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- Sage Group’s underlying operating profits rose 21% to £529m last year
- The company’s total underlying revenue rose by almost £200m to £2.3bn.
Sage Group shares rose by a fifth to trade at a record high on Wednesday as the enterprise software group boosted payouts to investors after a bumper financial year.
The group, which provides businesses with accounting and payroll solutions, told shareholders that underlying operating profits had soared 21 per cent to £529m in the year to November.
Sage proposed a final dividend of 13.5p per share, increasing full-year dividends by 6 per cent to 20.45p, and a share buyback program worth up to £400m.
Sage shares soared 19.4 per cent to 1,285.5p, around 1.4 per cent above a previous record set in March and making it by far the best performer in the market. FTSE 100 during the session.
Total underlying revenue rose by almost £200m to £2.3bn, driven by higher sales across all regions as customer subscription penetration expanded by three percentage points to 82 per cent.
Half of its top-line growth came from the US, where the company’s Intacct business enjoyed strong demand from the nonprofit, construction and real estate sectors.
US commerce further benefited from increases in both prices and new customers, as well as orders for its 200 cloud, 50 cloud and Sage X products.
Strong performance: “Sage has delivered another successful year,” said Steve Hare, CEO of Sage Group (above right)
Sage’s underlying revenue improved 7 per cent to £505 million in the British Isles, its second-largest territory by sales, and 6 per cent to £610 million across Europe.
And on a statutory basis, the Newcastle-based group’s operating profits rose 43 per cent to £452m, thanks to the absence of property restructuring charges and adverse currency movements.
Boss Steve Hare said: ‘Sage has delivered another successful year, delivering strong and broad-based revenue growth alongside significantly higher profits and cash flows.
“Small and medium-sized businesses remain resilient, despite the current macroeconomic uncertainty, and continue to choose Sage to help them become more productive and efficient.”
More than 8,000 customers now use Sage Copilot, an artificial intelligence assistant launched in February and designed to handle administrative and repetitive tasks.
Hare added: “Building on our progress to date, we look forward to achieving further sustainable growth in the coming year.”
For fiscal 2025, the company expects its operating margins to trend upward and organic revenue to increase at least 9 percent.
Founded in 1981, Sage is one of the few technology companies listed in London and one of the largest providers of enterprise resource planning software in the world.
Adam Vettese, market analyst at eToro, said: ‘Sage’s software generates payrolls, among other things, and perhaps that is exactly what they are delivering to shareholders this morning.
‘Sage is already used by millions of small businesses who know and trust the product. Recurring revenue shows that since product innovation now also includes AI, the company appears to be gearing up for further growth.’
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