In our October CEO Monthly Update, Eric reflected on what has been an exceptional first six months of the financial year. We have seen remarkable progress across every department all contributing to one of our strongest starts to a financial year yet.
Sales exceeded budget by more than £230,000, coming in over 10% higher year-on-year, a result driven by the outstanding efforts of our Sales and Marketing teams. Together, the teams have delivered exceptional results and continued to drive growth across every area;
£3.27m total deal value across nearly 600 closed deals
108% of budget achieved and 109% up on last year
New business at 138% of target and existing business up 131% year-on-year
Major wins including Swansway (£149k), Hempel (£112k), Northern Races (£75k) and PTSG (£55k)
The Onboarding team exceeded its challenging delivery budget for the half-year, completing more projects than planned and developing two new internal tools:
A new payroll setup portfolio
A Data Take-On (DTO) tool using a flat-file system, currently in trial ahead of wider rollout across other products
These tools will streamline delivery and help the team handle even more projects and revenue in the months ahead.
Support colleagues have successfully integrated a new AI assistant within Freshdesk, designed to surface relevant prompts and solutions for all ticket types. The aim is to reduce repetitive work and enhance client service, with the system going live from October.
The consolidation of our southern offices into Milton Keynes and Newcastle has led to a 30% increase in payroll processing productivity, with each team member now managing an average of 2,500 payslips per month.
Additional highlights:
BACS now processed directly via Cintra Cloud
Closure of Poole and Camberley offices and reallocation of work to existing teams
Processing Services Team successfully redeployed into Payroll teams—thank you to everyone involved for your flexibility and support
Movement of Pension Admin into Payroll teams for greater efficiency
The HR Outsourcing team achieved strong progress, establishing strict onboarding timelines with major client Natsen and overcoming early challenges through consistent process improvement.
Other key achievements include:
A successful trial of the Recruitment Assistance Programme, with plans to expand across additional clients
Launch of a new HR Assurance Plan—a service to be offered to all non-HRO MRR clients
Our Compliance team has made excellent progress in strengthening controls and reducing Infosec breaches, while keeping certification renewals firmly on track.
Key updates:
CIPP Payroll Assurance Scheme audit scheduled for 12 November, with the team confident in renewal success
ISAE 3402 Audit Process ahead of schedule, with formal audits beginning this month and completion expected before Christmas
Ongoing collaboration with MetaCompliance to curate engaging and relevant content for all colleagues
Despite being a small team, Stephen and Henry have maintained outstanding service levels throughout a challenging cyber landscape. Their continued dedication and proactive approach to system stability and security have been vital to the business.
Our Apogee colleagues, who joined earlier this year, are now fully integrated into the business—successfully transitioning to new pricing structures and onboarding to Cintra People.
The Capture product hit a major milestone, achieving over £100,000 in monthly sales for the first time and closing its largest deal to date in September with PTSG. This momentum was supported by the launch of our Business Expense Cards, delivered in partnership with Pliant, marking a major step forward in product expansion.
The Vision team completed the full integration of our client data pool, unlocking advanced reporting and segmentation capabilities. The first set of reports, detailing top clients and key performance trends, is now live and available for internal use.
The Finance team has delivered impressive operational improvements, including:
Stronger cash collection and increased direct debit adoption
Integration of credit card payments for software renewals
Delivery of fully reconciled half-year accounts within ten working days
The Development team has continued to deliver at pace, completing several major projects, including:
Launch of BACS functionality within Cintra Cloud
Enhanced reporting features across products
Successful rollout of Cintra People to early adopters, including internal teams, in close collaboration with Support and Outsourcing
In addition, the team has been expanding its use of AI tools such as Cursor, Copilot, and Claude to accelerate software creation and testing—with strong results already being seen. Product Managers are also making use of Claude and several internally developed tools to help write tickets more efficiently and improve collaboration with developers.
Across every team, the first six months of FY25 have been defined by hard work, innovation, and collaboration. Thank you to everyone for your continued effort and commitment—together, we’re building real momentum for a strong second half of the year.