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News

  • Xero buys into job costing software firm

    Online accounting software provider Xero has taken a stake in Max Solutions, whose flagship product is online job costing application WorkflowMax.
    In a statement to the NZX announcing the buy, Xero CEO Rod Drury notes that "while Xero could have developed the tax lodgement system itself, this functionality is quite specific to New Zealand and sits closer to the WorkflowMax product.
    "We’ve decided Xero would be better to focus its resources on its international markets and make this investment in Max Solutions so it can grow its team in New Zealand."

  • Trade Me founder Morgan ups stake in Xero

    Trade Me founder Sam Morgan has invested another $2 million in online accountancy software firm Xero, taking his stake in the company to close to five per cent.
    Mr Morgan, a non-executive director at Xero, had agreed to buy 1.4 million shares from founders Rod Drury and Hamish Edwards and chief operating officer Alastair Grigg, chairman Phil Norman said at the company’s annual general meeting in Wellington yesterday.
    The shares were sold at $1.45 each, a 4c premium to last night's closing price. Both Mr Drury and Mr Edwards have indicated that they will not sell any more shares until the company reaches financial breakeven, which is forecast to be in the second half of 2011. Mr Drury said Mr Morgan's investment was "a huge endorsement" of the company's progress and strategy.
    Xero's customer base has now reached 22,000, an increase of 5000 since the end of March. The company’s $8.45 million net loss for the 2010 financial year was a better-than-expected result, Norman told the meeting. The company remains on-track to for the breakeven target of late 2011, he said.
    Now that the board had proved to shareholders "that we know what we're doing" the company was being given scope to explore its potential, Mr Drury said.
    "We're not after tens of thousands of customers, we want hundreds of thousands of customers and beyond.
    "It feels very good, everyone's very positive on the business, and we believe we're on the way to building a significant global presence from New Zealand."
    Shares in Xero climbed 1c to close at $1.41.
    The full text of Norman’s address to shareholders at the meeting can be found on the NZX website.
    - Additional reporting by David Watson

  • Budget moves get positive reaction from IT industry

    In general, response to the Budget from members of industry lobby the NZICT Group has been positive, says CEO Brett O'Riley. Members attended a breakfast meeting with Prime Minister John Key this morning where they had the chance to express their views directly.

  • Xero switches to Revera 'Lite'

    Online accounting system vendor Xero has switched from Revera’s virtual datacentre utility platform, to the recently launched lite version of the product.

  • New roles created at Xero

    Xero has established New Zealand and Australia country manger positions, with former NZ sales general manager Leanne Graham taking the local country manager role, and Wayne Schmidt taking up the Australian post.
    Schmidt comes to the Xero Australia from automated mobile communications specialist Whispir and has also held positions with MYOB.

  • Stop talking product, NZX CEO tells IT start-ups

    When start-up companies talk product to investors, instead of talking business, they’re asking them to buy into a dream, NZ Stock Exchange CEO Mark Weldon told an IT audience in Wellington last month.

  • Kordia says new cable is needed

    Internet traffic on the government's proposed $1.5 billion broadband fibre network is in danger of grinding to a halt at the country's border unless international capacity issues are resolved, says Kordia's chief executive, Geoff Hunt.

  • Xero shares in Rackspace compo

    Wellington-based online accounting software provider Xero has received a small refund from hosting partner Rackspace in compensation for a 45-minute outage last week.

  • UK bank feed for Xero

    Xero has made further inroads into the UK market, with the announcement of a bank feed to HSBC Bank.

  • New Xero shareholder sees role for SaaS and software

    Xero founder Rod Drury talked confidently last night of the old PC-resident accounting software “handing over the baton” to new SaaS-style applications, but for new major shareholder Craig Winkler things aren't so clear-cut.

  • Sales up at Xero, but no profit yet

    A 616% increase in subscription revenue – up to $959,000 from $134,000 - is one of the highlights of Xero’s financial results for the year to March 31, which were released today.

  • UK deal for Xero

    Xero has made a major break into the UK market, entering into a reseller agreement with British Telecom in which Xero’s hosted accounting software will be sold via BT’s applications service portal.

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