in the 
invention of WANdisco Fusion.

WANdisco’s overriding purpose is to power the LIVE DATA future in 
a responsible and efficient manner. We aspire to apply sustainability 
management standards equal to our business ambitions, and every 
day we strive to make a difference in the communities in which 
we operate.

As a Company we have a strong ethos of giving back to the community. 
This includes fostering the next generation of data scientists. This 
commitment spans both sides of the Atlantic, from Sheffield in the 
UK, where the Company’s British operations are based (and where 
CEO David Richards originates from), to Silicon Valley, where 
WANdisco’s North American operations are headquartered.

In 2017, the Company and its employees supported the following 
charitable and community causes:

UK

Neurocare 

Neurocare is a charity that raises money for the neurosciences 
and neurology departments at the Royal Hallamshire Hospital, the 
Northern General Hospital, the Sheffield Children’s Hospital and the 
Institute for Translational Neuroscience, also in Sheffield. Employees 
organised various charity events in 2017, including a sponsored 10k 
run and a bake sale. 

Made in Sheffield Ambassadors

Our Sheffield office hosted a scheme for the Made in Sheffield 
Young Ambassadors for Computer Science, which introduces 
students of GCSE Computer Science to businesses that make 
extensive use of technology. The aim of this scheme is to improve 
the pipeline of young talent into technology-based businesses. 

Promoting data science in schools

Through the charitable David and Jane Richards Family Foundation, 
WANdisco’s CEO, David Richards, is investing in programmes to 
improve the way schools inspire children to learn about technology, 
specifically data science. Although many schools have introduced 
creative ways to teach coding to even very young children, David wants 
to see schools inspiring pupils to use technology to solve real-world 
problems – skills he believes will be more useful to the economy in 
the future. The scheme will encourage schools to use the latest 
tools and techniques to ask important questions and make new 
discoveries in fields as diverse as sporting performance, medical 
advancement and space exploration. In December 2017, David 
made a charitable donation of 100,000 ordinary shares, for nil 
consideration, to the foundation. 

27

Strategic reportBOARD OF DIRECTORS

DAVID RICHARDS 

ERIK MILLER

DR YETURU AAHLAD

N

N

Chairman, President, CEO  
and Co-founder 

Chief Financial Officer 

Chief Data Scientist, Inventor 
and Co-founder

Age 47

Age 57

Age 60

Appointed 11 May 2012  
(Chairman from 6 October 2016)

Appointed 5 December 2016 

Appointed 23 February 2017 

Skills and experience

Skills and experience

Skills and experience

Erik was the Chief Financial Officer of Envivio, Inc., 
a NASDAQ-listed provider of video transcoding 
software from February 2010 to January 2016, 
following its acquisition by Ericsson AB. From 
January 2008 to July 2009, Erik served as Chief 
Financial Officer at SigNav Pty. Ltd., a component 
supplier to the wireless industry, where he was 
responsible for finance and administration functions. 
From March 2006 to January 2008, he served as 
Chief Financial Officer at Tangler Pty. Ltd., a social 
networking company, where he was responsible for 
finance and administrative functions. Erik received 
a BS degree in Business Administration from the 
University of California, Berkeley.

Dr Aahlad is a recognised worldwide authority 
on distributed computing where he currently holds 
28 patents. It was Dr Aahlad’s vision and years of 
persistence that led to the invention of technology 
that many thought was impossible – that of 
Active-Active replication (WANdisco’s patented 
DConE technology). Prior to WANdisco, Dr Aahlad 
served as the distributed systems architect for 
iPlanet (Sun/Netscape Alliance) Application Server. 
At Netscape, Dr Aahlad joined the elite team in 
charge of creating a new server platform based 
on the CORBA distributed object framework.

Prior to Sun/Netscape Dr Aahlad worked 
on incorporating the CORBA security service 
into Fujitsu’s Object Request Broker. Dr Aahlad 
designed and implemented the CORBA event 
services while working on Sun’s first CORBA 
initiative. Earlier in his career, Dr Aahlad worked 
on a distributed programming language at IBM’s 
Palo Alto Scientific Center.

Dr Aahlad has a PhD in Distributed Computing 
from the University of Texas, Austin and a BS 
in Electrical Engineering from IIT Madras.

Since co-founding the Company in Silicon Valley 
in 2005, David has led WANdisco on a course for 
rapid international expansion, opening offices 
in the UK, Japan and China. David spearheaded 
WANdisco to a hugely successful listing on 
the London Stock Exchange (WAND:LSE) and, 
shortly after, the acquisition of AltoStor, which 
accelerated the development of WANdisco’s 
first products for the Big Data market.

With over 20 years of executive experience in 
the software industry, David sits on a number of 
advisory and executive boards of Silicon Valley 
start-up ventures. A passionate advocate of 
entrepreneurship, he has established and 
successfully exited several highly successful Silicon 
Valley technology companies. David was the founder 
and CEO of Librados, an application integration 
software provider, and led the company’s acquisition 
by NASDAQ listed NetManage, Inc. in 2005. David is 
a frequent commentator on a range of business and 
technology issues, appearing regularly on Bloomberg 
and CNBC. David holds a BSc in Computer Science 
from the University of Huddersfield.

After Paul Walker, the former Chairman, stepped 
down from the Board in October 2016, David 
took the role of Chairman. In 2017 David was 
awarded an Honorary Doctorate by Sheffield 
Hallam University in recognition of him being 
a champion of British technology and a 
passionate advocate of entrepreneurship.

David and his wife Jane founded the David and Jane 
Richards Family Foundation with the purpose to 
educate, empower and improve the lives of children 
through hands on programmes and targeted 
assistance. They aim to encourage children to fulfil 
their potential and make a positive impact on the 
world around them. The first programmes will 
commence in 2018 in some state schools in the 
UK where they will use new methods to teach 
computing skills and install beehives as part of 
a wider teaching curriculum.

28

WANDISCO PLC ANNUAL REPORT AND ACCOUNTS 2017

GovernanceGRANT DOLLENS

KARL MONAGHAN

A

N

R

A

N

R

Non-executive Director 

Non-executive Director 

Committee membership key

Age 38

Age 55

Appointed 9 October 2016 

Appointed 5 December 2016 

Skills and experience

Skills and experience

A

N

Audit Committee

Nomination Committee

R Remuneration Committee

Committee Chairman

Grant founded Global Frontier Investments, LLC, 
a long-term oriented global equities fund, in 
2010 and serves as its Portfolio Manager. Previously 
Grant was an investment analyst and member of the 
investment committee for Ayer Capital, a long/short 
equity health care fund, where he was focused on 
medical devices, diagnostics, health care services, 
biotechnology and pharmaceutical investments. 
Prior to Ayer, Grant was an associate in the health 
care group at BA Venture Partners (now Scale 
Ventures), where he sourced, evaluated and invested 
in private medical device, biotechnology, specialty 
pharmaceutical and health care service companies. 
Before BA Venture Partners, Grant was an investment 
banking analyst in corporate finance at Deutsche 
Bank Alex. Brown focused on the technology sector. 

Grant received his MBA from the Kellogg School 
of Management at Northwestern University, with 
majors in Analytical Finance, Management and 
Strategy, and Accounting. He received his BS in 
Biomedical Engineering from Duke University. 

Karl Monaghan is currently Managing Partner 
at Ashling Capital LLP, which he founded in 
December 2002, to provide consultancy 
services to both quoted and private companies.

Prior to founding Ashling Capital, Karl has worked 
in corporate finance for Robert W. Baird, Credit 
Lyonnais Securities, Bank of Ireland, Johnson Fry 
and BDO Stoy Hayward. Additionally, he trained 
as a Chartered Accountant with KPMG in Dublin 
and holds a Bachelor of Commerce degree from 
University College Dublin.

Karl brings a wealth of capital markets and board 
experience and is currently a Non-executive Director 
of AIM companies CareTech Holdings plc and 
Sabien Technology Group plc.

ANNUAL REPORT AND ACCOUNTS 2017 WANDISCO PLC

29

GovernanceCHAIRMAN’S INTRODUCTION TO GOVERNANCE

High standards of
corporate governance

During the year under review, we have continued to evaluate 
the composition of our Board. The only changes made during 
the year to the Board were that on 23 February 2017 Jim Campigli 
stepped down from the Board and Dr Yeturu Aahlad was 
appointed to the Board.

In considering refreshment of the Board and succession planning, 
the Board will have regard for ongoing developments and trends 
including in relation to matters such as diversity in its broadest 
sense. Whilst the Company pursues diversity, including gender 
diversity, throughout the business, the Board is not committed 
to any specific targets. Instead, the Board will continue to pursue 
a policy of appointing talented people at every level to deliver 
high performance.

The Board holds all its strategic decision-making meetings at the 
Group’s US offices and, as a result, takes the opportunity to meet 
with members of the Executive Team and to build on knowledge 
of the business. There are regular interactive presentations from, 
and discussions with, the Executive Team and in 2017, these have 
included the topics of product strategy and global business 
development progress.

Finally, the AGM will be held on 23 May 2018; my fellow Directors 
and I look forward to seeing you. It is an excellent opportunity 
to meet the Board and to raise questions on the matters in hand 
at the meeting.

David Richards
Chairman and CEO
23 March 2018

Compliance with the UK Corporate Governance Code 2016 published 
by the Financial Reporting Council is not currently mandatory to the 
Company. However, the Directors recognise the importance of sound 
corporate governance and intend to observe and adhere to, so far as 
practicable, the recommendations set out in the corporate governance 
code for small and mid-size quoted companies, published by the 
Quoted Companies Alliance (“the QCA Code”). The Company 
acknowledges that good corporate governance is about ensuring 
that the Company is aligned with its shareholders’ objectives and 
that the execution of the strategy adopted will create long-term 
incremental shareholder value. Therefore, the Board remains committed 
to high standards of corporate governance and has complied with 
the QCA Code to the extent practicable for a public company of 
its nature and size with the following exceptions:

•  The role of Chairman and Chief Executive Officer are currently 

exercised by the same individual, David Richards.

•  There is only one independent Non-executive Director 

(Karl Monaghan) whereas the QCA Code states that the Company 
should have at least two. The Nomination Committee will continue 
to look for an additional independent Non-executive Director 
who has relevant domain experience. 

30

WANDISCO PLC ANNUAL REPORT AND ACCOUNTS 2017

DAVID RICHARDS  CHAIRMAN AND CEOGovernanceCORPORATE GOVERNANCE REPORT

Board composition

Sector experience

Tenure

L 80+
L40+
100+

Non-executive Director 

Technology 

0–3 years 

100%

80%

2

Executive Director 

3

3–5 years 

20%

Board of Directors and Board responsibilities

The Board comprises three Executive (including the Chairman) 
and two Non-executive Directors only one of whom (Karl Monaghan) 
is independent. 

An Executive Committee supports the Board in implementing 
strategy and reports relevant matters to the Board for its consideration 
and approval. This Executive Committee comprises three Executive 
Directors and nine members of senior management. 

The Board is responsible for the long-term success of the Group. 
It sets strategic aims and oversees implementation within a framework 
of prudent and effective controls, ensuring only acceptable risks are 
taken. It provides leadership and direction and is also responsible 
for corporate governance and the overall financial performance 
of the Group. 

The Board has agreed the schedule of matters reserved for its decision, 
which includes ensuring that the necessary financial and human 
resources are in place to meet its obligations to its shareholders and 
others. It also approves acquisitions and disposals of businesses, 
major capital expenditure and annual financial budgets, and sets 
dividend policy. 

All the Directors have access to the advice and services of the 
Company Secretary, who is responsible for ensuring compliance 
with applicable rules, regulations and Board procedures.

Directors have the right to request that any concerns they have 
are recorded in the appropriate Committee or Board minutes. 

Board meetings and attendance

The table below shows the number of Board meetings and Audit, 
Remuneration and Nomination Committee meetings held during 
the year, and the attendance of each Director.

Executive Directors

David Richards

Erik Miller 

Dr Yeturu Aahlad (appointed 23 February 2017) 

James Campigli (resigned 23 February 2017)

Non-executive Directors

Grant Dollens 

Karl Monaghan

Board meetings1

Audit

Remuneration

Nomination

Possible

Attended

Possible

Attended

Possible

Attended

Possible

Attended

Committee meetings

6

6

5

1

6

6

6

6

5

1

6

6

—

—

—

—

2

2

—

—

—

—

2

2

—

—

—

—

4

4

—

—

—

—

4

4

2

2

—

—

2

2

2

2

—

—

2

2

1  There was one further meeting called at short notice; Grant Dollens and Dr Yeturu Aahlad could not attend.

ANNUAL REPORT AND ACCOUNTS 2017 WANDISCO PLC

31

Governance60
+
20
+
L
CORPORATE GOVERNANCE REPORT CONTINUED

Board activities throughout the year

JANUARY

APRIL

AT EACH SCHEDULED MEETING

• Approval of Board calendar

• Informal update meeting

Discuss:

JULY (one short notice meeting)

• Legal, company secretarial and 

FEBRUARY

MAY

• Approval of annual budget

• Informal update meeting

• Review and approval of preliminary 

announcement of 2016 results

• Review and approval of Annual 

Report and Accounts 2016

• Consideration and approval of 
appointment of external auditor

• Review of Non-executive Director 

fees

• Review and approval of the 2017  
interim results announcement

OCTOBER

• Review of product strategy

• Informal update meeting

• Review of global sales and business 

development progress

• Review of the level of voluntary 

compliance with the UK Corporate 
Governance Code

• Strategic and operational matters

• Trading results

• Management accounts and financial 

commentary

• Treasury matters

regulatory matters

• Investor relations

• Corporate affairs

Review:

• Minutes of previous meetings

• The implementation of actions 
agreed at previous meetings

• The rolling annual agenda items

Board Committees

To assist the Board in carrying out its functions and to ensure that there is independent oversight of internal controls and risk management, 
the Board delegates certain responsibilities to its three principal Committees as shown in the governance framework diagram below.

More detail on each of the Committees can be found on pages 34 to 37.

Governance framework

BOARD

EXECUTIVE TEAM

Chaired by the Chief Executive Officer, it 
comprises the three Executive Directors and 
senior management representation from product, 
marketing, engineering, business development, 
finance, legal, HR, sales and support. It assists the 
Executive Directors in implementing the business 
plan and policies and managing the operational 
and financial performance of the Company.

32

WANDISCO PLC ANNUAL REPORT AND ACCOUNTS 2017

Nomination 
Committee

READ MORE INFORMATION  
PAGE 34

Audit  
Committee

READ MORE INFORMATION  
PAGE 35

Remuneration 
Committee

READ MORE INFORMATION  
PAGES 36 AND 37

GovernanceThe Board confirms that there are ongoing processes for 
identifying, evaluating and mitigating the significant risks faced by 
the Group. The processes, which have been in place throughout 
the year and up to the date of approval of the Annual Report and 
Accounts, are consistent, so far as is appropriate for the nature 
and size of the Group’s business, with the guidance issued by 
the Financial Reporting Council.

The Group’s internal financial control and monitoring 
procedures include:

• clear responsibility on the part of line and financial management 

for the maintenance of good financial controls and the production 
of accurate and timely financial management information;

• the control of key financial risks through appropriate authorisation 

levels and segregation of accounting duties;

• detailed monthly budgeting and reporting of trading results, 

balance sheets and cash flows, with regular review by 
management of variances from budget;

• reporting on any non-compliance with internal financial controls 

and procedures; and 

• review of reports issued by the external auditor.

The Audit Committee, on behalf of the Board, reviewed reports from 
the external auditor together with management’s response regarding 
proposed actions. In this manner, it has reviewed the effectiveness of 
the system of internal controls for the year under review.

Shareholder communications

The Chief Executive Officer and the Chief Financial Officer 
regularly meet with institutional shareholders to foster a mutual 
understanding of objectives. In particular, an extensive programme 
of meetings with analysts and institutional shareholders is held 
following the interim and preliminary results announcements. 
Feedback from these meetings and market updates prepared 
by the Company’s Nomad are presented to the Board to ensure 
it has an understanding of shareholders’ views. The other 
Non-executive Directors are available to shareholders to 
discuss strategy and governance issues. 

The Directors encourage the participation of all shareholders, 
including private investors, at the Annual General Meeting.

The Annual Report and Accounts is published on the Company’s 
website, www.wandisco.com, and can be accessed by shareholders.

Board effectiveness

The performance of the Board was evaluated informally on 
an ongoing basis with reference to all aspects of its operation 
including, but not limited to: the appropriateness of its skill level; 
the way its meetings were conducted and administered (including 
the content of those meetings); the effectiveness of the various 
Committees; whether corporate governance issues were handled 
in a satisfactory manner; and whether there was a clear strategy 
and objectives. The conclusion was that the Board was performing 
as expected.

Each Director’s performance is appraised through the normal 
appraisal process. Save for the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, 
who was appraised by the Non-executive Directors, the Executive 
Board members were appraised by the Chairman and Chief Executive 
Officer. The Non-executive Directors were appraised by the Chairman 
and Chief Executive Officer. 

Directors’ independence

There is only one Non-executive Director who is considered 
by the Board to be independent of the management and is free 
to exercise independence of judgement. He has never been an 
employee of the Group nor does he participate in the Group’s 
bonus arrangements. He receives no other remuneration 
from the Group other than his Directors’ fees.

Board appointments

There was the replacement of one of the Executive Directors during 
the year. Each new Director, on appointment, is briefed on the activities 
of the Group. Professional induction training is also given as appropriate. 
The Chairman briefs Non-executive Directors on issues arising at Board 
meetings if required and Non-executive Directors have access to 
the Chairman at any time. Ongoing training is provided as needed. 
Directors were updated on a frequent and regular basis on the 
Group’s business.

Directors are subject to re-election at the Annual General Meeting 
(“AGM”) following their appointment. In addition, at each AGM 
one-third (or the whole number nearest to one-third) of the 
Directors retire by rotation.

Internal controls and risk management

The Board is responsible for the Group’s system of internal controls 
and for reviewing its effectiveness. Such a system is designed to 
mitigate against and manage, rather than eliminate, the risk of 
failure to achieve business objectives and can only provide 
reasonable and not absolute assurance against material 
misstatement or loss.

Executive management considered the potential financial and 
non-financial risks which may impact on the business as part of the 
quarterly management reporting procedures. The Board received 
the principal risk outputs of these quarterly management reports 
and monitored the position at Board meetings. The principal risks 
are set out on pages 21 to 23.

ANNUAL REPORT AND ACCOUNTS 2017 WANDISCO PLC

33

GovernanceNOMINATION COMMITTEE REPORT

Committee composition

The Nomination Committee is chaired by Karl Monaghan 
and the other members of the Committee are Grant Dollens, 
David Richards and Erik Miller. 

Committee responsibilities

The Nomination Committee has responsibility for: reviewing the 
structure, size and composition of the Board and recommending 
to the Board any changes required; succession planning; and 
identifying and nominating for approval of the Board candidates 
to fill vacancies as and when they arise. The Committee is also 
responsible for reviewing the results of any Board performance 
evaluation process and making recommendations to the Board 
concerning the Board’s Committees and the re-election of 
Directors at the AGM. 

The membership of the Nomination Committee comprises the 
two Non-executive Directors, David Richards and Erik Miller.

The Nomination Committee is required to meet not less than 
twice a year and at such other times as required.

It has written terms of reference, which are available for review 
at www.wandisco.com.

Committee meetings

The Nomination Committee met twice in the year, with the 
Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer in attendance. 

The Board has considered diversity in broader terms than just 
gender and believes it is also important to have the correct balance 
of skills, experience, independence and knowledge on the Board. 
All Board appointments will be made on merit and with the aim of 
achieving a correct balance. The Group has formal policies in place 
to promote equality of opportunity across the whole organisation 
and training is provided to assist this. 

Currently, there are no women on the Board. As opportunities 
arise, the Board will seek to increase the presence of women 
on the Board consistent with the above policy and the terms 
of reference of the Nomination Committee.

34

WANDISCO PLC ANNUAL REPORT AND ACCOUNTS 2017

KARL MONAGHAN  COMMITTEE CHAIRMANGovernanceAUDIT COMMITTEE REPORT

Committee composition

Karl Monaghan is the Chairman of the Committee and the other 
member of the Committee is Grant Dollens. The Board considers 
Karl Monaghan to have relevant and recent financial experience, 
given his biography set out on page 29.

Committee responsibilities

The Audit Committee (“the Committee”) is established by and is 
responsible to the Board. It has written terms of reference, which are 
available for review at www.wandisco.com. Its main responsibilities are:

• to monitor and be satisfied with the truth and fairness of the 
Group’s financial statements before submission to the Board 
for approval, ensuring their compliance with the appropriate 
accounting standards, the law and the AIM Rules;

• to monitor and review the effectiveness of the Group’s system 

of internal control;

• to make recommendations to the Board in relation to the 
appointment of the external auditor and its remuneration, 
following appointment by the shareholders in general meeting, 
and to review and be satisfied with the auditor’s independence, 
objectivity and effectiveness on an ongoing basis; and

• to implement the policy relating to any non-audit services 

performed by the external auditor.

The Committee is authorised by the Board to seek and obtain any 
information it requires from any officer or employee of the Group 
and to obtain external legal or other independent professional advice 
as is deemed necessary by it.

Committee meetings

There were two meetings of the Committee during the year scheduled 
to coincide with the review of the scope of the external audit and 
observations arising from its work in relation to internal control, and 
to review the financial statements. The external auditor attended all of 
these meetings. Since the end of the financial year, the Committee has 
met once (in February 2018) to consider, amongst other matters, this 
Annual Report, with the external auditor being present at this meeting. 
The Committee also met with the external auditor, without the 
Executive Directors being present, once during the year.

The Audit Committee carried out a full review of the year-end 
financial statements and of the audit, using as a basis the reports to 
the Committee prepared by the Chief Financial Officer and external 
auditor and taking into account any significant accounting policies, 
any changes to them and any significant estimates or judgements. 
Questions were asked of management of any significant or unusual 
transactions where the accounting treatment could be open to 
different interpretations.

The Committee received reports from management on the 
effectiveness of the system of internal controls. It also received from 

the external auditor a report of matters arising during the course 
of the audit which the auditor deemed to be of significance for 
the Committee’s attention. The statement on internal controls and 
the management of risk, which is included in the Annual Report, 
is approved by the Committee.

Significant matters considered by the Committee in relation to the 
financial statements and areas of judgement routinely considered 
and challenged were as follows: 

• revenue recognition;

• capitalised development costs and other intangible assets;

• share-based payments; and

• going concern.

The Committee is satisfied that the judgements made by 
management are reasonable and that appropriate disclosures 
in relation to key judgements and estimates have been included 
in the financial statements. 

In reaching this conclusion the Committee has considered reports 
and analysis prepared by management and has also constructively 
challenged assumptions. The Committee has also considered 
detailed reporting from and discussions with the external auditor.

Committee performance

The Committee carried out an annual assessment of its own 
performance during the year and the conclusion was that the 
Committee was performing as expected.

External auditor

KPMG has been the external auditor since 2012, when the Company’s 
shares were admitted to trading on AIM. As such, an audit partner 
rotation process commenced in 2016 in time for the 2017 rotation.

As required, the external auditor provided the Committee with 
information for review about policies and processes for maintaining 
its independence and compliance regarding the rotation of audit 
partners and staff. The Committee considered all relationships 
between the external auditor and the Group and was satisfied that 
they did not compromise the auditor’s judgement or independence, 
particularly with the provision of non-audit services. 

An internal review of the effectiveness of the external audit process 
was carried out during the year and no deficiencies were found. 
Management was satisfied with the external audit team’s knowledge 
of the business and that the scope of the audit was appropriate, all 
significant accounting judgements had been challenged robustly 
and the audit had been effective.

All of the above was taken into account before a recommendation 
was made by the Committee to the Board to propose KPMG for 
re-election at the AGM.

Internal audit function

Given the Group’s size and development, the Board did not 
consider it necessary to have an internal audit function during the 
year. The Board will continue to monitor this requirement annually.

ANNUAL REPORT AND ACCOUNTS 2017 WANDISCO PLC

35

KARL MONAGHAN  COMMITTEE CHAIRMANGovernanceREMUNERATION COMMITTEE AND REMUNERATION REPORT

This report sets out information about the remuneration of the 
Directors of the Company for the year ended 31 December 2017. 
As a company admitted to AIM, WANdisco plc is not required to 
prepare a Directors’ remuneration report. However, the Board 
supports the principle of transparency and has prepared this report 
in order to provide information to shareholders on executive 
remuneration arrangements. This report has been substantially 
prepared in accordance with Schedule 8 of the Large and 
Medium-sized Companies and Groups (Accounts and Reports) 
Regulations 2008 (“the Regulations”).

The Remuneration Committee

Committee composition

The Remuneration Committee is chaired by Karl Monaghan 
and the other member of the Committee is Grant Dollens.

Committee responsibilities

The Remuneration Committee’s primary purposes are to assist 
the Board in determining the Company’s remuneration policies, 
review the performance of the Executive Directors and make 
recommendations to the Board on matters relating to their 
remuneration and terms of service, the granting of share 
options, and other equity incentives.

Committee meetings

The Remuneration Committee met four times in the year, 
with the other Board members in attendance as appropriate.

Non-executive Directors

Remuneration of the Non-executive Directors is determined by 
the Executive Directors. Non-executive Directors are not entitled 
to pensions, annual bonuses or employee benefits. They are 
entitled to participate in share option arrangements relating to the 
Company’s shares but neither of them does so at this time. Each 
of the Non-executive Directors has a letter of appointment stating 
his annual fee and that his appointment is initially for a term of three 
years, subject to re-appointment at the AGM, renewable for further 
periods of three years. Their appointment may be terminated with 
three months’ written notice at any time.

Directors’ remuneration

The normal remuneration arrangements for Executive Directors 
consist of basic salary and annual performance-related bonuses. 
In addition, they receive private health care. 

The Committee intends to make further awards under the 
Long-Term Incentive Plan (“LTIP”) during 2018. Details of any awards 
will be disclosed in next year’s Remuneration Committee report.

2017 annual bonus

The 2017 Bonus Plan comprised a target bonus based on a % 
of base salary. The Bonus Plan is based on the achievement of 
corporate financial performance measures, including bookings and 
overheads targets. Having regard to the performance of the business, 
the Remuneration Committee resolved to pay bonuses as set out 
on page 37.

Similar bonus principles will be adopted for 2018. Performance 
targets and weightings were set by the Remuneration Committee 
at the start of the year.

Directors’ interests

Details of the Directors’ shareholdings are included in the Directors’ 
report on page 39.

Remuneration Committee report

Directors’ share options

As an AIM listed company, WANdisco plc is not required to 
comply with the regulations. The content of this report is 
unaudited unless stated.

Remuneration policy

The objectives of the remuneration policy are to ensure that the 
overall remuneration of Executive Directors is aligned with the 
performance of the Group and preserves an appropriate balance 
of income and shareholder value.

Aggregate emoluments disclosed on page 37 do not include any 
amounts for the value of options to acquire ordinary shares in the 
Company granted to or held by the Directors. Details of options 
for Directors who served during the year are as follows:

36

WANDISCO PLC ANNUAL REPORT AND ACCOUNTS 2017

KARL MONAGHAN  COMMITTEE CHAIRMANGovernanceExecutive Directors
David Richards1

Dr Yeturu Aahlad1

Erik Miller

Former Executive Directors
James Campigli2
James Campigli3

Non-executive Directors

Grant Dollens

Karl Monaghan

Number of
options at
1 January
2017

97,441

92,771

Exercise
price

$0.12

$2.34

$0.13

$0.12

$2.34

$0.13

$11.04

Number of
options 
granted

Number of
options 
exercised

Number of

Number of
options at
options  31 December
2017

lapsed

—

—

—

62,785

15,000

410,789

—

—

—

—

7,124

423,707

(32,480)

—

—

(5,000)

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

64,961

92,771

62,785

10,000

410,789

7,124

423,707

$0.12

$2.34

62,931

27,623

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

(34,969)

(27,962)

(27,623)

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

1  Exercised on 31 March 2017 at a market price of £4.235.
2  20,977 shares exercised on 31 March 2017 at a market price of £4.235 and 13,992 shares exercised on 21 April 2017 at a market price of £3.85.
3  Exercised on 14 April 2017 at a market price of £4.00.

Executive Directors

David Richards
Erik Miller2
Dr Yeturu Aahlad3
Former Executive Directors
Paul Harrison4
James Campigli5

Non-executive Directors
Grant Dollens6
Karl Monaghan7
Former Non-executive Directors
Paul Walker8
Ian Duncan8

Payment 
currency

Salary/fees
’000

Bonus
’000

Benefits 1
’000

31 December 31 December
2016
Total
’000

2017
Total
’000

$

$

$

$

$

£

£

£

£

490

250

125

—

316

40

40

—

—

367

125

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

90

13

56

—

4

—

—

—

—

947

388

181

—

320

40

40

—

—

512

72

—

625

533

9

3

100

54

1   Benefits include the provision of private health insurance for Executive Directors and their immediate families. In addition, for David Richards and 

Dr Yeturu Aahlad the figure includes contribution to the cost of share sales (gross) of $72,000 and $48,000 respectively.

2  Joined 21 September 2016 and appointed to the Board 5 December 2016.
3  Joined 23 February 2017.
4  Left 23 September 2016.
5  Left 23 February 2017.
6  Joined 9 October 2016.
7  Joined 5 December 2016.
8  Left 6 October 2016.

The total Directors’ remuneration for the period ended 31 December 2017, in US dollars, was $1,940,000 (2016: $1,965,000).

Approval

This report was approved by the Directors and signed by order of the Board.

Karl Monaghan
Chairman of the Remuneration Committee
23 March 2018

ANNUAL REPORT AND ACCOUNTS 2017 WANDISCO PLC

37

GovernanceDIRECTORS’ REPORT

The Directors present their report and the audited financial statements 
for the year ended 31 December 2017 in accordance with section 415 
of the Companies Act 2006. Particulars of important events affecting 
the Group, together with the factors likely to affect its future 
development, performance and position, are set out in the Strategic 
report on pages 6 to 27, which is incorporated into this report by 
reference together with the Corporate governance report on pages 
31 to 33. In addition, this report should be read in conjunction with 
information concerning employee share schemes, which can be found 
in the Remuneration Committee report on pages 36 and 37 and in 
Note 22 to the financial statements, and which is incorporated by 
way of cross-reference into the Directors’ report. 

Principal activity

The principal activity of the Group is the development and provision 
of global collaboration software.

Business review and future developments

A review of the Group’s operations and future developments is covered 
in the Strategic report section of the Annual Report and Accounts on 
pages 6 to 27. This report includes sections on strategy and markets 
and considers key risks and key performance indicators.

Financial results

Details of the Group’s financial results are set out in the Consolidated 
statement of profit and loss and other comprehensive income and 
other components on pages 45 to 71.

Dividends

The Directors do not recommend the payment of a dividend.

Going concern

The Company’s business activities, together with risk factors which 
potentially affect its future development, performance or position, 
can be found in the Strategic report on pages 6 to 27. Details of the 
Company’s financial position and its cash flows are outlined in the 
Financial review on pages 24 and 25. 

Significant shareholders

After making reasonable enquiries, the Board has an expectation 
that the Group and the Company have adequate financial resources 
together with a strong business model to ensure they continue to 
operate for the foreseeable future. Accordingly, the Directors have 
adopted the going concern basis in preparing the financial 
statements. This is described in more detail in Note 2(b).

Annual General Meeting (“AGM”)

On pages 73 to 75 is the notice of the Company’s sixth AGM to 
be held at 10 am on 23 May 2018 at the Novotel Sheffield Centre, 
50 Arundel Gate, Sheffield S1 2PR.

Directors

The Directors who served on the Board and on Board Committees during 
the year are set out on pages 28 and 29. One-third of the Directors are 
required to retire at the AGM and can offer themselves for re-election. 

Information on Directors’ remuneration and share option rights is 
given in the Remuneration Committee report on pages 36 and 37.

Directors’ indemnity arrangements

The Directors benefited from qualifying third party indemnity provisions 
in place during the financial year and at the date of this report. Other 
than this, and with the exception of employment contracts between 
each Executive Director and the Group, at no time during the year did 
any Director hold a material interest in any contract of significance 
with the Group or any of its subsidiary undertakings. The Group has 
purchased and maintained throughout the year directors’ and 
officers’ liability insurance in respect of all Group companies. 

None of the Directors had any interest in the share capital of any 
subsidiary company. Further details of options held by the Directors 
are set out in the Remuneration Committee report on pages 36 and 37.

The middle market price of the Company’s ordinary shares on 
31 December 2017 was 572.50 pence and the range during the 
year was 175.00 pence to 881.50 pence, with an average price 
of 564.68 pence.

The Company is informed that, at 23 March 2018, individual registered shareholdings of more than 3% of the Company’s issued share 
capital were as follows:

% of issued
ordinary
share
capital

Number
of shares

OppenheimerFunds, Inc

T Rowe Price

Dr Yeturu Aahlad

David Richards

Blueport Capital, L.P.

Grant Dollens1

Deutsche Bank

Ross Creek Partners 

Herald Investment Trust

5,835,399

14.13%

2,775,917

2,425,091

2,056,753

2,052,556

1,583,902

1,344,872

1,250,000

1,242,580

6.72%

5.87%

4.98%

4.97%

3.83%

3.26%

3.03%

3.01%

1   Of which 526,384 shares (1.27%) are held by Grant Dollens personally and 1,057,518 shares (2.56%) are held by Global Frontier Partners, in which Grant Dollens 
is interested (Grant Dollens is currently Managing Member at Global Frontier Investments, LLC, a US-based investment manager, and Portfolio Manager for 
Global Frontier Partners, LP, a shareholder in WANdisco).

38

WANDISCO PLC ANNUAL REPORT AND ACCOUNTS 2017

GovernanceDirectors’ shareholdings

The beneficial interests of the Directors in the share capital of the Company at 31 December 2017 and at 23 March 2018 were as follows:

Executive

David Richards

Dr Yeturu Aahlad

Erik Miller

Non-executive

Grant Dollens1

Karl Monaghan

At 31 December 2017

At 23 March 2018

% of issued
ordinary
share
capital

Number
of shares

% of issued
ordinary
share
capital

Number
of shares

2,089,233

5.11% 2,056,753

2,430,091

5.94% 2,425,091

10,000

0.02%

10,000

1,583,902

3.88% 1,583,902

53,542

0.13%

53,542

4.98%

5.87%

0.02%

3.83%

0.13%

1   Of which 526,384 shares (1.27%) are held by Grant Dollens personally and 1,057,518 shares (2.56%) are held by Global Frontier Partners, in which Grant Dollens 
is interested (Grant Dollens is currently Managing Member at Global Frontier Investments, LLC, a US-based investment manager, and Portfolio Manager for 
Global Frontier Partners, LP, a shareholder in WANdisco).

Articles of Association

Political and charitable donations

Any amendments to the Articles of Association of the Company 
may be made by special resolution of the shareholders. 

During the year ended 31 December 2017 the Group made 
political donations of $nil (2016: $nil) and charitable donations 
of $nil (2016: $352).

Research and development

The Group expended $6,303,000 during the year (2016: $5,860,000) 
on research and development, of which $6,303,000 (2016: $5,860,000) 
was capitalised within intangible assets and $nil (2016: $nil) was 
charged to the income statement. In addition, an amortisation 
charge of $6,366,000 (2016: $8,116,000) has been recognised 
against previously capitalised costs.

Derivatives and financial instruments

The Group’s policy and exposure to derivatives and financial 
instruments is set out in Note 20.

Employee involvement

It is the Group’s policy to involve employees in its progress, 
development and performance. Applications for employment 
by disabled persons are fully considered, bearing in mind the 
respective aptitudes and abilities of the applicants concerned. 
The Group is a committed equal opportunities employer and 
has engaged employees with broad backgrounds and skills.

It is the policy of the Group that the training, career development 
and promotion of a disabled person should, as far as possible, be 
identical to that of a person who does not have a disability. In the 
event of members of staff becoming disabled, every effort is made 
to ensure that their employment with the Group continues.

Health and safety

The Group is committed to providing a safe and healthy working 
environment for all staff and contractors. The Group’s health and 
safety standard sets out the range of policies, procedures and 
systems required to manage risks and promote wellbeing. 

Supplier payment policy and practice

The Group does not operate a standard code in respect of 
payments to suppliers. The Group agrees terms of payment 
with suppliers at the start of business and then makes payments 
in accordance with contractual and other legal obligations.

The number of creditor days outstanding at 31 December 2017 
was 40 days (2016: 47 days).

Auditor

As recommended by the Audit Committee, a resolution for the 
re-appointment of KPMG LLP as auditor of the Company is to be 
proposed at the forthcoming AGM.

Audit information 

Each of the Directors at the date of the Directors’ report confirms 
that, so far as he is aware, there is no relevant audit information of 
which the Company’s auditor is unaware and he has taken all the 
reasonable steps that he ought to have taken as a Director to make 
himself aware of any relevant audit information and to establish that 
the Company’s auditor is aware of the information. 

The Directors’ report has been approved by the Board of Directors 
on 23 March 2018. 

Signed on behalf of the Board.

Erik Miller
Chief Financial Officer
23 March 2018

ANNUAL REPORT AND ACCOUNTS 2017 WANDISCO PLC

39

GovernanceSTATEMENT OF DIRECTORS’ RESPONSIBILITIES
in respect of the Annual Report and the financial statements

The Directors are responsible for preparing the Annual Report and the Group financial statements in accordance with applicable law 
and regulations. 

Company law requires the Directors to prepare Group financial statements for each financial year. As required by the AIM Rules of the 
London Stock Exchange they are required to prepare the Group financial statements in accordance with International Financial Reporting 
Standards as adopted by the EU (IFRSs as adopted by the EU) and applicable law.

Under company law the Directors must not approve the financial statements unless they are satisfied that they give a true and fair view 
of the state of affairs of the Group and of its profit or loss for that period. In preparing the Group financial statements, the Directors are 
required to: 

• select suitable accounting policies and then apply them consistently; 

• make judgements and estimates that are reasonable and prudent; 

• state whether they have been prepared in accordance with IFRSs as adopted by the EU; 

• assess the Group’s ability to continue as a going concern, disclosing, as applicable, matters related to going concern; and 

• use the going concern basis of accounting unless they either intend to liquidate the Group or to cease operations, or have no realistic 

alternative but to do so. 

The Directors are responsible for keeping adequate accounting records that are sufficient to show and explain the Group’s transactions and 
disclose with reasonable accuracy at any time the financial position of the Group and enable them to ensure that its financial statements 
comply with the Companies (Jersey) Law 1991. They are responsible for such internal control as they determine is necessary to enable the 
preparation of financial statements that are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error, and have general responsibility for 
taking such steps as are reasonably open to them to safeguard the assets of the Group and to prevent and detect fraud and other irregularities. 

The Directors are responsible for the maintenance and integrity of the corporate and financial information included on the 
Company’s website. Legislation in Jersey governing the preparation and dissemination of financial statements may differ from 
legislation in other jurisdictions.

40

WANDISCO PLC ANNUAL REPORT AND ACCOUNTS 2017

GovernanceINDEPENDENT AUDITOR’S REPORT
To the members of WANdisco plc

1. Our opinion is unmodified

Basis for opinion

We have audited the consolidated financial statements of WANdisco 
plc (“the Company”) for the year ended 31 December 2017 which 
comprise the Consolidated statement of profit and loss and other 
comprehensive income, the Consolidated balance sheet, the 
Consolidated statement of changes in equity, Consolidated 
statement of changes in cash flows, and the related notes, 
including the accounting policies in Note 3.

We conducted our audit in accordance with International Standards 
on Auditing (UK) (“ISAs (UK)”) and applicable law. Our responsibilities 
are described below. We have fulfilled our ethical responsibilities 
under, and are independent of the Group in accordance with, UK 
ethical requirements including the FRC Ethical Standard as applied 
to listed entities. We believe that the audit evidence we have 
obtained is a sufficient and appropriate basis for our opinion.

In our opinion the financial statements:

• give a true and fair view, in accordance with International Financial 

Reporting Standards as adopted by the European Union (IFRSs 
as adopted by the EU), of the state of the Group’s affairs as at 
31 December 2017 and of its loss for the year then ended; and

Overview

Materiality

Group financial 
statements as a whole

$300k (2016: $200k) 

2.1% (2016: 2.0%) of loss before tax

• have been properly prepared in accordance with the Companies 

Coverage

97% (2016: 99%) of Group loss before tax

(Jersey) Law 1991.

Risks of material misstatement vs 2016

Recurring risks

Revenue recognition  |}

Capitalisation of development costs 

as intangible assets |}

Carrying value of capitalised 

development costs |}

2. Key audit matters: our assessment of risks of material misstatement

Key audit matters are those matters that, in our professional judgement, were of most significance in the audit of the financial statements 
and include the most significant assessed risks of material misstatement (whether or not due to fraud) identified by us, including those which 
had the greatest effect on: the overall audit strategy; the allocation of resources in the audit; and directing the efforts of the engagement 
team. These matters were addressed in the context of our audit of the financial statements as a whole, and in forming our opinion thereon, 
and we do not provide a separate opinion on these matters. In arriving at our audit opinion above, the key audit matters, in decreasing 
order of audit significance, were as follows (unchanged from 2016):

Key audit matters

The risk

Our response

Revenue recognition

Accounting application

Our procedures included: 

(Group revenue $19.6 million, 
deferred income $14.2 million; 
2016: Group revenue $11.4 million, 
deferred income $12.5 million)

The Group’s contracts with customers can involve 
multiple contract deliverables. Revenue recognition 
within the Group may require separate recognition 
of each deliverable.

Refer to page 35 (Audit Committee 
Report), page 54 (accounting policy) 
and page 58 (financial disclosures).

As a result, judgement is required over the 
assessment of separate contract deliverables.

The fair value of each identified deliverable requires 
the Group to make estimates as to the fair value 
of each contract deliverable identified.

This includes some elements recognised upfront 
and some recognised over time resulting in 
significant deferred income balances.

There is therefore a risk that not all revenue 
is recognised in the correct period.

• Accounting analysis: Determining if several 
performance obligations exist within a contract 
that results in more than one component of 
revenue. This was achieved by assessing a sample 
of contracts using the guidance in the relevant 
accounting standard, particularly as to deliverables 
having a stand alone value. 

• Accounting analysis: Assessment of the Group’s 
estimate of subjective fair value attributed to each 
identified contract deliverable within a contract 
and the timing of the revenue recognition for 
each deliverable against our own knowledge 
of similar contracts in the industry.

• Test of details: Testing a sample of revenue 

transactions to assess if revenue was recorded 
in the correct period with reference to 
contractual documents.

• Assessing transparency: Assessing 

the adequacy of the Group’s disclosures 
on revenue recognition.

ANNUAL REPORT AND ACCOUNTS 2017 WANDISCO PLC

41

Financial statementsINDEPENDENT AUDITOR’S REPORT CONTINUED
To the members of WANdisco plc

2. Key audit matters: our assessment of risks of material misstatement continued

Key audit matters

The risk

Our response

Capitalisation of development 
costs as intangible assets

(Additions in the year $6.3 million; 
2016: $5.9 million)

(Net book value $5.9 million; 
2016: $6.0 million)

Refer to page 35 (Audit Committee 
Report), page 53 (accounting policy) 
and page 63 (financial disclosures).

Accounting treatment

Our procedures included: 

The Group capitalises internal costs in respect 
of development projects. The Directors apply 
judgement in the classification of expenditure 
as capital in nature rather than ongoing 
operational expenditure.

• Testing application: Assessing the nature 
of the items capitalised and evaluating the 
appropriateness of their classification as 
capitalised costs, having regard to the 
relevant accounting standards.

There is a risk that costs are capitalised that 
should be expensed under the relevant 
accounting standard.

• This included assessing whether major projects 

are technically feasible and commercially 
viable by reference to existing orders 
and future forecasts.

• Test of details: Agreeing a sample of costs 

to supporting documentation.

• Assessing transparency: Considering 

the adequacy of the Group’s disclosures in 
respect of the capitalisation of development 
intangible assets.

• Historical comparison: Assessing the Group’s 

forecasting accuracy by comparing actual results 
in the period to what was previously forecast 
for the year for each significant project.

• Critically evaluating the assumptions for future 
customer sign up rates, having regard to actual 
rates in previous years.

• Assessing transparency: Considering 

the adequacy of the Group’s disclosures in 
respect of the recoverability of capitalised 
development intangible assets.

Carrying value of capitalised 
development costs

(Net book value $5.9 million; 
2016: $6.0 million)

Refer to page 35 (Audit Committee 
Report), page 53 (accounting policy) 
and page 63 (financial disclosures).

Forecast-based valuation

The Group continues to be loss making. As a 
result the Group has tested previously capitalised 
development costs for impairment. There remains 
a degree of uncertainty around whether expected 
revenues and profits will be realised and be 
sufficient to ensure recoverability of the assets 
recognised on the balance sheet. Certain of 
the key inputs, specifically customer sign up 
rates to future cash flows, require estimation.

3. Our application of materiality and an overview of the scope of our audit

Materiality for the Group financial statements as a whole was set at $300k (2016: $200k), determined with reference to a benchmark 
of loss before tax (of which it represents 2.1% (2016: 2.0% of loss before tax)).

We agreed to report to the Audit Committee any corrected or uncorrected identified misstatements exceeding $15k (FY16: $10k), 
in addition to other identified misstatements that warranted reporting on qualitative grounds.

Of the Group’s five (2016: five) reporting components, we subjected three (2016: three) to full scope audits for Group purposes.

The components within the scope of our work accounted for the percentages illustrated opposite.

The Group team approved the component materialities, which ranged from $300k to $261k (2016: $200k to $186k), having regard 
to the mix of size and risk profile of the Group across the components.

42

WANDISCO PLC ANNUAL REPORT AND ACCOUNTS 2017

Financial statements3. Our application of materiality and an overview of the scope of our audit continued

Loss before tax
$14.0m (2016: $10.0m)

Group materiality
$300k (2016: $200k)

97+3+I

$300k
Whole financial statements 
materiality (2016: $200k)

$261k
Range of materiality at 
three components $300k–$261k 
(2016: $200k–$186k)

 Loss before tax

 Group materiality

$15k
Misstatements reported to the 
Audit Committee (2016: $10k)

Group revenue

100
100

Group loss before tax

97%
(2016: 99%)

100%
(2016: 100%)

I100+
100+
I99+
97+
100+
I99+

100%
(2016: 99%)

Group total assets

99
100

99
97

 Full scope for Group audit purposes 2017

 Full scope for Group audit purposes 2016

 Residual components

ANNUAL REPORT AND ACCOUNTS 2017 WANDISCO PLC

43

Financial statementsI
1
+
I
3
+
1
+
I
INDEPENDENT AUDITOR’S REPORT CONTINUED
To the members of WANdisco plc

4. We have nothing to report on going concern

Auditor’s responsibilities

Our objectives are to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the 
financial statements as a whole are free from material misstatement, 
whether due to fraud or error, and to issue our opinion in an auditor’s 
report. Reasonable assurance is a high level of assurance, but does not 
guarantee that an audit conducted in accordance with ISAs (UK) will 
always detect a material misstatement when it exists. Misstatements 
can arise from fraud or error and are considered material if, individually 
or in aggregate, they could reasonably be expected to influence 
the economic decisions of users taken on the basis of the 
financial statements.

A fuller description of our responsibilities is provided on the FRC’s 
website at www.frc.org.uk/auditorsresponsibilities.

8. The purpose of our audit work and to whom we owe 
our responsibilities

This report is made solely to the Company’s members, as a body, in 
accordance with Article 113A of the Companies (Jersey) Law 1991. 
Our audit work has been undertaken so that we might state to the 
Company’s members those matters we are required to state to 
them in an auditor’s report and for no other purpose. To the fullest 
extent permitted by law, we do not accept or assume responsibility 
to anyone other than the Company and the Company’s members, 
as a body, for our audit work, for this report, or for the opinions 
we have formed.

Adrian Stone
for and on behalf of KPMG LLP 
Chartered Accountants and Recognised Auditor
1 Sovereign Square
Leeds
LS1 4DA
23 March 2018

We are required to report to you if we have concluded that the use 
of the going concern basis of accounting is inappropriate or there is 
an undisclosed material uncertainty that may cast significant doubt 
over the use of that basis for a period of at least twelve months from 
the date of approval of the financial statements. We have nothing 
to report in these respects.

5. We have nothing to report on the other information 
in the Annual Report

The Directors are responsible for the other information presented in 
the Annual Report together with the financial statements. Our opinion 
on the financial statements does not cover the other information and, 
accordingly, we do not express an audit opinion or any form of 
assurance conclusion thereon.

Our responsibility is to read the other information and, in doing so, 
consider whether, based on our financial statements audit work, 
the information therein is materially misstated or inconsistent with 
the financial statements or our audit knowledge. Based solely on 
that work we have not identified material misstatements in the 
other information.

6. We have nothing to report on the other matters 
on which we are required to report by exception

Under the Companies (Jersey) Law 1991 we are required to report 
to you if, in our opinion:

• proper accounting records have not been kept by the Company; or

• proper returns adequate for our audit have not been received from 

branches not visited by us; or

• the Company’s accounts are not in agreement with the 

accounting records and returns; or

• we have not received all the information and explanations 

we require for our audit.

We have nothing to report in these respects.

7. Respective responsibilities

Directors’ responsibilities

As explained more fully in their statement set out on page 40, 
the Directors are responsible for: 

• the preparation of the financial statements including being 

satisfied that they give a true and fair view; 

• such internal control as they determine is necessary to enable the 
preparation of financial statements that are free from material 
misstatement, whether due to fraud or error; 

• assessing the Group’s ability to continue as a going concern, 

disclosing, as applicable, matters related to going concern; and

• using the going concern basis of accounting unless they either 
intend to liquidate the Group or to cease operations, or have no 
realistic alternative but to do so.

44

WANDISCO PLC ANNUAL REPORT AND ACCOUNTS 2017

Financial statementsCONSOLIDATED STATEMENT OF PROFIT AND LOSS AND OTHER COMPREHENSIVE INCOME
For the year ended 31 December 2017

Year ended 31 December 2017

Year ended 31 December 2016

Continuing operations

Revenue

Cost of sales

Gross profit

Operating expenses

Loss from operations

Finance income

Finance costs

Net finance (costs)/income

(Loss)/profit before tax

Income tax

(Loss)/profit for the year

Pre-
exceptional
$’000

Exceptional
items8
$’000

Notes

Pre-
exceptional
$’000

Exceptional
items8
$’000

Total
$’000

19,637

(1,972)

11,379

(1,349)

17,665

10,030

—

—

—

(27,360)

(27,921)

(32)

(27,953)

(9,695)

(17,891)

(32)

(17,923)

Total
$’000

11,379

(1,349)

10,030

8,170

(294)

—

—

—

—

—

—

(344)

(3,994)

(4,338)

(269)

(25)

29

1

8,169

5

19,637

(1,972)

17,665

(27,360)

(9,695)

29

6

6

9

9

9

(315)

(3,994)

(4,309)

(268)

8,144

7,876

(10,010)

(3,994)

(14,004)

(18,159)

8,112

(10,047)

11

489

—

489

772

—

772

(9,521)

(3,994)

(13,515)

(17,387)

8,112

(9,275)

Other comprehensive income

Items that are or may be reclassified to profit or loss:

Foreign operations – foreign currency translation differences

(184)

3,994

3,810

Other comprehensive income for the year, net of tax

(184)

3,994

3,810

107

107

(8,144)

(8,037)

(8,144)

(8,037)

Total comprehensive income for the year

(9,705)

—

(9,705)

(17,280)

(32)

(17,312)

Loss per share

Basic and diluted

12

$0.36

$0.28

The notes on pages 49 to 71 form part of these financial statements.

ANNUAL REPORT AND ACCOUNTS 2017 WANDISCO PLC

45

Financial statementsCONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEET
As at 31 December 2017

Assets

Intangible assets

Property, plant and equipment

Other assets

Non-current assets

Trade and other receivables

Cash and cash equivalents

Current assets

Total assets

Liabilities

Borrowings – finance lease liabilities

Borrowings – bank loan

Trade and other payables

Deferred income

Deferred government grant

Current tax liabilities

Current liabilities

Deferred income

Borrowings – finance lease liabilities

Borrowings – bank loan

Deferred tax liabilities

Non-current liabilities

Total liabilities

Net assets

Equity

Share capital

Share premium

Translation reserve

Merger reserve

Retained earnings

Total equity

Notes

2017
$’000

2016
$’000

13

14

16

17

18

19

19

19

19

19

19

19

11

7,081

5,977

556

889

492

—

8,526

6,469

5,969

27,396

6,145

7,558

33,365

13,703

41,891

20,172

(95)

(889)

(5,953)

(7,102)

(2)

(11)

(89)

—

(3,488)

(5,809)

(12)

(11)

(14,052)

(9,409)

(7,058)

(6,683)

(199)

(3,111)

(4)

(294)

—

(3)

(10,372)

(6,980)

(24,424)

(16,389)

17,467

3,783

21

21

21

21

21

6,156

5,638

115,196

94,526

(4,474)

(8,284)

1,247

1,247

(100,658)

(89,344)

17,467

3,783

The notes on pages 49 to 71 form part of these financial statements.

The financial statements on pages 45 to 71 were approved by the Board of Directors on 23 March 2018 and signed on its behalf by:

David Richards    
Chairman and CEO 

Erik Miller
Chief Financial Officer

Company registered number: 110497

46

WANDISCO PLC ANNUAL REPORT AND ACCOUNTS 2017

Financial statementsCONSOLIDATED STATEMENT OF CHANGES IN EQUITY
For the year ended 31 December 2017

Balance at 1 January 2017

Total comprehensive income for the year 

Loss for the year 

Other comprehensive income 

Total comprehensive income for the year

Transactions with owners of the Company

Contributions and distributions

Equity-settled share-based payment

Proceeds from share placing

Share options exercised

Balance at 1 January 2016

Total comprehensive income for the year 

Loss for the year 

Other comprehensive income 

Total comprehensive income for the year

Transactions with owners of the Company

Contributions and distributions

Equity-settled share-based payment

Proceeds from share placing

Share options exercised

Share
capital
$’000

Share
premium
$’000

Translation
reserve
$’000

Merger
reserve
$’000

Retained
earnings
$’000

Total
equity
$’000

5,638

94,526

(8,284)

1,247

(89,344)

3,783

—

—

—

—

401

117

—

—

—

—

20,131

539

—

3,810

3,810

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

(13,515)

(13,515)

—

3,810

(13,515)

(9,705)

2,201

—

—

2,201

20,532

656

2,201

23,389

Share
capital
$’000

Share
premium
$’000

Translation
reserve
$’000

Merger
reserve
$’000

Retained
earnings
$’000

Total
equity
$’000

4,667

81,974

(247)

1,247

(82,049)

5,592

—

—

—

—

894

77

—

—

—

—

12,696

(144)

—

(8,037)

(8,037)

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

(9,275)

—

(9,275)

(8,037)

(9,275)

(17,312)

1,819

—

161

1,819

13,590

94

1,980

15,503

Total transactions with owners of the Company

518

20,670

Balance at 31 December 2017

6,156

115,196

(4,474)

1,247

(100,658)

17,467

Total transactions with owners of the Company

971

12,552

Balance at 31 December 2016

5,638

94,526

(8,284)

1,247

(89,344)

3,783

The notes on pages 49 to 71 form part of these financial statements.

ANNUAL REPORT AND ACCOUNTS 2017 WANDISCO PLC

47

Financial statementsCONSOLIDATED STATEMENT OF CASH FLOWS
For the year ended 31 December 2017

Cash flows from operating activities

Loss for the year

Adjustments for:

– Depreciation of property, plant and equipment

– Amortisation of intangible assets

– Loss on disposal of property, plant and equipment

– Net finance costs

– Income tax

– Foreign exchange

– Equity-settled share-based payment 

Changes in:

– Trade and other receivables 

– Trade and other payables

– Deferred income

– Deferred government grant

Net working capital change

Cash generated from/(used in) operating activities

Interest paid

Income tax received

Net cash generated from/(used in) operating activities

Cash flows from investing activities

Purchase of third party software

Purchase of property, plant and equipment

Proceeds from sale of property, plant and equipment

Development expenditure 

Interest received

Net cash used in investing activities

Cash flows from financing activities

Net proceeds from share issues

Draw down of bank loan

Payment of finance lease liabilities

Net cash from financing activities

Net increase in cash and cash equivalents

Cash and cash equivalents at the start of the year

Effect of movements in exchange rates on cash and cash equivalents

Notes

2017
$’000

2016
$’000

14

13

11

22

(13,515)

(9,275)

215

6,699

—

315

(489)

3,860

2,201

174

8,466

4

268

(772)

(7,507)

1,819

(714)

(6,823)

(1,618)

1,331

1,668

(11)

328

827

2,735

(11)

1,370

3,879

656

(286)

1,364

(2,944)

(162)

690

1,734

(2,416)

(500)

(254)

1

—

(64)

2

13

9

(6,303)

(5,860)

29

1

(7,027)

(5,921)

21,188

4,000

(89)

13,523

—

(8)

19

19

25,099

13,515

19,806

7,558

32

5,178

2,555

(175)

Cash and cash equivalents at the end of the year

18

27,396

7,558

The notes on pages 49 to 71 form part of these financial statements.

48

WANDISCO PLC ANNUAL REPORT AND ACCOUNTS 2017

Financial statementsNOTES TO THE CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
For the year ended 31 December 2017

1. Reporting entity

WANdisco plc is a public limited company incorporated and domiciled in Jersey. The Company’s ordinary shares are traded on AIM. 
The consolidated financial statements of the Company for the year ended 31 December 2017 comprise the Company and its subsidiaries 
(together referred to as “the Group”).

2. Basis of preparation

(a) Statement of compliance

The financial statements have been prepared in accordance with International Financial Reporting Standards (“IFRS”) as endorsed by the EU, 
IFRIC Interpretations, and under the historical cost accounting convention, and those parts of Companies (Jersey) Law 1991 applicable to 
companies under IFRS.

Under Article 105(11) of the Companies (Jersey) Law 1991, a parent company preparing consolidated financial statements need not present 
solus (parent company only) financial information, unless required to do so by an ordinary resolution of the company’s members. 

(b) Going concern

As at 31 December 2017 the Group had net assets of $17.5m (31 December 2016: $3.8m), including cash of $27.4m (2016: $7.6m) as set out in 
the Consolidated balance sheet, with a debt facility drawn of $4.0m (2016: unutilised revolving credit facility $10.0m). In the year ended 
31 December 2017, the Group incurred a loss before tax of $14.0m (2016: $10.0m) and net cash outflows before financing of $5.3m (2016: $8.3m).

During 2017, the performance of the Group improved, with bookings growing by 45% to $22.5m (2016: $15.5m). Most of this growth was 
achieved through increased momentum in bookings as a result of success from new partnerships, including the IBM OEM. This growth in 
bookings led to increased revenue which was greater than a small increase in the cost base, which included an investment into supporting 
the new partnerships. In addition, during 2017 the Group received $4.0m in debt funding from Silicon Valley Bank and raised $20.5m, net 
of costs, through an equity raise; as a result of this, the Group had $27.4m (2016: $7.6m) of cash at 31 December 2017. 

The Directors have prepared a detailed budget and forecasts of the Group’s expected performance over a period covering at least the next 
twelve months from the date of these financial statements. As well as modelling the realisation of the sales pipeline, these forecasts also 
cover a number of scenarios and sensitivities in order for the Board to satisfy itself that the Group remains within its current cash facilities. 

Whilst the Directors are confident in the Group’s ability to grow bookings, the Board’s sensitivity modelling shows that the Group can 
remain within its facilities in the event that bookings growth is delayed (i.e. bookings do not increase from the level reported in 2017) for a 
period in excess of twelve months. The Directors’ financial forecasts and operational planning and modelling also include the actions that 
the Group could take to further significantly reduce the cost base during the coming year in the event that longer-term bookings were set 
to remain consistent with the level reported in 2017. On the basis of this financial and operational modelling, the Directors believe that the 
Group has the capability and the operational agility to react quickly, cut further costs from the business and ensure that the cost base of 
the business is aligned with its sales bookings, cash revenue and funding scale.

As a consequence, the Directors have a reasonable expectation that the Group can continue to operate and be able to meet its commitments 
and discharge its liabilities in the normal course of business for a period not less than twelve months from the date of these financial statements. 
Accordingly, they continue to adopt the going concern basis in preparing the Group financial statements.

(c) Functional and presentational currency

The consolidated financial statements are presented in US dollars, which is also the presentational currency of the Group, as the revenue 
for the Group is predominately derived in this currency. Billings to the Group’s customers during the year by WANdisco, Inc. were all in 
US dollars with certain costs being incurred by WANdisco International Limited in sterling and WANdisco, Pty Ltd in Australian dollars. 
All financial information has been rounded to the nearest thousand US dollars unless otherwise stated.

(d) Use of estimates and judgements

The preparation of financial information in conformity with adopted IFRS requires management to make judgements, estimates and 
assumptions that affect the application of accounting policies and the reported amounts of assets, liabilities, income and expenses. 
Actual results may differ from these estimates.

Estimates and underlying assumptions are reviewed on an ongoing basis. Revisions to accounting estimates are recognised in the period 
in which the estimates are revised and in any future periods affected.

ANNUAL REPORT AND ACCOUNTS 2017 WANDISCO PLC

49

Financial statementsNOTES TO THE CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS CONTINUED
For the year ended 31 December 2017

2. Basis of preparation continued

(d) Use of estimates and judgements continued

(i) Accounting estimates 

The preparation of financial statements in conformity with adopted IFRSs requires the use of estimates and assumptions that affect 
the reported amounts of assets and liabilities at the date of the financial statements and the reported amounts of revenues and expenses 
during the reporting year. Although these estimates are based on management’s best knowledge of the amount, events or actions, actual 
results ultimately may differ from those estimates.

The estimates and underlying assumptions are reviewed on an ongoing basis. The estimates and associated assumptions are based on 
historical experience and various other factors that are believed to be reasonable under the circumstances.

Revisions to accounting estimates are recognised in the period in which the estimate is revised if the revision affects only that period, or in 
the period of the revision and future periods if the revision affects both current and future periods. The Directors consider the following to 
be the estimates applicable to the financial statements, which have a significant risk of resulting in a material adjustment to the carrying 
amounts of assets and liabilities within the next financial year or in the long term:

Revenue

Key assumption: When allocating revenue between different performance obligations, the fair value of the various components is required, 
which involves the use of estimates to establish the relative fair values. 

Intangible impairment

Other assumption: Within the Intangible asset calculation we undertake an exercise to estimate future cash flows from the CGUs. We have 
assumptions on the growth rates of revenue and operating expenses which impacts the profit assumed and hence cash flow generation. 
These assumptions are used in the calculation of the net present value of cash flows. The further assumptions are the perpetuity growth 
rate and discount rate.

See Note 13.

(ii) Judgements

The Group applies judgement in how it applies its accounting policies, which do not involve estimation, but could materially affect the 
numbers disclosed in these financial statements. The key accounting judgements, without estimation, that have been applied in these 
financial statements are as follows:

Research and development

Capitalisation of development expenditure is completed only if development costs meet certain criteria. Full detail of the criteria is in Note 3(e)(ii).

Alternative accounting judgement that could have been applied – Not capitalising development costs.

Effect of that alternative accounting judgement – Reduction of $5,914,000 of assets carrying value.

Revenue

An additional area of judgement is the recognition and deferral of revenue in the situation when different performance obligations 
are bundled. For example, the sale of a perpetual licence with an annual maintenance and support contract. When products are bundled 
together for the purpose of sale, the associated revenue, net of all applicable discounts, is allocated between the constituent parts of the 
bundle on a relative fair value basis. The Group has a systematic basis for allocating relative fair values in these situations.

Alternative accounting judgement that could have been applied – Alternative methodology to allocate the fair values.

Effect of that alternative accounting judgement – Change in revenue figure and deferred income by the same amount.

(e) Alternative performance measures

The Group uses a number of key performance measures (“KPIs”) which are non-IFRS measures to monitor the performance of its operations. 
The Group believes these KPIs provide useful historical financial information to help investors and other stakeholders evaluate the performance 
of the business and are measures commonly used by certain investors for evaluating the performance of the Group. In particular, the Group 
uses KPIs which reflect the underlying performance on the basis that this provides a more relevant focus on the core business performance 
of the Group. The Group has been using the following KPIs on a consistent basis and they are defined and reconciled as follows:

• New sales bookings: A new sales booking relates to agreement with the customer via a contract to purchase. Bookings can be to both 

new and existing customers.

• Cash overheads: Operating expenses adjusted for: depreciation, amortisation, capitalisation of development expenditure and equity-settled 

share-based payment. See Note 6 for a reconciliation.

• Adjusted EBITDA: Loss from operations adjusted for: depreciation, amortisation, capitalisation of development expenditure and equity-settled 

share-based payment. See Note 6 for a reconciliation.

50

WANDISCO PLC ANNUAL REPORT AND ACCOUNTS 2017

Financial statements3. Significant accounting policies

The accounting policies set out below have been applied consistently to all periods presented in these consolidated financial statements.

(a) Basis of consolidation

The consolidated financial statements include the financial statements of Wandisco plc, all its subsidiary undertakings and investments. 
Consistent accounting policies have been applied in the preparation of all such financial statements.

(i) Subsidiaries

Subsidiaries are entities controlled by the Group. The Group controls an entity when it is exposed to, or has rights to, variable returns 
from its involvement with the entity and has the ability to affect those returns through its power over the entity. The financial statements of 
subsidiaries are included in the consolidated financial statements from the date that control commences until the date that control ceases.

(ii) Business combinations

All business combinations are accounted for by applying the acquisition method as at the acquisition date, which is the date on which 
control is transferred to the Group. 

The Group measures goodwill at the acquisition date as:

• the fair value of the consideration transferred; plus 

• the recognised amount of any non-controlling interests in the acquiree; plus

• the fair value of the existing equity interest in the acquiree; less

• the fair value of the identifiable assets acquired and liabilities assumed. 

When the excess is negative, the negative goodwill is recognised immediately in profit or loss.

Costs related to the acquisition, other than those associated with the issue of debt or equity securities, are expensed as incurred.

(iii) Transactions eliminated on consolidation

Intra-group balances and any unrealised gains or losses or income and expenses arising from intra-group transactions, are eliminated 
in preparing the consolidated financial statements.

(b) Foreign currency

(i) Foreign currency transactions

Transactions in foreign currencies are translated to the respective functional currencies of Group entities at the foreign exchange rate ruling 
at the date of the transaction. Monetary assets and liabilities denominated in foreign currencies at the balance sheet date are retranslated to 
the functional currency at the foreign exchange rate ruling at that date. Foreign exchange differences arising on translation are recognised 
in the income statement. Non-monetary assets and liabilities that are measured in terms of historical cost in a foreign currency are translated 
using the exchange rate at the date of the transaction. Non-monetary assets and liabilities denominated in foreign currencies that are 
stated at fair value are retranslated to the functional currency at foreign exchange rates ruling at the dates the fair value was determined.

(ii) Foreign operations

The assets and liabilities of foreign operations, including goodwill and fair value adjustments arising on consolidation, are translated to 
the Group’s presentational currency, US dollars, at foreign exchange rates ruling at the balance sheet date. The revenues and expenses 
of foreign operations are translated at an average rate for the year, where this rate approximates to the foreign exchange rates ruling at 
the dates of the transactions.

Exchange differences arising from this translation of foreign operations are reported as an item of other comprehensive income and 
accumulated in the translation reserve or non-controlling interest, as the case may be. 

(c) Financial instruments

(i) Non-derivative financial instruments

Non-derivative financial instruments comprise trade and other receivables, trade and other payables, cash and cash equivalents, and 
interest-bearing borrowings.

Trade and other receivables

Trade and other receivables are recognised initially at fair value. Subsequent to initial recognition they are measured at amortised cost using 
the effective interest method, less any impairment losses.

ANNUAL REPORT AND ACCOUNTS 2017 WANDISCO PLC

51

Financial statementsNOTES TO THE CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS CONTINUED
For the year ended 31 December 2017

3. Significant accounting policies continued

(c) Financial instruments continued

(i) Non-derivative financial instruments continued

Trade and other payables

Trade and other payables are recognised initially at fair value. Subsequent to initial recognition they are measured at amortised cost using 
the effective interest method.

Cash and cash equivalents

Cash and cash equivalents comprise cash balances and call deposits. Bank overdrafts that are repayable on demand and form an integral 
part of the Group’s cash management are included as a component of cash and cash equivalents.

Interest-bearing borrowings

Interest-bearing borrowings are recognised initially at fair value, less attributable transaction costs. Subsequent to initial recognition, 
interest-bearing borrowings are stated at amortised cost using the effective interest method, less any impairment losses.

(ii) Classification of financial instruments issued by the Group

Following the adoption of IAS 32 “Financial Instruments: Presentation”, financial instruments issued by the Group are treated as equity 
only to the extent that they meet the following two conditions: 

(a)   they include no contractual obligations upon the Group to deliver cash or other financial assets or to exchange financial assets or 

financial liabilities with another party under conditions that are potentially unfavourable to the Group; and 

(b)   where the instrument will or may be settled in the Group’s own equity instruments, it is either a non-derivative that includes no 

obligation to deliver a variable number of the Company’s own equity instruments or is a derivative that will be settled by the Company’s 
exchanging a fixed amount of cash or other financial assets for a fixed number of its own equity instruments.

To the extent that this definition is not met, the proceeds of issue are classified as a financial liability. Where the instrument so classified 
takes the legal form of the Company’s own shares, the amounts presented in these financial statements for called up share capital and 
share premium exclude amounts in relation to those shares. 

(d) Property, plant and equipment

(i) Recognition and measurement

Items of property, plant and equipment are measured at cost less accumulated depreciation and accumulated impairment losses. The cost 
of property, plant and equipment at 1 January 2009, the Group’s date of transition to IFRS, was determined by reference to its carrying 
value under UK and US Generally Accepted Accounting Principles.

(ii) Depreciation

Depreciation is recognised in profit or loss on a straight-line basis over the estimated useful lives of each part of an item of property, plant 
and equipment.

The estimated useful lives for the current and comparative periods are as follows:

• Computer equipment 

• Fixtures and fittings 

– 

– 

Three years

Three years

• Leasehold improvements  – 

Three years

Depreciation methods, useful lives and residual values are reviewed at each reporting date.

(e) Intangible assets

(i) Goodwill

Goodwill is stated at cost less any accumulated impairment losses. Goodwill is allocated to cash-generating units and is not amortised 
but is tested annually for impairment.

(ii) Research and development

Expenditure on research activities, undertaken with the prospect of gaining new technical knowledge and understanding, is recognised 
in profit or loss when incurred.

52

WANDISCO PLC ANNUAL REPORT AND ACCOUNTS 2017

Financial statements3. Significant accounting policies continued

(e) Intangible assets continued

(ii) Research and development continued

Development activities relate to software development and involve a plan or design for the production of new or substantially improved 
products and processes. Development expenditure is capitalised only if:

• development costs can be measured reliably;

• the product or process is technically and commercially feasible;

• future economic benefits are probable; and

• the Group intends to, and has sufficient resources to, complete development and to use or sell the asset.

The expenditure capitalised includes direct labour and overhead costs that are directly attributable to preparing the asset for its 
intended use.

Capitalised development expenditure is measured at cost less accumulated amortisation and accumulated impairment losses.

(iii) Amortisation

Amortisation of capitalised research and development costs is recognised in profit or loss on a straight-line basis over the estimated useful 
life of two years.

Intangibles in relation to computer software are amortised over an estimated useful life of two years.

Amortisation of the intangible assets recognised on the acquisitions of AltoStor, Inc. and OhmData, Inc. is recognised in profit or loss on 
a straight-line basis over their estimated useful lives of three years.

(iv) Carrying value

The recoverable amount of development costs is based on the discounted cash flows expected to be derived from the use and eventual 
sale of products developed.

(f) Impairment (excluding deferred tax assets)

(i) Financial assets (including receivables)

A financial asset not carried at fair value through profit or loss is assessed at each reporting date to determine whether there is objective evidence 
that it is impaired. A financial asset is impaired if objective evidence indicates that a loss event has occurred after the initial recognition of the asset 
and that the loss event had a negative effect on the estimated future cash flows of that asset that can be estimated reliably.

An impairment loss in respect of a financial asset measured at amortised cost is calculated as the difference between its carrying amount 
and the present value of the estimated future cash flows discounted at the asset’s original effective interest rate. Interest on the impaired 
asset continues to be recognised through the unwinding of the discount. When a subsequent event causes the amount of impairment 
loss to decrease, the decrease in impairment loss is reversed through profit or loss.

(ii) Non-financial assets

The carrying amounts of the Group’s non-financial assets are reviewed at each reporting date to determine whether there is any indication 
of impairment. If any such indication exists, then the asset’s recoverable amount is estimated. For goodwill, and intangible assets that have 
indefinite useful lives or that are not yet available for use, the recoverable amount is estimated each year at the same time.

The recoverable amount of an asset or cash-generating unit is the greater of its value in use and its fair value less costs to sell. In assessing 
value in use, the estimated future cash flows are discounted to their present value using a pre-tax discount rate that reflects current market 
assessments of the time value of money and the risks specific to the asset. For the purpose of impairment testing, assets that cannot be 
tested individually are grouped together into the smallest group of assets that generate cash inflows from continuing use that are largely 
independent of the cash inflows of other assets or groups of assets (“the cash-generating unit”). The goodwill acquired in a business 
combination, for the purpose of impairment testing, is allocated to cash-generating units (“CGUs”). Subject to an operating segment ceiling 
test, for the purposes of goodwill impairment testing, CGUs to which goodwill has been allocated are aggregated so that the level at which 
impairment is tested reflects the lowest level at which goodwill is monitored for internal reporting purposes. Goodwill acquired in a 
business combination is allocated to groups of CGUs that are expected to benefit from the synergies of the combination.

An impairment loss is recognised if the carrying amount of an asset or its CGU exceeds its estimated recoverable amount. Impairment 
losses are recognised in profit or loss. Impairment losses recognised in respect of CGUs are allocated first to reduce the carrying amount 
of any goodwill allocated to the units and then to reduce the carrying amounts of the other assets in the unit (group of units) on a pro rata basis.

ANNUAL REPORT AND ACCOUNTS 2017 WANDISCO PLC

53

Financial statementsNOTES TO THE CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS CONTINUED
For the year ended 31 December 2017

3. Significant accounting policies continued

(f) Impairment (excluding deferred tax assets) continued

(ii) Non-financial assets continued

An impairment loss in respect of goodwill is not reversed. In respect of other assets, impairment losses recognised in prior periods are 
assessed at each reporting date for any indications that the loss has decreased or no longer exists. An impairment loss is reversed if there 
has been a change in the estimates used to determine the recoverable amount. An impairment loss is reversed only to the extent that the 
asset’s carrying amount does not exceed the carrying amount that would have been determined, net of depreciation or amortisation, 
if no impairment loss had been recognised.

(g) Employee benefits

(i) Pension plans

In the UK there is a Company personal pension scheme, which is a defined contribution scheme, for employees. Contributions are 
recognised in the income statement as they become payable in accordance with the rules of the scheme.

(ii) Termination benefits

Termination benefits are recognised as an expense when the Group is demonstrably committed, without realistic possibility of withdrawal, 
to a formal detailed plan to either terminate employment before the normal retirement date or to provide termination benefits as a result 
of an offer made to encourage voluntary redundancy.

(iii) Short-term benefits

Short-term employee benefit obligations are measured on an undiscounted basis and are expensed as the related service is provided.

A liability is recognised for the amount expected to be paid under short-term cash bonus or commission plans where the Group has 
a present legal or constructive obligation to pay this amount as a result of past service provided by the employee and the obligation 
can be estimated reliably.

(iv) Share-based payment

The grant date fair value of share-based payment awards granted to employees is recognised as an employee expense, with a 
corresponding increase in equity, over the period that the employees unconditionally become entitled to the awards. The amount 
recognised as an expense is adjusted to reflect the number of awards for which the related service and non-market vesting conditions are 
expected to be met, such that the amount ultimately recognised as an expense is based on the number of awards that do meet the related 
service and non-market performance conditions at the vesting date. For share-based payment awards with non-vesting conditions, the 
grant date fair value of the share-based payment is measured to reflect such conditions and there is no true-up for differences between 
expected and actual outcomes.

Share-based payment arrangements in which the Group receives goods or services as consideration for its own equity instruments are 
accounted for as equity-settled share-based payment transactions, regardless of how the equity instruments are obtained by the Group.

No cash-settled share-based payment awards have been granted to employees.

(h) Revenue recognition

(i) Software licences

Sales of software licences are recognised once the licence has been granted and the customer has been provided with access to 
the software. Revenue derived from sales of licences is spread over the period of the licence. Where licences are perpetual, revenue 
is recognised in full once the agreement is in place.

(ii) Support subscriptions

Sales of support subscriptions are recognised on a straight-line basis over the period of the contract.

(iii) Maintenance, training and other services

Sales of maintenance, training and other services are recognised on a straight-line basis over the period of the contract.

(iv) Royalties

Royalties are accounted for on an accruals basis in accordance with the substance of the relevant agreement when it is probable that economic 
benefits associated with the transaction will flow to the entity and the amount of revenue can be measured reliably. Royalties which are receivable 
in more than one year are discounted to present value and disclosed as an Other non-current asset on the balance sheet.

(v) Multi-element 

Where there are multiple components in a single transaction, the revenue recognition criteria is applied to the separately identifiable 
components in order to reflect the substance of the transaction.

54

WANDISCO PLC ANNUAL REPORT AND ACCOUNTS 2017

Financial statements3. Significant accounting policies continued

(i) Operating lease payments

Payments made under operating leases are recognised in profit or loss on a straight-line basis over the term of the lease.

(j) Finance income and costs

Finance costs comprise interest expense on borrowings and exchange differences on intra-group balances.

(k) Taxation

Income tax comprises current and deferred tax. Income tax is recognised in profit or loss except to the extent that it relates to items 
recognised directly in equity, in which case it is recognised in equity.

Current tax is the expected tax payable on the taxable income for the year, using tax rates enacted or substantively enacted at the reporting 
date, and any adjustment to tax payable in respect of previous years.

Deferred tax is recognised using the statement of financial position method, providing for temporary differences between the carrying 
amounts of assets and liabilities for financial reporting purposes and the amounts used for taxation purposes. Deferred tax is not 
recognised in respect of temporary differences relating to investments in subsidiaries to the extent that it is probable that they will not 
reverse in the foreseeable future. Deferred tax is measured at the tax rates that are expected to be applied to temporary differences when 
they reverse, based on the laws that have been enacted or substantively enacted by the reporting date.

A deferred tax asset is recognised to the extent that it is probable that future taxable profits will be available against which temporary 
differences can be utilised. Deferred tax assets are reviewed at each reporting date and are reduced to the extent that it is no longer 
probable that the related tax benefit will be realised.

(l) Government grants

Government grants are recognised where there is reasonable assurance that the grant will be received and all attaching conditions will be 
complied with.

When the grant relates to an expense item, it is recognised as income over the period necessary to match the grant on a systematic basis 
to the costs that it is intended to compensate. Where the grant relates to an asset, the fair value is credited to a deferred income account 
and is released to the Consolidated statement of profit and loss and other comprehensive income over the expected useful life of the asset.

(m) Segmental reporting

The Directors consider there to be one operating segment, being that of development and sale of licences for software and related maintenance.

The Group has adopted IFRS 8 “Operating Segments” from the date of transition to IFRS. IFRS 8 requires the Group to determine and present 
its operating segments based on information which is provided internally to the chief operating decision maker (“CODM”). The CODM, who is 
responsible for allocating resources and assessing the performance of the operating segment, has been identified as the Chief Executive Officer.

(n) Provisions

Provisions are created where the Group has a present legal or constructive obligation as a result of a past event, where it is probable 
it will result in an outflow from the Group.

(o) Cost of sales

Cost of sales includes commissions earned by our salesforce on sales and direct costs relating to software supply.

(p) Exceptional items

Exceptional items comprise items of income and expense that are material in amount and unlikely to recur and that merit separate disclosure 
in order to provide an understanding of the Group’s underlying financial performance.

(q) New accounting standards and amendments

(i) New and amended standards adopted by the Group

The following new standards and amendments to standards are mandatory for the first time for the financial year beginning on 1 January 2017:

• Recognition of Deferred Tax Assets for Unrealised Losses (Amendments to IAS 12). 

• Disclosure Initiative (Amendments to IAS 7).

• Annual Improvements to IFRS Standards 2014–2016 Cycle (Amendments to IFRS 12).

These standards and amendments to standards have not had a material impact on the consolidated financial statements.

ANNUAL REPORT AND ACCOUNTS 2017 WANDISCO PLC

55

Financial statementsNOTES TO THE CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS CONTINUED
For the year ended 31 December 2017

3. Significant accounting policies continued

(q) New accounting standards and amendments continued

(ii) New and amended standards and interpretations issued but not effective for the financial year beginning 1 January 2017 
and not early adopted

A number of new standards are effective for annual periods beginning after 1 January 2017 and earlier application is permitted; however, 
the Group has not early adopted the new or amended standards in preparing these consolidated financial statements.

The following standards are expected to have a material impact on the Group’s financial statements in the period of initial application.

IFRS 15 “Revenue from Contracts with Customers”

The Group is required to adopt IFRS 15 “Revenue from Contracts with Customers” from 1 January 2018. IFRS 15 establishes a comprehensive 
framework for determining whether, how much and when revenue is recognised. It replaces existing revenue recognition guidance, including 
IAS 18 “Revenue” and IAS 11 “Construction Contracts”.

The principles in IFRS 15 must be applied using the following five step model: 

1. Identify the contract(s) with a customer.

2. Identify the performance obligations in the contract.

3. Determine the transaction price.

4. Allocate the transaction price to the performance obligations in the contract.

5. Recognise revenue when or as the entity satisfies its performance obligations.

Revenue is recognised either when the performance obligation in the contract has been performed (so “point in time” recognition) 
or “over time” as control of the performance obligation is transferred to the customer.

The Group is continuing to assess the estimated impact that the initial application of IFRS 15 will have on its consolidated financial 
statements. The estimated impact of the adoption of this standard on the Group’s equity as at 1 January 2018 is based on assessments 
undertaken to date and is summarised below. The actual impacts of adopting the standard at 1 January 2018 may change because the 
Group has not finalised the testing and assessment of all income streams and controls over its new reporting approach.

Software licences

Following the provision of access to the software licence, revenue from sales of term licences is currently recognised over the period of the 
licence and perpetual licences are recognised as revenue in full.

Under IFRS 15, term licences will be treated like perpetual licences with revenue being recognised in full once the licence has been granted 
and the customer has been provided with access to the software as it is considered that control has been passed at that point in time.

Based on the work undertaken to date, it is not believed that there will be a change in the policy for perpetual licences.

Software subscriptions 

Sales of software subscriptions which include maintenance and support over the period are currently recognised on a straight-line basis 
over the period of the contract, once the licence has been granted and the customer has been provided with access to the software.

Under IFRS 15, the subscription will be split into the two performance obligations, being the licence component, and maintenance and 
support which are both being considered as distinct. The allocation of transaction price between the two performance obligations will be 
based on an adjusted market assessment approach. 

The licence component will be recognised in full as revenue on provision of access to the licence to the customer as control is considered 
to pass at that point. The maintenance and support component will continue to be spread over the life of the contract as the performance 
obligation is satisfied over the period of the contract.

Maintenance and support contracts

Sales of maintenance and support contracts are currently recognised on a straight-line basis over the period of the contract. Based on 
the work undertaken to date, it is not believed that there will be a change under IFRS 15 and the approach will be in line with current 
accounting practice as the performance obligation is satisfied over the period of the contract.

Training, implementation and professional services

Sales of training, implementation and professional services are currently recognised on delivery of the services. Based on the work undertaken 
to date, it is not believed that there will be a change under IFRS 15, as the performance obligation is satisfied on delivery of these services.

56

WANDISCO PLC ANNUAL REPORT AND ACCOUNTS 2017

Financial statements3. Significant accounting policies continued

(q) New accounting standards and amendments continued

(ii) New and amended standards and interpretations issued but not effective for the financial year beginning 1 January 2017 
and not early adopted continued

IFRS 15 “Revenue from Contracts with Customers” continued

Royalties

Royalties are accounted for on an accruals basis in accordance with the substance of the relevant agreement when it is probable that 
economic benefits associated with the transaction will flow to the entity and the amount of revenue can be measured reliably. Under 
IFRS 15 the recognition of royalties are prohibited until the sale or usage occurs, even if the sale or usage is probable.

Transition

The Group plans to adopt IFRS 15 using the cumulative effect method, with the effect of initially applying this standard recognised at the date 
of initial application (i.e. 1 January 2018). As a result, the Group will not apply the requirements of IFRS 15 to the comparative period presented.

IFRS 16 “Leases”

IFRS 16 “Leases” is effective for annual periods beginning on or after 1 January 2019. Early adoption is permitted for entities that apply 
IFRS 15 at or before the date of initial application of IFRS 16. The new standard replaces existing leases guidance, principally IAS 17 “Leases”.

IFRS 16 introduces a single, on-balance sheet lease accounting model for lessees. A lessee recognises a right-of-use asset representing its 
right to use the underlying asset and a lease liability representing its obligation to make lease payments. There are recognition exemptions 
for short-term leases and leases of low-value items. Lessor accounting remains similar to the current standard – i.e. lessors continue to 
classify leases as finance or operating leases.

The Group is conducting an initial assessment of the potential impact on its consolidated financial statements. So far, the most significant 
impact identified is that the Group will recognise new assets and liabilities for its operating leases of properties and the expenses related to 
those leases will now change as IFRS 16 replaces the straight-line operating lease expense with a depreciation charge for right-of-use assets 
and interest expense on lease liabilities. As at 31 December 2017, the Group’s future minimum lease payments under non-cancellable 
operating leases amounted to $1,584,000, on an undiscounted basis.

Transition

As a lessee, the Group can apply the standard using either a retrospective approach, or a modified retrospective approach with optional 
practical expedients. The lessee applies the election consistently to all its leases. The Group plans to apply IFRS 16 initially on 1 January 2019, 
with a preference of using the retrospective approach. In this case, the cumulative effect of adopting IFRS 16 will be recognised as an 
adjustment to the opening balance of retained earnings at 1 January 2018, with a restatement of comparative information.

Other new and amended standards and interpretations

The following IFRSs are not expected to have a material effect on the financial statements:

• IFRS 9 “Financial Instruments” (effective date 1 January 2018).

• IFRS 17 “Insurance Contracts” (effective date 1 January 2021).

• IFRIC 22 “Foreign Currency Transactions and Advance Consideration” (effective date 1 January 2018).

• IFRIC 23 “Uncertainty over Income Tax Treatments” (effective date 1 January 2019).

• Clarifications to IFRS 15 “Revenue from Contracts with Customers” (effective date 1 January 2018).

• Classification and Measurement of Share-based Payment Transactions (Amendments to IFRS 2) (effective date 1 January 2018).

• Applying IFRS 9 “Financial Instruments” with IFRS 4 “Insurance Contracts” (Amendments to IFRS 4) (effective date 1 January 2018).

• Annual Improvements to IFRS Standards 2014–2016 Cycle (Amendments to IFRS 1 and IAS 28) (effective date 1 January 2018).

• Annual Improvements to IFRS Standards 2015–2017 Cycle (Amendments to IFRS 3, IFRS 11, IAS 12 and IAS 23) (effective date 1 January 2019).

• Transfers of Investment Property (Amendments to IAS 40) (effective date 1 January 2018).

• Long-term Interests in Associates and Joint Ventures (Amendments to IAS 28) (effective date 1 January 2019).

• Prepayment Features with Negative Compensation (Amendments to IFRS 9) (effective date 1 January 2019).

ANNUAL REPORT AND ACCOUNTS 2017 WANDISCO PLC

57

Financial statementsNOTES TO THE CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS CONTINUED
For the year ended 31 December 2017

4. Determination of fair values

A number of the Group’s accounting policies and disclosures require the determination of fair value, for both financial and non-financial 
assets and liabilities. Fair values have been determined for measurement and/or disclosure purposes based on the following methods. 
When applicable, further information about the assumptions made in determining fair values is disclosed in the notes specific to that asset 
or liability.

(a) Trade and other receivables

The fair value of short-term trade and other receivables is deemed to be its book value less any impairment provision. The effect 
of discounting is considered to be immaterial.

(b) Non-derivative financial liabilities

Fair value, which is determined for disclosure purposes, is calculated based on the present value of future principal and interest cash flows, 
discounted at the market rate of interest at the reporting date.

5. Segmental analysis

Operating segments

The Directors consider there to be one operating segment, being that of development and sale of licences for software and related maintenance.

Geographical segments

The Group recognises revenue in three geographical regions based on the location of customers, as set out in the following table:

Revenue

North America

Europe

Rest of the world

2017
$’000 

16,132

2,865

640

2016
$’000 

8,192

2,476

711

19,637

11,379

Management makes no allocation of costs, assets or liabilities between these segments since all trading activities are operated as a single 
business unit.

The Group’s core patented technology, the Distributed Coordination Engine (“DConE”), enables the replication of data. The Group has 
developed software based on this technology which is applied into two key markets, the Big Data and Source Code Management markets:

Revenue

Source Code Management

Big Data

2017
$’000 

8,484

11,153

2016
$’000 

8,182

3,197

19,637

11,379

Included in revenue from Big Data of $11,153,000 (2016: $3,197,000) are revenues of $7,794,000 (2016: $563,000) which arose from sales 
to the Group’s largest customer. No other single customers contributed 10% or more to the Group’s revenue (2016: nil). 

58

WANDISCO PLC ANNUAL REPORT AND ACCOUNTS 2017

Financial statements6. Operating expenses

Loss from operations has been arrived at after charging:

Staff costs

Research and development – amortisation charge

Amortisation of intangible assets

Depreciation of property, plant and equipment

Auditor’s remuneration

Notes

10

13

13

14

7

2017
$’000 

11,673

6,366

333

215

89

2016
$’000 

12,081

8,116

350

174

72

Reconciliation of loss from operations to adjusted earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation 
(“adjusted EBITDA”)

Loss from operations

Adjusted for:

Amortisation and depreciation

Exceptional items within operating expenses

EBITDA before exceptional items

Equity-settled share-based payment (excluding exceptional item)

Adjusted EBITDA before exceptional items

Development expenditure capitalised

Notes

2017
$’000 

2016
$’000 

(9,695)

(17,923)

8

22

6,914

8,640

—

32

(2,781)

2,201

(580)

(9,251)

1,787

(7,464)

(5,860)

13

(6,303)

Adjusted EBITDA before exceptional items including development expenditure

(6,883)

(13,324)

Reconciliation of operating expenses to “cash overheads”

Operating expenses

Remove:

Amortisation and depreciation

Exceptional items within operating expenses 

Equity-settled share-based payment (excluding exceptional item)

Development expenditure capitalised

Cash overheads

7. Auditor’s remuneration

Audit of these financial statements

Amounts receivable by auditor in respect of:

Audit of financial statements of subsidiaries pursuant to legislation

Notes

2017
$’000 

2016
$’000 

(27,360)

(27,953)

6,914

—

2,201

8,640

32

1,787

(6,303)

(5,860)

8

22

13

(24,548)

(23,354)

2017
$’000 

2016
$’000 

74

15

89

60

12

72

ANNUAL REPORT AND ACCOUNTS 2017 WANDISCO PLC

59

Financial statementsNOTES TO THE CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS CONTINUED
For the year ended 31 December 2017

8. Exceptional items

Exceptional items comprise the following:

Exchange (loss)/gain on intercompany balances 

Notes

2017
$’000 

2016
$’000 

(3,994)

8,144

Equity-settled share-based payment charge in relation to acquisitions: TortoiseSVN.net

22

—

(32)

(3,994)

8,112

The exceptional (loss)/gain arose on sterling-denominated intercompany balances. These balances were retranslated at the closing 
exchange rate at 31 December 2017, which was 1.35, a 10% increase compared to the rate of 1.23 at 31 December 2016. Sterling to US 
dollar exchange rates improved during 2017 compared to 2016, which declined following the Brexit vote on 23 June 2016. Due to the 
size and nature of the exchange (loss)/gain in both years, it has been included as an exceptional item.

The exceptional (loss)/gain on intercompany balances in the Consolidated statement of profit and loss is offset by an equivalent exceptional 
exchange gain/(loss) on the retranslation of the intercompany balances, which is included in the retranslation of net assets of foreign operations, 
included in the other comprehensive income.

The equity-settled share-based payment charge recognised in the prior year in relation to the purchase of the intellectual property 
of TortoiseSVN.net has been classified as exceptional. See Note 22 for further details.

9. Net finance (costs)/income

Interest receivable – bank

Exchange gain

Finance income

Exchange loss

Interest payable on bank borrowings

Finance charges

Loan amortisation costs

Finance costs

Net finance (costs)/income

10. Staff numbers and costs

Wages and salaries

Redundancy costs

Social security costs

Other pension costs

Equity-settled share-based payment

Development expenditure capitalised

Total staff costs

60

WANDISCO PLC ANNUAL REPORT AND ACCOUNTS 2017

2017
$’000 

29

—

29

(3,994)

(167)

(119)

(58)

2016
$’000 

1

8,169

8,170

(25)

(79)

(83)

(107)

(4,338)

(294)

(4,309)

7,876

Notes

2017
$’000 

2016
$’000 

12,565

12,842

155

1,298

186

2,201

679

1,296

142

1,787

(4,732)

(4,665)

11,673

12,081

22

Financial statements10. Staff numbers and costs continued

Average number of persons employed

The average number of persons employed by the Group (including Directors), analysed by category, was as follows:

Software development

Selling and distribution

Administration

Total number of employees

Remuneration of key management personnel

Short-term employee benefits of key management personnel

2017
Number

2016
Number

77

30

15

76

32

17

122

125

2017
$’000

2016
$’000

4,060

3,059

There were no other long-term benefits or post-employment benefits in the year ended 31 December 2017 (2016: $nil).

In addition to the above, an equity-settled share-based payment charge of $1,529,000 in relation to share options granted to key 
management personnel was incurred in the year ended 31 December 2017 (2016: $1,697,000).

Further details on the remuneration, share options and pension entitlements of the Directors are included in the Remuneration Committee 
report on pages 36 and 37.

11. Income tax

Current tax expense

Current year

Adjustment for prior years

Income tax

Reconciliation of effective tax rate

Loss before tax

2017
$’000 

2016
$’000 

390

99

489

2016
%

542

230

772

2016
$’000

10,047

2017
%

2017
$’000

14,004

Expected tax credit based on the Group’s domestic tax rate of 35% 

35%

4,901

40%

4,019

Effects of:

Non-deductible expenses

Non-taxable (expenses)/income

Tax rates in foreign jurisdictions

R&D tax credits

Losses not recognised for current or deferred tax

(10%)

(9%)

(7%)

6%

(1,430)

(1,288)

(995)

786

(14%)

31%

(15%)

8%

(1,429)

3,111

(1,457)

834

(11%)

(1,485)

(42%)

(4,306)

3%

489

8%

772

Non-taxable (expenses)/income reflects the tax impact of the exceptional foreign exchange translation gain included in loss before taxation.

Factors affecting the current and future tax charges

Reductions in the UK corporation tax rate from 23% to 21% (effective from 1 April 2014) and 20% (effective from 1 April 2015) were 
substantively enacted on 2 July 2013. Further reductions to 19% (effective from 1 April 2017) and to 17% (effective from 1 April 2020) were 
substantively enacted on 26 October 2015 and 6 September 2016 respectively. This will reduce the Group’s future current tax charge 
accordingly. The deferred taxation liability for UK tax resident members of the Group at 31 December 2017 has been calculated based 
on the rate of 17%.

ANNUAL REPORT AND ACCOUNTS 2017 WANDISCO PLC

61

Financial statementsNOTES TO THE CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS CONTINUED
For the year ended 31 December 2017

11. Income tax continued

Deferred tax assets and liabilities

Deferred tax liabilities are attributable to the following temporary differences in respect of property, plant and equipment:

Deferred tax liability

2017
$’000 

(4)

2016
$’000 

(3)

The Group has unrecognised deferred tax assets of $16,012,000 (2016: $23,511,000) in respect of tax losses arising in the Group.

The Directors consider that there is not sufficient certainty over the availability of future taxable profits against which these losses may 
be offset and no asset has therefore been recognised.

12. Loss per share

Basic loss per share

Basic loss per share is calculated based on the loss attributable to ordinary shareholders and the weighted average number of ordinary 
shares outstanding:

Loss for the year attributable to ordinary shareholders

Weighted average number of ordinary shares

At the start of the year

Effect of shares issued in the year

Weighted average number of ordinary shares during the year

Basic loss per share

Adjusted loss per share

2017
$’000 

2016
$’000 

13,515

9,275

2017
Shares
‘000s

2016
Shares
‘000s

37,068

29,564

715

3,727

37,783

33,291

2017
$

0.36

2016
$

0.28

Adjusted loss per share is calculated based on the loss attributable to ordinary shareholders before exceptional items, acquisition-related 
items and the cost of equity-settled share-based payment, and the weighted average number of ordinary shares outstanding:

Loss for the year attributable to ordinary shareholders

Add back:

Exceptional items

Equity-settled share-based payment (excluding exceptional items)

Adjusted basic loss for the year

Adjusted loss per share

Diluted loss per share

2017
$’000 

2016
$’000 

13,515

9,275

(3,994)

(2,201)

8,112

(1,787)

7,320

15,600

2017
$

0.19

2016
$

0.47

Due to the Group having losses in all years presented, the fully diluted loss per share for disclosure purposes, as shown in the Consolidated 
statement of profit and loss and other comprehensive income, is the same as for the basic loss per share.

62

WANDISCO PLC ANNUAL REPORT AND ACCOUNTS 2017

Financial statements13. Intangible assets

At 31 December 2017

Cost

At 1 January 2017

Additions – third party

Additions – own work capitalised

At 31 December 2017

Amortisation

At 1 January 2017

Amortisation charge for the year

At 31 December 2017

Net book value 

At 31 December 2017

At 31 December 2016

Cost

At 1 January 2016

Additions – own work capitalised

At 31 December 2016

Amortisation

At 1 January 2016

Amortisation charge for the year

At 31 December 2016

Net book value 

At 31 December 2016

Other

intangible Development
costs
$’000

assets
$’000

Computer
software
$’000

Total
$’000

3,154

37,016

189

40,359

—

—

—

1,500

6,303

—

1,500

6,303

3,154

43,319

1,689

48,162

(3,154)

(31,039)

—

(6,366)

(189)

(333)

(34,382)

(6,699)

(3,154)

(37,405)

(522)

(41,081)

—

5,914

1,167

7,081

Other

intangible Development
costs
$’000

assets
$’000

Computer
software
$’000

3,154

—

31,156

5,860

3,154

37,016

189

—

189

Total
$’000

34,499

5,860

40,359

(2,804)

(22,923)

(189)

(25,916)

(350)

(8,116)

—

(8,466)

(3,154)

(31,039)

(189)

(34,382)

—

5,977

—

5,977

The carrying amount of the intangible assets is allocated across cash-generating units (“CGUs”). A CGU is defined as the smallest group 
of assets that generate cash inflows from continuing use that are largely independent of the cash inflows of other assets or groups thereof. 
The recoverable amount of the CGUs is determined using value in use (“VIU”) calculations. As at 31 December 2017 and 2016, the Group 
had one CGU, the DConE CGU, which represents the Group’s patented DConE replication technology, forming the basis of products for 
both the Source Code Management and Big Data markets, including the new Fusion platform that was launched in 2015.

Other intangible assets arose as part of the acquisitions of OhmData, Inc. in June 2014 and AltoStor, Inc. in November 2012. The intangibles 
arising as part of these acquisitions are allocated to the DConE CGU. The recoverable amount of the DConE CGU has been calculated on 
a VIU basis at both 31 December 2017 and 31 December 2016. These calculations use cash flow projections based on financial forecasts, 
which anticipate growth in the Group’s installed base along with new customer growth, along with a stable cost base, and appropriate 
long-term growth rates. To prepare VIU calculations, the cash flow forecasts are discounted back to present value using a pre-tax discount 
rate of 10% (2016: 10%) and a terminal value growth rate of 2% from 2022. The Directors have reviewed the recoverable amount of the CGU 
and do not consider there to be any indication of impairment.

A sensitivity analysis was performed for the DConE CGU and management concluded that no reasonably possible change in any of the key 
assumptions would cause for the carrying value of the DConE CGU to exceed its recoverable amount.

Development costs are predominantly capitalised staff costs associated with new products and services. Development costs are allocated 
to the DConE CGU, the recoverable amount of which has been determined on a VIU basis as described above.

The amortisation charge on intangible assets is included in operating expenses in the Consolidated statement of profit and loss and other 
comprehensive income.

ANNUAL REPORT AND ACCOUNTS 2017 WANDISCO PLC

63

Financial statementsNOTES TO THE CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS CONTINUED
For the year ended 31 December 2017

14. Property, plant and equipment

At 31 December 2017

Cost

At 1 January 2017

Additions

Effect of movements in exchange rates

Disposals

At 31 December 2017

Depreciation

At 1 January 2017

Depreciation charge for the year

Effect of movements in exchange rates

Disposals

At 31 December 2017

Net book value

At 31 December 2017

At 31 December 2016

Cost

At 1 January 2016

Reclassification 

Additions

Effect of movements in exchange rates

Disposals

At 31 December 2016

Depreciation

At 1 January 2016

Reclassification

Depreciation charge for the year

Effect of movements in exchange rates

Disposals

At 31 December 2016

Net book value

At 31 December 2016

64

WANDISCO PLC ANNUAL REPORT AND ACCOUNTS 2017

Leasehold
improvements
$’000

Fixtures and 
fittings
$’000

Computers
$’000

Total
$’000

125

24

20

—

169

276

1

12

—

909

229

29

(3)

1,310

254

61

(3)

289

1,164

1,622

(125)

(270)

(7)

(2)

—

(7)

(11)

—

(423)

(201)

(22)

2

(818)

(215)

(35)

2

(134)

(288)

(644)

(1,066)

35

1

520

556

Leasehold
improvements
$’000

Fixtures and 
fittings
$’000

Computers
$’000

Total
$’000

128

3

—

(6)

—

125

(116)

—

(13)

4

—

341

(40)

—

(25)

—

276

(300)

40

(33)

23

—

556

(43)

455

(48)

(11)

1,025

(80)

455

(79)

(11)

909

1,310

(379)

40

(128)

39

5

(795)

80

(174)

66

5

(125)

(270)

(423)

(818)

—

6

486

492

Financial statements15. Investments in subsidiaries

The Group has the following investments in subsidiaries:

Company name

WANdisco International Limited

WANdisco, Inc.

OhmData, Inc.

AltoStor, Inc.

Country of
incorporation

Holding

Proportion
of shares held

Nature of business

UK

US

US

US

Ordinary shares 100%

Development and provision of global collaboration software

Ordinary shares 100%

Development and provision of global collaboration software

Ordinary shares 100%

Development and provision of global collaboration software

Ordinary shares 100%

Development and provision of global collaboration software

WANdisco, Pty Ltd

Australia

Ordinary shares  100%

Development and provision of global collaboration software

WANdisco Software (Chengdu) Ltd China

Ordinary shares 100%

Development and provision of global collaboration software

All of the above entities are included in the consolidated financial statements.

16. Other non-current assets 

Due in more than a year

Accrued income

17. Trade and other receivables

Due within a year

Trade receivables 

Other receivables

Accrued income

Corporation tax

Prepayments

Total trade and other receivables

The Directors consider that the carrying amount of trade and other receivables approximates to their fair value.

Ageing of trade receivables

Due from current month

Due from previous month

Due from earlier months

Total trade receivables

All trade receivables are denominated in US dollars.

18. Cash and cash equivalents

Cash at bank and in hand

2017
$’000 

889

2016
$’000 

—

2017
$’000 

2,115

466

2,350

527

511

2016
$’000 

3,926

485

—

1,446

288

5,969

6,145

2017
$’000 

394

1,704

17

2016
$’000 

3,069

764

93

2,115

3,926

2017
$’000 

2016
$’000 

27,396

7,558

ANNUAL REPORT AND ACCOUNTS 2017 WANDISCO PLC

65

Financial statementsNOTES TO THE CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS CONTINUED
For the year ended 31 December 2017

19. Current liabilities

Trade and other payables

Trade payables

Accruals

Deferred income

Deferred income represents contracted sales for which services to customers will be provided in future years.

Deferred income which falls due:

Within a year

In more than a year

Total deferred income

Borrowings – finance lease liabilities

Finance lease liabilities include amounts payable after more than one year of $199,000 (2016: $294,000).

Present 
value of
 minimum 
lease 
payments
2017
$’000

95

199

294

Minimum
lease
payments
2017
$’000

110

210

320

Interest
2017
$’000

15

11

26

Present 
value of 
minimum 
lease 
payments
2016
$’000

89

294

383

Less than one year

Between one and five years

Borrowings – bank loan

Unsecured bank loan

Within a year

In more than a year

Total bank loan

2017
$’000 

2,134

3,819

2016
$’000 

808

2,680

5,953

3,488

2017
$’000

7,102

7,058

2016
$’000

5,809

6,683

14,160

12,492

Minimum
lease
payments
2016
$’000

110

320

430

2016
$’000 

—

—

—

Interest
2016
$’000

21

26

47

2017
$’000 

889

3,111

4,000

At 31 December 2017, the $4.0m of bank loan represents term debt drawn down under a new debt facility with Silicon Valley Bank that was 
announced on 26 June 2017. The facility replaced the previous HSBC facility that was due to expire on 30 June 2017. The new facility is due 
to mature on 1 April 2021 and comprises up to $5.0m available as term debt, with an interest only period to 31 May 2018, followed by a three 
year maturity at a floating interest rate charged at 1.5% above the US prime rate. There is an additional $3.0m available through a revolving 
credit facility secured by qualifying accounts receivable.

Changes in liabilities from financing activities

Balance at 1 January 2017

Payment of finance lease liabilities

Draw down of bank loan

Total changes from financing cash flows

Balance at 31 December 2017

66

WANDISCO PLC ANNUAL REPORT AND ACCOUNTS 2017

Finance
lease
liabilities
$’000 

383

(89)

—

Bank
loan
$’000 

—

—

4,000

(89)

4,000

294

4,000

Financial statements20. Financial instruments and risk management

The Group’s principal financial instruments are cash and trade receivables.

The Group has exposure to the following risks from its use of financial instruments:

Market risk

The Group may be affected by general market trends, which are unrelated to the performance of the Group itself. The Group’s success 
will depend on market acceptance of the Group’s products and there can be no guarantee that this acceptance will be forthcoming. 
Market opportunities targeted by the Group may change and this could lead to an adverse effect upon its revenue and earnings.

The Group is exposed to interest rate risk on its $4.0m debt drawing, on which interest is charged at 1.5% above the US prime rate. 
In the prior year the Group was not exposed to interest rate risk as it had not drawn down on its $10.0m revolving credit facility.

Credit risk

Credit risk arises from cash and cash equivalents and credit exposure to the Group’s customers.

Credit ratings of institutions which hold the Group’s financial assets are regularly monitored to ensure they meet the minimum credit 
criteria set by the Board through the Group treasury policy.

The credit quality of customers is assessed by taking into account their financial position, past experience and other factors.

Liquidity risk

Liquidity risk is the risk that the Group will not be able to meet its financial obligations as they fall due. The Board is responsible for ensuring 
that the Group has sufficient liquidity to meet its financial liabilities as they fall due and does so by monitoring cash flow forecasts and 
budgets. The Board has considered the cash flow forecasts for the next twelve months, which show that the Group expects to operate 
within its working capital facilities throughout the year. Details of the going concern review are included in Note 2(b).

Any excess cash balances are held in short-term, interest-bearing deposit accounts.

All financial liabilities (trade and other payables) mature within one year of the balance sheet date.

Capital management 

The Group defines the capital that it manages as its total equity. The Group’s objectives when managing capital are to safeguard the 
Group’s ability to continue as a going concern and support the growth of the business.

Foreign currency risk

The Group’s operations are split between the US, the UK, mainland Europe, Australia and China, and as a result the Group incurs costs in 
currencies other than its presentational currency of US dollars. The Group also holds cash and cash equivalents in non US dollar-denominated 
bank accounts. 

The following table shows the denomination of the year-end cash and cash equivalents balance:

2017 cash and cash equivalents

2016 cash and cash equivalents

Sterling
$’000

10,622

Australian
dollar
$’000

US dollar
$’000

Total
$’000

60

16,714

27,396

538

118

6,902

7,558

Had the foreign exchange rate between the US dollar and sterling changed by 5%, this would have affected the loss for the year and the net 
assets of the Group by $573,000 (2016: $530,000). 

Fair values of financial assets and financial liabilities

There are no material differences between the fair value and the book value of the Group’s financial assets and liabilities.

ANNUAL REPORT AND ACCOUNTS 2017 WANDISCO PLC

67

Financial statementsNOTES TO THE CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS CONTINUED
For the year ended 31 December 2017

21. Share capital and reserves

Share capital

Allotted and fully paid

The ordinary share capital of WANdisco plc is designated in sterling.

At 1 January 2017

Loss for the year

Foreign currency translation differences

Proceeds from share placing

Share options exercised

Equity-settled share-based payment

2017
Number

2017
$’000

2016
Number

2016
$’000

40,903,941

6,156 37,067,641

5,638

Share
capital
$’000

Share
premium
$’000

Translation
reserve
$’000

Merger
reserve
$’000

Retained
earnings
$’000

5,638

94,526

(8,284)

1,247

(89,344)

—

—

401

117

—

—

—

20,131

539

—

—

3,810

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

(13,515)

—

—

—

2,201

At 31 December 2017

6,156

115,196

(4,474)

1,247

(100,658)

At 1 January 2016

Loss for the year

Foreign currency translation differences

Proceeds from share placing

Share options exercised

Equity-settled share-based payment

Share
capital
$’000

Share
premium
$’000

Translation
reserve
$’000

Merger
reserve
$’000

Retained
earnings
$’000

4,667

81,974

—

—

—

—

894

12,696

77

—

(144)

—

(247)

—

(8,037)

—

—

—

1,247

(82,049)

—

—

—

—

—

(9,275)

—

—

161

1,819

At 31 December 2016

5,638

94,526

(8,284)

1,247

(89,344)

Share capital and share premium

During the year, 865,231 ordinary shares were issued as a result of employees exercising share options.

On 5 December 2017, the Company issued an additional 2,971,069 ordinary shares at a price of £5.50 each, raising funds of $20.5m net 
of transaction costs. The net proceeds are to be invested in support of further revenue growth and to establish new strategic partnerships.

Costs relating directly to the new issue of shares have been deducted from the share premium account.

Translation reserve

The translation reserve comprises all foreign exchange differences arising from the translation of the financial statements of foreign operations.

Merger reserve

The acquisition by WANdisco plc of the entire share capital of WANdisco, Inc. in 2012 was accounted for as a reverse acquisition. 
Consequently, the previously recognised book values and assets and liabilities were retained and the consolidated financial information 
for the period to 16 May 2012 has been presented as a continuation of the WANdisco business, which was previously wholly owned 
by the WANdisco, Inc. Group. 

The share capital for the period covered by these consolidated financial statements and the comparative periods is stated at the nominal 
value of the shares issued pursuant to the above share arrangement. The difference between the nominal value of these shares and the 
nominal value of WANdisco, Inc. shares at the time of the acquisition has been transferred to the merger reserve.

68

WANDISCO PLC ANNUAL REPORT AND ACCOUNTS 2017

Financial statements22. Share-based payment

WANdisco plc operates share option plans for qualifying employees of the Group. Options in the plans are settled in equity in the Company 
and are normally subject to a vesting schedule but not conditional on any performance criteria being achieved.

Analysis of equity-settled share-based payment charge

Exceptional equity-settled share-based payment charge in relation to acquisitions: TortoiseSVN.net

Non-exceptional equity-settled share-based payment charge

Total equity-settled share-based payment charge

Terms and conditions of share option grants

Notes

10

2017
$’000 

—

2,201

2016
$’000 

32

1,787

2,201

1,819

The terms and conditions of the share option grants between 16 May 2012 (the date WANdisco plc acquired WANdisco, Inc.) 
and 31 December 2017 are as follows:

Date of grant

16 May 2012

16 May 2012

16 May 2012

16 May 2012

16 May 2012

16 May 2012

16 May 2012

21 June 2012

7 December 2012

26 June 2014

18 August 2014

15 September 2014

22 December 2014

2 June 2015

23 June 2015

6 July 2015

23 October 2015

2 November 2015

22 January 2016

28 January 2016

24 March 2016

9 March 2016

1 April 2016

22 June 2016

17 August 2016

15 September 2016

16 September 2016

6 December 2016

21 January 2017

13 March 2017

31 March 2017

30 May 2017

24 October 2017

31 May 2017

Expected
term
(years)

8

8

9

9

9

9

9

10

10

3

3

10

3

10

3

3

3

3

10

3

3

10

3

3

3

3

10

10

 10 

 10 

 10 

 10 

 10 

 1 

Exercisable between

Commencement

Lapse

16 May 2012

15 September 2020

16 May 2012

7 October 2020

16 May 2012

20 September 2021

22 July 2012

14 September 2021

1 August 2012

20 September 2021

13 January 2013

12 January 2022

13 January 2013

30 January 2022

21 June 2012

20 June 2022

7 December 2012

6 December 2022

26 June 2014

25 June 2024

18 August 2014

17 August 2024

15 September 2014

14 September 2024

22 December 2014

21 December 2024

2 June 2015

23 June 2015

6 July 2015

1 June 2025

22 June 2025

5 July 2025

23 October 2015

22 October 2025

2 November 2015

1 November 2025

22 January 2016

21 January 2026

28 January 2016

27 January 2026

24 March 2016

9 March 2016

1 April 2016

22 June 2016

23 March 2026

8 March 2026

1 April 2026

21 June 2026

17 August 2016

16 August 2026

15 September 2016

14 September 2026

16 September 2016

15 September 2026

6 December 2016

5 December 2026

21 January 2017

20 January 2027

13 March 2017

31 March 2017

30 May 2017

10 March 2027

28 March 2027

27 May 2027

24 October 2017

21 October 2027

31 May 2017

28 May 2027

Exercise
price

Vesting
schedule
(see page 70)

Outstanding at
31 December
2017

£0.36

£0.45

£0.46

£0.36

£0.46

£0.36

£0.23

£2.00

£4.55

£0.10

£0.10

£4.00

£0.10

£2.55

£0.10

£0.10

£0.10

£0.10

£0.75

£0.10

£0.10

£1.41

£0.10

£0.10

£0.10

£0.10

£2.00

£1.90

£3.90 

£4.58 

£4.24 

£4.45 

£8.20 

£0.10 

2

2

2

3

3

3

3

4

5

9

9

5

9

10

10

10

10

10

10

10

10

10

10

10

10

10

10

9

 9 

 9 

 9 

 9 

 9 

 11 

35,000

886

6,650

85,000

2,000

455,000

474,120

18,700

101,250

53,473

15,833

17,084

10,973

2,983

74,286

319,961

36,666

5,000

7,450

10,000

10,001

37,018

213,333

7,300

6,667

50,000

20,000

845,302

232,500

420,000

81,000

65,000

82,000

95,556

ANNUAL REPORT AND ACCOUNTS 2017 WANDISCO PLC

69

Financial statementsNOTES TO THE CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS CONTINUED
For the year ended 31 December 2017

22. Share-based payment continued

Terms and conditions of share option grants continued

Date of grant

11 September 2017

11 September 2017

24 October 2017

7 November 2017

Expected
term
(years)

 10 

 10 

 10 

 10 

Exercisable between

Commencement

Lapse

Exercise
price

Vesting
schedule
(see page 70)

Outstanding at
31 December
2017

1 July 2017

1 July 2017

8 September 2027

8 September 2027

24 October 2017

21 October 2027

24 October 2017

29 October 2027

£6.68 

£0.10 

£0.10 

£8.39 

 9 

 10 

 10 

 9 

50,000

500,000

30,000

423,707

4,901,699

The following vesting schedule applies:

2.  Partially vested at grant date; 1/48 of granted option shares vest monthly thereafter.

3.  Option vests 25% on exercisable commencement date; 1/48 of granted option shares vest monthly thereafter.

4.  Option vests on third anniversary of the date of grant.

5.  Option vests 25% on first anniversary of vesting commencement date, with the balance vesting monthly thereafter until final vesting date.

9.  Option vests 33% on first anniversary of vesting commencement date, with the balance vesting monthly thereafter until final vesting date.

10.  Option vests in three instalments. One-third on the first anniversary of vesting commencement date, one-third on the second 

anniversary and one-third on the third anniversary.

11.  Option vests 100% on first anniversary of vesting commencement date.

Number and weighted average exercise price of shares

The number and weighted average exercise price of share options (including previous options in WANdisco, Inc.) were as follows:

Balance at the start of the year

Granted

Forfeited

Exercised

Balance at the end of the year 

Exercisable at the end of the year 

Vested at the end of the year 

Weighted average exercise price for:

Shares granted

Shares forfeited

Options exercised

Exercise price in the range:

From

To

70

WANDISCO PLC ANNUAL REPORT AND ACCOUNTS 2017

2017
Number

2016
Number

4,318,899

4,437,995

2,020,514

1,592,924

(572,483)

(1,052,031)

(865,231)

(659,989)

4,901,699

4,318,899

2,073,904

2,733,488

2,073,904

2,733,488

2017
$

5.50

9.47

0.76

0.13

6.14

2016
$

2.15

3.40

0.18

0.15

21.20

Financial statements22. Share-based payment continued

Number and weighted average exercise price of shares continued

Weighted average contractual life remaining

2017
Years

7.8

2016
Years

7.8

The fair value of each option grant is estimated on the date of grant using the Black-Scholes option pricing model with the following 
weighted average assumptions:

Dividend yield

Risk-free interest rate

Stock price volatility

Expected life (years)

Weighted average fair value of options granted during the year

2017

2016

0.00%

1.02%

30%

7.0 

0.00%

1.05%

30%

7.0

$4.24

$3.09

• The dividend yield is based on the Company’s forecast dividend rate and the current market price of the underlying common stock at the 

date of grant.

• Expected life in years is determined from the average of the time between the date of grant and the date on which the options lapse.

• Expected volatility is based on the historical volatility of shares of listed companies with a similar profile to the Company.

• The risk-free interest rate is based on the treasury bond rates for the expected life of the option.

23. Commitments and contingent liabilities

Operating lease commitments

The total amounts payable under non-cancellable operating leases are as follows:

Land and buildings

Within one year

Between two and five years

Capital commitments and contingent liabilities

At 31 December 2017 the Group had no capital commitments (31 December 2016: $nil).

The Group had no contingent liabilities at 31 December 2017 (31 December 2016: none).

24. Related parties and related party transactions

Identity of related parties 

The Group has a related party relationship with its subsidiaries and with its Directors.

25. Post-balance sheet events

There are no significant or disclosable post-balance sheet events.

2017
$’000

421

1,163

1,584

2016
$’000

374

230

604

ANNUAL REPORT AND ACCOUNTS 2017 WANDISCO PLC

71

Financial statementsFIVE YEAR RECORD

31 December

New sales bookings

New sales bookings growth

Revenue

Revenue growth

Deferred revenue

Deferred revenue growth

Cash

Loss from operations

Amortisation of intangible assets

Depreciation of property, plant and equipment

Acquisition-related items

Exceptional items

EBITDA before exceptional items

Add back equity-settled share-based payment

Adjusted EBITDA before exceptional items

Development expenditure capitalised

2013
$’000

2014
$’000

14,768

17,360

87%

18%

2015
$’000

9,012

(48%)

2016
$’000

2017
$’000

15,493

22,517

72%

45%

8,012

33%

8,456

33%

11,218

10,994

11,379

19,637

40%

(2%)

4%

73%

11,264

33%

9,757

(13%)

12,492

14,160

28%

13%

25,673

2,481

2,555

7,558

27,396

(19,268)

(39,917)

(30,529)

(17,923)

(9,695)

4,918

8,283

9,600

8,466

138

—

267

145

2,276

1,441

270

—

614

174

—

32

6,699

215

—

—

(11,936)

(29,781)

(20,045)

(9,251)

(2,781)

4,104

11,907

4,057

1,787

2,201

(7,832)

(7,443)

(17,874)

(15,988)

(9,040)

(8,369)

(7,464)

(5,860)

(580)

(6,303)

Adjusted EBITDA before exceptional items including development expenditure

(15,275)

(26,914)

(24,357)

(13,324)

(6,883)

72

WANDISCO PLC ANNUAL REPORT AND ACCOUNTS 2017

Financial statementsNOTICE OF ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING

Notice is given that the sixth Annual General Meeting of WANdisco plc (“the Company”) will be held at the Novotel Sheffield Centre, 
50 Arundel Gate, Sheffield S1 2PR on 23 May 2018 at 10 am for the following purposes:

To consider and, if thought fit, to pass the following resolutions as ordinary resolutions:

1. 

 That the Company’s financial statements for the year ended 31 December 2017, the Strategic report and the reports of the Directors 
and auditor thereon be received and considered.

2.  That Karl Monaghan be re-appointed as a Director of the Company.

3.   That Dr Yeturu Aahlad be re-appointed as a Director of the Company.

4.  That KPMG LLP be re-appointed as auditor of the Company.

5.  That the Directors be authorised to determine the remuneration of the auditor.

6.   That, in substitution for all existing authorities but without prejudice to any allotment, offer or agreement already made pursuant 

thereto, the Directors be and are hereby generally and unconditionally authorised pursuant to Article 2.3 of the Company’s Articles of 
Association (“the Articles”) to exercise all powers of the Company to allot, grant options over or otherwise dispose of relevant securities 
(as that term is defined in the Articles) in respect of up to an aggregate nominal amount of £1,376,781, provided that (unless previously 
revoked, varied or renewed) this authority shall expire on the earlier of the date which is 15 months after the date the resolution was 
passed and the conclusion of the next Annual General Meeting of the Company, save that the Company may before such expiry make 
an offer or agreement which would or might require relevant securities to be allotted after such expiry and the Directors may allot 
equity securities in pursuance of such an offer or agreement as if the power had not expired.

7. 

 It is proposed that the shareholders ratify, approve and confirm the Company’s Amended and Restated 2013 Equity Incentive Plan (the “Plan”), 
amended pursuant to authority granted by the Board in its 6 December 2016 Resolution. The Plan initially was adopted in 2013 and 
previously was amended and restated in 2016, both actions being approved by the Board. The Plan was further amended and restated 
in 2017 principally to include restricted stock units (“RSUs”).

8.   That, pursuant to Article 58A(1)(b) of the Law and Article 13 of the Articles, an ordinary share purchased pursuant to resolution 10 below 

may be held by the Company as treasury shares in accordance with Articles 58A and 58B of the Law.

To consider and, if thought fit, to pass the following resolutions as special resolutions:

9.   That, subject to the passing of resolution 6 and pursuant to Article 2.10 of the Articles, the Directors be and are hereby generally 

empowered to allot, grant options over or otherwise dispose of equity securities (within the meaning of the Articles) wholly for cash, 
pursuant to the general authority described in resolution 6 above, as if pre-emption rights did not apply to any such allotment, such 
power being limited to:

9.1  the allotment of equity securities in connection with a rights issue, open offer or pre-emptive offer to holders on the register of 

the ordinary shares in the capital of the Company (“ordinary shares”) on a date fixed by the Directors where the equity securities 
respectively attributable to the interests of all those shareholders are proportionate (as nearly as practicable) to their respective 
holdings on that date subject to any exclusions or other arrangements as the Directors may consider necessary or expedient 
in relation to fractional entitlements, legal or practical problems under the law of any territory or the regulations or requirements 
of any relevant regulatory authority or stock exchange in any territory; and

9.2  the allotment (other than pursuant to resolution 8.1 above) wholly for cash of ordinary shares up to an aggregate nominal amount 

of £413,034, 

 provided that (unless previously revoked, varied or renewed), such authorities shall expire on the earlier of the date which is 15 months 
after the date the resolution was passed and the conclusion of the next Annual General Meeting of the Company, save that the Company 
may before such expiry make an offer or agreement which would or might require equity securities to be allotted after such expiry and 
the Directors may allot equity securities in pursuance of such an offer or agreement as if the power had not expired.

ANNUAL REPORT AND ACCOUNTS 2017 WANDISCO PLC

73

Financial statements 
 
 
NOTICE OF ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING CONTINUED

10.  That the Directors be and are hereby authorised pursuant to Article 13 of the Articles and Article 57 of the Companies (Jersey) Law 1991 

as amended (“the Law”) to make market purchases of ordinary shares, subject to the following conditions:

10.1  the maximum number of ordinary shares authorised to be purchased may not be more than 15% of the issued share capital of the 

Company as at the date of this notice;

10.2 the minimum price (exclusive of expenses) which may be paid for an ordinary share is £0.001; and

10.3 the maximum price (exclusive of expenses) which may be paid for an ordinary share shall not exceed:

10.3.1   an amount equal to 105% of the average middle market quotation for ordinary shares taken from the London Stock 
Exchange plc Daily Official List for the five business days immediately preceding the date on which such shares are 
to be contracted to be purchased; and

10.3.2  the higher of the price of the last independent trade and the highest current independent bid on the London Stock 

Exchange plc Daily Official List at the time,

 such authority to expire on the earlier of the date which is 15 months after the date the resolution was passed and the conclusion 
of the next Annual General Meeting of the Company, unless such authority is varied, revoked or renewed prior to such date.

By order of the Board

Larry Webster 
Company Secretary 
23 March 2018 
Registered in Jersey under the Companies (Jersey) Law 1991 with company number 110497.  

Registered office

47 Esplanade

St. Helier 
Jersey 
JE1 0BD

Notes

Entitlement to attend and vote

1. 

 In accordance with Article 40(1) of the Companies (Uncertificated Securities) (Jersey) Order 1999, the right to vote at the meeting is 
determined by reference to the register of members. Only those shareholders registered in the register of members of the Company at 
close of business on 21 May 2018 (or, if the meeting is adjourned, 48 hours before the time of the adjourned meeting) shall be entitled 
to attend and vote at the meeting in respect of the number of shares registered in their name at that time. Changes in entries in the 
register of members after that time shall be disregarded in determining the rights of any person to attend or vote (and the number 
of votes they may cast) at the meeting.

Proxies

2.   A shareholder is entitled to appoint another person as his or her proxy to exercise all or any of his or her rights to attend and to speak 

and vote at the meeting and, on a poll, vote instead of him or her. A proxy need not be a shareholder of the Company.

 A shareholder may appoint more than one proxy in relation to the meeting, provided that each proxy is appointed to exercise the rights 
attached to a different share or shares held by that shareholder. Failure to specify the number of shares each proxy appointment relates 
to or specifying a number which when taken together with the numbers of shares set out in the other proxy appointments is in excess 
of the number of shares held by the shareholder may result in the proxy appointment being invalid.

 A special resolution means a resolution passed by a majority of three-quarters of the holders who (being entitled to do so) vote 
in person, or by proxy, at a general meeting of the Company or at a separate meeting of a class of members of the Company.

3.  A proxy may only be appointed in accordance with the procedures set out in Note 4 and the notes to the proxy form.

The appointment of a proxy will not preclude a shareholder from attending and voting in person at the meeting.

 CREST members who wish to appoint a proxy or proxies or to give an instruction to a proxy (whether previously appointed or otherwise) 
by utilising the capital and CREST electronic proxy appointment service may do so in relation to the meeting, and any adjournment(s) 
thereof, by utilising the procedures described in the CREST Manual. In order for a proxy appointment made by means of CREST to be 
valid, the appropriate CREST message must be transmitted via the CREST system so as to be received by Link Asset Services (whose 
CREST ID is RA10) by the latest time for receipt of proxy appointments specified above. For this purpose, the time of receipt will be 
taken to be the time (as determined by the timestamp applied to the message by the CREST Applications Host) from which the Company’s 
agent is able to retrieve the message by enquiry to CREST in the manner prescribed. The Company may treat as invalid a CREST Proxy 
Instruction in the circumstances set out in the Companies (Uncertificated Securities) (Jersey) Order 1999.

74

WANDISCO PLC ANNUAL REPORT AND ACCOUNTS 2017

Financial statements 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Notes continued

Proxies continued

 A proxy does not need to be a member of the Company but must attend the Annual General Meeting to represent you. Details of how 
to appoint the Chairman of the Annual General Meeting or another person as your proxy using the proxy form are set out in the notes 
to the proxy form. You may appoint more than one proxy to attend on the same occasion.

4.   A form of proxy is enclosed. When appointing more than one proxy, complete a separate proxy form in relation to each appointment. 
Additional proxy forms may be obtained by the proxy form being photocopied. State clearly on each proxy form the number of shares 
in relation to which the proxy is appointed.

 A vote withheld is not a vote in law, which means that the vote will not be counted in the calculation of votes for or against the 
resolution. If no voting indication is given in the proxy form, your proxy will vote or abstain from voting at his or her discretion. 
Your proxy will vote (or abstain from voting) as he or she thinks fit in relation to any other matter which is put before the AGM.

 In the case of joint holders, where more than one of the joint holders purports to appoint a proxy, only the appointment submitted 
by the most senior holder will be accepted. Seniority is determined by the order in which the names of the joint holders appear in the 
Company’s register of members in respect of the joint holding (the first named being the most senior).

 To be valid, a proxy form must be received by post or (during normal business hours only) by hand at the offices of the Company’s transfer 
agent, Link Asset Services, PXS1, 34 Beckenham Road, Beckenham BR3 4ZF no later than 10 am on 21 May 2018 (or, if the meeting is 
adjourned, no later than 48 hours (excluding any part of a day that is not a working day) before the time of any adjourned meeting).

 To change your proxy instructions simply submit a new proxy appointment using the methods set out above. Any amended proxy 
appointment received after the time specified above will be disregarded.

 Where you have appointed a proxy using the hard-copy proxy form and would like to change the instructions using another hard-copy 
proxy form, please contact Link Asset Services.

 If you submit more than one valid proxy appointment, the appointment received last before the latest time for the receipt of proxies 
will take precedence.

 In order to revoke a proxy instruction, you will need to inform the Company by sending a signed hard-copy notice clearly stating your 
intention to revoke your proxy appointment to Link Asset Services. In the case of a member which is a company, the revocation notice 
must be executed under its common seal or signed on its behalf by a duly authorised officer of the company or an attorney for the 
company. Any power of attorney or any other authority under which the revocation notice is signed (or a notarially certified copy of 
such power or authority) must be included with the revocation notice. The revocation notice must be received by Link Asset Services 
prior to the commencement of the Annual General Meeting or adjourned meeting at which the vote is given or, in the case of a poll 
taken otherwise than on the same day as the meeting or adjourned meeting, before the time appointed for taking the poll.

 If you attempt to revoke your proxy appointment but the revocation is received after the time specified then your proxy appointment 
will remain valid.

Corporate representatives

5.   A shareholder which is a corporation may authorise one or more persons to act as its representative(s) at the meeting. Each such 

representative may exercise (on behalf of the corporation) the same powers as the corporation could exercise if it were an individual 
shareholder, provided that (where there is more than one representative and the vote is otherwise than on a show of hands) they do not 
do so in relation to the same shares. A Director, the Secretary or other person authorised for the purpose by the Secretary may require 
all or any such persons to produce a copy of the resolution of authorisation certified by an officer of the corporation before permitting 
him to exercise his powers.

Method of voting

6.   Voting on all resolutions will be decided on a show of hands unless, before or on declaration of the result of, a vote on the show 

of hands, or on the withdrawal of any other demand for a poll, a poll is duly demanded.

Documents available for inspection

7. 

 The following documents will be available for inspection during normal business hours at the registered office of the Company and at 
the Company’s business address, Electric Works, Sheffield Digital Campus, Sheffield S1 2BJ, from the date of this notice until the time 
of the meeting. They will also be available for inspection at the place of the meeting from at least 15 minutes before the meeting until 
it ends:

7.1  copies of the service contracts of the Executive Directors; and

7.2  copies of the letters of appointment of the Non-executive Directors.

Biographical details of Directors

8.   Biographical details of all those Directors who are offering themselves for appointment or re-appointment at the meeting are set out 

on pages 28 and 29 of the enclosed Annual Report and Accounts.

ANNUAL REPORT AND ACCOUNTS 2017 WANDISCO PLC

75

Financial statements 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
SECRETARY, ADVISERS AND SHARE CAPITAL INFORMATION

Legal advisers

Brown Rudnick

8 Clifford Street 
London W1S 2LQ

Carey Olsen

47 Esplanade 
St. Helier 
Jersey JE1 0BD

Bankers

Silicon Valley Bank

3003 Tasman Drive 
Santa Clara  
CA 95054

HSBC Bank plc

Yorkshire and North East Corporate Banking Centre 
4th Floor 
City Point 
29 King Street 
Leeds LS1 2HL

Registrars

Link Asset Services

The Registry 
34 Beckenham Road 
Beckenham BR3 4TU

Share capital

The ordinary share capital of WANdisco plc is listed on AIM, 
a market operated by London Stock Exchange Group plc. 
The shares are listed under the trading ticker WAND. 
The ISIN number is JE00B6Y3DV84.

Secretary

Larry Webster

Offices

UK office

Electric Works 
Sheffield Digital Campus 
Sheffield S1 2BJ

US office

5000 Executive Parkway 
Suite 270 
San Ramon 
CA 94583

Registered office

47 Esplanade 
St. Helier 
Jersey JE1 0BD

Company registered number

110497

Nominated adviser and joint broker

Stifel Nicolaus Europe Ltd

150 Cheapside 
London EC2V 6ET

Joint broker

Peel Hunt LLP

Moor House 
120 London Wall  
London EC2Y 5ET

WH Ireland Limited

24 Martin Lane 
London EC4R 0DR

Auditor

KPMG LLP

1 Sovereign Square 
Sovereign Street 
Leeds LS1 4DA

76

WANDISCO PLC ANNUAL REPORT AND ACCOUNTS 2017

Financial statementsWANdisco plc is committed to the environmental issues reflected in 
this Annual Report. The report is printed on Arcoprint, which is FSC® 
certified and ECF (Elemental Chlorine Free), and printed in the UK by 
Park Communications using their environmental printing technology. 
Both manufacturing mill and the printer are registered to the 
Environmental Management System ISO14001 and are Forest 
Stewardship Council® (FSC) chain-of-custody certified.

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WANdisco plc
47 Esplanade
St. Helier
Jersey JE1 0BD