Order inflow during the six month period was robust with an increasing proportion of new orders for multi-year, Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) contracts in line with the Group's strategy. These SaaS contracts continue to enhance the Group's revenue visibility by adding recurring revenue in future periods. As a result, the Group's order book and annualised recurring revenues continue to grow solidly. The healthy trading period is the result of increasing demand across healthcare and commercial sectors for the Group's customer engagement software platform, Liberty.
The Group maintains a strong financial position and a debt-free balance sheet. At 31 December 2016, the net cash balance had increased to £14.6m (30 June 2016: £14.1m) after the payment of an interim dividend of £1.3m in the period.