Xero’s chief executive says the ASX-listed accounting software company has increased its investment in the United States to drive global growth, after delivering a narrow miss on its full-year earnings. Xero has acquired Syft, a leading reporting and analytics platform, and we’re bringing its powerful insights directly to you. With Analytics powered by Syft, you can easily visualize your business performance, including profitability, profit and loss, and balance sheet accounts. You can now experience a cleaner, xero news more accessible and responsive interface for managing fixed assets in Xero. This updated design includes all the trusted features and functionality you’re used to plus you gain the ability to attach files to your fixed asset records. We also heard your feedback, and so now you can automatically prepare partnership annual accounts and tax returns using Xero data and seamlessly file them with HMRC (read more in the previous edition of What’s New).
Deal Mechanics: Cash, Equity, and Confidence
When creating new items in your products and services inventory list, you can now duplicate and edit an existing item. This will make it quicker to add similar items to your catalogue, with less chance of manual error. Sync Xero with software you already love or easily find and try new apps designed to save your business time and money at the Xero App Store. From its pioneering beginnings in New Zealand, Xero has emerged as one of the world’s leading providers of cloud-based software to the small business sector. A surge in new business creation represents the next generation of change-makers who are leading our economy forward. The company reported a 50 per cent increase in operating earnings over the six months to June 30 and $900 million in revenue.
So while there are changes to navigate, it’s not onerous and it’s easy to find what you need. I just dove straight in and it didn’t take long to figure out what had changed. I also really like the ability to customise the widgets according to the information that I want to see. I like the recent invoices paid widget because we rely on meeting invoice milestones before we do certain work, and previously that information was a lot harder to find. Now it’s really quick – I can see it at a glance, so it’s a lot more streamlined and means we’re moving faster and getting projects completed more quickly. You can check out the February edition here, and for a full list of what’s new this March, check out the release notes in Xero Central.
Xero’s flagship partner event moves to a global format
More features from classic invoicing are being rolled out in the new version of invoicing. This includes the ability to view tax rates and breakdowns in the invoice creation screen, and because of your idea, record overpayments against invoices so that credit can be applied to future invoices. The new fixed assets interface and experience is the default for all regions except Australia which still uses classic fixed assets. Australian organisations can choose to use the new fixed asset experience via the banner at the top of the fixed assets page as long as they don’t use tax pooling.
Australian small businesses record highest jobs growth in 11 months, despite slowdown in sales
You can access the option to include or exclude accounts with zero balance or activity feature via the ‘More’ button. Xero has a new reporting feature that gives you a more complete picture of your financial performance. You now have the option to include accounts with zero balances or where there’s been no activity in your reports, making it easier to confirm that all active accounts are included and to consolidate accounts outside of Xero. The company also announced new features for its AI tool, Just Ask Xero, which is intended to automate “routine tasks and workflows, like bank reconciliations, data entry, and getting paid”, among other functions.
Beyond the fintech implications, this transaction represents a landmark moment for New Zealand’s technology sector. According to data from LSEG, this is the largest outbound acquisition by a New Zealand firm since 2011. It highlights the growing ambition and financial capability of companies based in smaller markets to compete on a global stage. We’ve added more ways for customers to pay, including Tap to Pay on Android (initially in Australia), released Xero Inventory Plus in the US, and continued improving new invoicing. As we look forward, we’re sharpening our focus on Xero’s key levers of growth as we aspire to become a higher performing SaaS company. We will continue to balance growth and profitability, while delivering more value to our customers.
For businesses paying supplier bills directly from Xero, this new feature streamlines the payment process by automatically extracting and validating bank details from bill attachments. This automation reduces the need for manual updates and checks, saving time and minimising errors. By ensuring that the payment information flows seamlessly into the payment process, the auto-extract feature helps prevent failed payments due to outdated or incorrect payment details and reduces the risk of fraud. You can now offer even more payment options to your customers with ACH debit, a new payment method by Stripe. ACH debit allows you to accept direct bank payments on invoices, without costly card fees. Your customer can quickly authorize a one-time payment to be withdrawn from their bank account for the total invoice amount, all without leaving the invoice.
UK small business owners unable to pay themselves due to cash flow issues
The strong operating results saw operating revenue up 21% (20% in constant currency (CC)) to $799.5 million. This, along with disciplined cost management and restructuring outcomes, supported a 90% increase in EBITDA compared to H1 FY23, to $206.1 million. This reflected our ongoing focus on balancing growth and profitability, and resulted in an increase in free cash flow to $106.7 million, representing a free cash flow margin of 13.3% compared to 2.4% in the prior period. This focus was also reflected in our net profit, which increased to $54.1 million compared to a net loss of $16.1 million in H1 FY23. Find out about Xero, the emerging global leader of online accounting software that connects small businesses to their advisors and other services. Xero announces enhancements for workpapers, analytics, payments, interface; ADP launches wave of new AI features; Deloitte opens AI Infrastructure Center of Excellence; and other accounting tech updates.
Xero offers Tap to Pay on iPhone for US small businesses with a Stripe account
- With this acquisition, Xero is not just entering a new market—it’s enhancing its core product.
- You can check out the February edition here, and for a full list of what’s new this March, check out the release notes in Xero Central.
- I just dove straight in and it didn’t take long to figure out what had changed.
- At Xerocon Brisbane 2025, we unveiled a powerful suite of new features and updates to help you unlock a bold new chapter for your practice and clients.
Research shows small businesses that were highly digitised fared better throughout the pandemic. Tony Schiffmann, chief executive partner of BDO Australia, says the national accounting firm is having one of its best ever years. Small businesses constitute the countryʼs all-important economic backbone and they are essential to our ongoing resilience. Having the separate sales and purchases in the navigation is a big improvement. I think that Xero has done a good job in making it very simple and intuitive.
- Xero provides a product customers love and value, as shown by our continued revenue growth and improving profitability.
- Xero CEO Sukhinder Singh Cassidy also delivered her first interviews in Australian newspapers before the conference kicked off.
- Australian organisations can choose to use the new fixed asset experience via the banner at the top of the fixed assets page as long as they don’t use tax pooling.
She told the Financial Review she was “very comfortable” that the Xero board properly considered her USD15.2 million ($23.3 million) target remuneration package before signing off on it. At the company’s annual general meeting in mid-August 48.74% of shareholders voted against the board’s remuneration report. New research from global cloud-based small business platform Xero reveals a notable gap in financial literacy among U.S. small business owners….
As fintech continues to evolve into a multi-trillion-dollar global sector, strategic acquisitions like Xero’s purchase of Melio may become more common. Rather than building every solution from scratch, companies are recognizing the value of buying access to talent, technology, and markets—especially when time-to-market is a critical advantage. The structure of the transaction is composed of $2.5 billion in immediate consideration—split between cash and equity—and up to $500 million in contingent payouts, deferrals, and employee incentives spread over three years.
This morning, Xero made a string of new feature announcements including a new Xero Partner Hub platform for practice tools, client data and “AI-powered insights”. The institutional placement will be conducted at a fixed offer price of $176 per new share, representing a 9.4% discount to Xero’s last closing price of $194.21 on Tuesday. As at the date of this announcement Xero has received covenants to vote in favor of the merger from more than the required number of Melio shareholders. Xero has agreed to pay a break fee of $37.5 million in the event that the acquisition does not close solely due to failure to secure HSR approval.
About MelioMelio serves US SMBs and accounting firms with accounts payable, receivable and cash flow management solutions. Melio’s leading platform integrates with and maintains partnerships with financial institutions, allowing businesses to sync payments data and avoid manual entry. Melio also acts as a technology service provider for vertical SaaS platforms and financial institutions including Capital One and Shopify, and distribution partners including Fiserv through a syndication model. This enables Melio to potentially reach millions of small businesses to provide embedded accounts payable products. “Joining Xero is an incredible opportunity for the Melio team to further our mission to reinvent the way businesses pay each other,” said Bar. Additional informationThe transaction will be effected by way of a merger of Melio Limited and a newly incorporated wholly owned subsidiary of Xero Limited.
The upfront consideration will be $2.5 billion in cash and equity consideration. Additional contingent consideration, deferrals and rollovers are payable to Melio employees of up to $0.5 billion payable over three years. Cloud accounting platform Xero announced it will acquire payments solution provider Melio. Some note that acquiring a company with complementary strengths and a scalable architecture could fast-track Xero’s product innovation while improving customer stickiness.