Xero passes quarter of a million subscriber milestone in UK

Xero has announced it has surpassed a quarter of a million subscribers (253,000 at 30 September 2017) in the UK as the company extends its position in the UK, Australia and New Zealand while expanding globally.  As the leading cloud accounting software provider in the UK, Xero is strongly positioned for growth as the digitisation of UK businesses continues and government legislation 'Making Tax Digital' is implemented.

Xero also announces that it is deepening its existing partnerships in the UK with HSBC and Banco Santander, paving the way for enhanced banking services on Xero's platform.

Rod Drury, Xero founder and CEO comments, "We're excited to celebrate this key milestone with our valued community of accountants, bookkeepers and ecosystem partners at Xerocon London this week.

"Passing through quarter of a million UK subscribers with a focus on strong revenue growth sends clear signals that our global platform is delivering powerful value to accountants, bookkeepers and small businesses - and we are only getting started.

Gary Turner, Xero UK and EMEA managing director comments, "It's very encouraging to see growth continuing to accelerate in such a large and important global market for us. And it's particularly gratifying to see our significance to the UK market translating into closer relationships with the UK's banking community in the past 12 months."

To support its growth in the UK market, Xero announced in March it was expanding its UK headquarters in Milton Keynes to accommodate new sales and customer experience staff.

From just seven staff in 2012, Xero now employs more than 200 staff in the UK and more than 1,800 globally who are based across 21 offices.

The company this week hosts its annual Europe and UK region Xerocon in London, at which Xero will host 2,000 accountants, bookkeepers, and ecosystem partners from 24 countries.

Xerocon this year showcased Xero's biggest wave of new products as Xero evolves from online accounting software to a global small business platform to help grow businesses around the world.

Highlights of the new products include:

• Xero HQ Open Practice Platform, an integrated multi-vendor platform for accountants and bookkeepers to run their entire back office 
• Xero HQ Ask, driving meaningful engagement between advisors and clients by reducing the time accountants spend asking clients for information and waiting for a response 
• Xero Expenses, mobile-first expense management with Open APIs for banks to connect to the millions of employees in small business 
• CIS features and reporting capabilities adhering to HMRC CIS (Construction Industry Scheme) rules for small businesses in construction 
• Xero Projects, time and job costing for small businesses in professional services 
• Xero Discuss, allows users and their advisors to communicate within the Xero platform 
• Xero Lifelong Learning Platform, an online learning tool aimed at students and the reskilling of the workforce, which will be delivered by educational institutions