- Sage Group’s underlying operating profits leapt by 21% to £529m last year
- The company’s total underlying revenue jumped by almost £200m to £2.3bn
Sage Group shares jumped by a fifth to trade at a record high on Wednesday as the business software group hiked investor payouts after a bumper financial year.
The group, which provides businesses with accounting and payroll solutions, told shareholders that underlying operating profits had rocketed 21 per cent to £529million in the year ending November.
Sage proposed a 13.5p per share final dividend, growing full-year dividends by 6 per cent to 20.45p, and a stock buyback programme worth up to £400million.
Sage shares soared 19.4 per cent to 1,285.5p, around 1.4 per cent above a previous record high set in March and making them by far the top FTSE 100 performer for the session.
Total underlying revenue jumped by almost £200million to £2.3billion, thanks to higher sales across all regions and customer subscription penetration expanding by three percentage points to 82 per cent.
Half of its turnover growth came from the US, where the company’s Intacct business enjoyed solid demand from the not-for-profit, construction and real estate sectors.
US trade 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, chief executive of Sage Group (top right)
Sage’s underlying revenue improved by 7 per cent to £505million in the British Isles, its second largest territory by sales, and by 6 per cent to £610million across Europe.
And on a statutory basis, the Newcastle-based group’s operating profits climbed by 43 per cent to £452million, thanks to an absence of property restructuring charges and adverse currency movements.
Boss Steve Hare said: ‘Sage has delivered another successful year, achieving strong, broad-based revenue growth together with significantly higher profits and cash flows.
‘Small and mid-sized businesses remain resilient, despite the ongoing macroeconomic uncertainty, and they continue to choose Sage to help them become more productive and efficient.’
Over 8,000 customers are now using Sage Copilot, an artificial intelligence assistant launched in February designed to handle administrative and repetitive tasks.
Hare added: ‘Building on our progress to date, we look forward to delivering further sustainable growth in the year ahead.’
For the 2025 financial year, the company expects its operating margins’ to trend upwards’ and organic revenues to rise by at least 9 per cent.
Founded in 1981, Sage is one of the few London-listed technology businesses and one of the world’s biggest suppliers of enterprise resource planning software.
Adam Vettese, market analyst at eToro, said: ‘Sage’s software produces payslips among other things, and perhaps that’s exactly what they’re delivering to shareholders this morning.
‘Sage is already used by millions of small businesses who know and trust the product. The recurring revenue shows that, with product innovation also now including AI, the firm seems to be setting itself up for further growth.’
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