Rare term; more common synonyms are さっき or 先ほど. May appear in literary or formal contexts.
Regarding the matter you called about a short while ago, I have confirmed it.
先方の話では、会議は延期になったそうです。
According to what was said just now, the meeting has been postponed.
Compound of 先 (saki, 'before') and 方 (kata, 'direction/person'), but the exact derivation of the temporal meaning is uncertain.