Proactis aims for a return to growth in 2021

Despite this, the Wetherby-based firm reported a pre-tax loss of £19.3m in the year to July 31, which was down from a £25.8m loss the previous year.

Tim Sykes, Proactis' CEO, said: "Despite the challenging macro-economic environment, we have executed our strategy well as we drive the group toward a return to growth in 2021 and beyond.

"Our strategy is to replicate the go-to-market strategy of the UK and Netherlands in each of the US, France and Germany and we have made substantial headway with first sales of our mid-market single platform solution in Germany and France.

"Although we are encouraged by the progress that we have made, we are also mindful of the impact of Covid-19 which is slowing the rate of commercial progress – whilst our pipeline is strong, demand continues to be marginally subdued through this period and sales processes are more challenging because of competing priorities."

He said that despite these challenging market conditions, the firm is prudently managing its costs and the board expects to meet the earnings forecast for 2021.

He added: "Notwithstanding this, the group's new business performance is encouraging and combined with our return to organic growth in underlying annualised recurring revenue, are material indicators of our progress.

"Our business has proved to be robust through this extraordinary period and our pipeline and forward revenue visibility positions us well for the future.

"We're in an exciting growth market and are poised to accelerate our growth, earnings and cash flow over the coming years.”

Analyst Andrew Darley at FinnCap said: "The group has reshaped in favour of efficiency and visibility, delivering credibility with proof of execution and offering substantial upside."