Hello, I'm Stephen Kelly, Chief Executive of Cirata. Thank you for joining this update on the third quarter of FY 2026, the three months to September 30th. Q3 reflects the challenges we flagged to the market in our outlook statement given in the interim results on September 16th, in that a small number of key contracts are taking longer to close than we expected. That means our second half is now weighted to Q4. These opportunities, however, remain in the pipeline. Our engagement with customers and partners involved remains positive and is progressing.
Converting these opportunities is the focus of the business for the rest of the year. Our closing ACV, annual contract value, for the third quarter is virtually unchanged from Q2. To be clear, we did not sign any new logos in the quarter, and neither I nor the team are satisfied with that outcome. The reasons for our optimism coming into FY 2026 after a record growth year in FY 2025, with strong momentum in our pipeline build and the launch of our new product, Cirata Symphony, are still valid.
I'm not sugarcoating this, as it's taken us longer than we anticipated to build this momentum into closing business systematically. With Q3, we're still not there. However, our determination to deliver on the potential has never been stronger. In July, we completed an oversubscribed placing, subscription, and retail offer, raising GBP 5.4 million gross, around $7.2 million. This underpins our platform for growth. Thank you to our existing and new shareholders for your support. At September 30th, we held $6.2 million of cash and $1.1 million of short-term receivables, a combined $7.3 million.
Cash overheads in the quarter were $3.2 million, within our $12 million-$13 million annual range, and more than 70% below the company's peak. We're still running this business tightly and applying strong cost management. Cirata Symphony is the foundation for our growth. Our first Cirata Symphony customer, a leading U.K. retailer, is moving from test into production, running Iceberg-to-Iceberg replication.
Through our expanded OEM agreement, Cirata Symphony is also available to IBM customers as Cirata Symphony for IBM Big Replicate. Validation by one of the world's most demanding enterprise technology companies matters both to customers and our partners. In addition, one of the top three U.S. banks has been using pre-production versions of Cirata Symphony for IBM Big Replicate and is making good progress. The proposition is simple: large organizations need to move live data at petabyte scale between platforms and clouds without downtime and without lock-in.
We are the neutral layer that lets them do this, effectively the Switzerland of live data orchestration. Our FY 2026 outlook is unchanged from the interim results on September 16th. Engagement around our key opportunities remains positive. Our priorities for Q4 are clear: convert those opportunities, expand within our existing customers, and keep improving the visibility and predictability of the business. Thank you. We'll now take some questions.
Thank you, Stephen. Now, that's three quarters in a row with no new logos. Why should investors believe Q4 will be any different?
It's a fair challenge, and none of us are happy about that. It's taken us longer to progress the pipeline than we expected. The difference, though, is where the opportunities are now. They're late-stage with Global 2000 organizations. The customers and partners are actively engaged, and the sales team is focused. None of us can promise precise timings on enterprise contracts, and I wouldn't do that. What I can tell you is converting them is the one thing this whole company is focused on, and we'll report what we land.
Now, Stephen, is FY 2026 cash flow breakeven still achievable, or is it gone?
Our position is exactly as we set out on September 16th with the interims. If the timing of those key contracts moves out, that may delay our ambition to have been cash flow breakeven for FY 2026 as a whole. Much depends on when the Q4 deals close and the subsequent cash collection timing. We'll give a clear update at the year-end, and we'll stay disciplined on cost management, whatever the outcome.
Now, what happens if the Q4 deals slip into FY 2027?
The opportunities with customers typically don't go away. Slippage is a question of timing, and the pipeline remains in place. We have strengthened the balance sheet and a cost base of less than 30% of the peak. We're not forced into making poor commercial decisions to chase or hit a date. Obviously, we'd rather close the contracts in Q4, and that's what we're very focused on and working towards.
You said a change at the channel partner affected timing. Who is it?
Obviously, it's not appropriate to name partners or comment on another company's business. What I can say is that one partner had a change in its business outlook, which reduced our visibility on a small number of key contracts and the timing of their closure. Those opportunities remain live, and we're still actively engaged with them, and we're working with this partner on Q4 opportunities.
Stephen, you have a cash and short-term receivable of $7.3 million. How do you think about your balance sheet going forward?
As I said in the opening comments, we had strong support from our equity raise in July from both existing and new investors. We raised in July to give ourselves a strong platform to convert pipeline and scale Cirata Symphony. Our cost base is tightly controlled, and our cash collections will drive the cash position from here.
Stephen, when does Cirata Symphony start to move the numbers?
I think we're at the start of that curve. Our first customer, a leading U.K. retailer, is moving from test into production with Iceberg-to-Iceberg replication. Production deployment is what turns a reference site into a reference customer. Add the U.S. Bank proof of concept and the IBM route to market, and Cirata Symphony is now in front of exactly the customers it was built for, and we'll report contracts as they land. Also, to put this in context, we launched Cirata Symphony with the sales team at the start of this year. For an enterprise software launch, we're relatively pleased. But of course, there's always more to do.
Thank you, Stephen, and great to have you with us today.
Thank you.