Warrington-based robotic process automation (RPA) software firm Blue Prism Group said on Thursday its revenue for the six months to April 30, 2021, rose 21% to £80.4 million.

Blue Prism, which is exploring a secondary listing in the United States, said its bookings grew 35% to £98 million compared to the same period of the previous year.

The firm reported a pretax loss of £21 million for the six months compared to a £53.8 million loss a year earlier.

In its outlook, Blue Prism said: “The outlook remains unchanged from the trading update statement. 

“Based on H1 reported ARR (annual recurring revenue) of £162m, the board believes FY21 revenue is likely to be towards the lower end of the  £170-180m  previously guided range.

“As previously stated FX is estimated to have negatively impacted the original guidance by ~£2m.

“The group continues to expect an EBITDA loss for the year of c.£25m.”

Blue Prism chairman and CEO Jason Kingdon said: “Bookings grew 35% in the first half, with constant currency revenues increasing by 24%.

“We continue to attain strong retention metrics and new bookings for our Blue Prism Cloud (BPC) SaaS platform grew 65% year on year and accounted for 22% of new bookings for the period.

“Whilst remaining disciplined on spending and re-confirming our aim to be cash break-even by the end of the full financial period, we have significantly invested in R&D, enabling a record number of product releases to enhance scale and usability of the core product.

“With over 2,000 customers, we want to remain at the forefront of developing next generation intelligent automation, so we are reviewing our go-to-market model and the product and service formats to ensure we meet the needs for strategic transformation demanded in the C-suite.

“Our global customer base remains robust.”