Company Information
Sage at a glance
Sage is a leading supplier of business software, services and support to more than 6 million customers worldwide. Whilst our heritage is in the small business market we also have the experience and expertise to meet the needs of specific industries and larger organisations.
We are a global company with more than 12,300 employees and more than 25 years of experience working with small and medium sized businesses. However, despite our global reach we have built our success on understanding and meeting the needs of customers in their local markets. Therefore the majority of our products and services are developed and supported locally. This ensures we provide a choice of high quality products and services which are relevant to our customers, use the most appropriate technology and are supported by local experts.
Executive Committee members' biographies
Board of Directors members' biographies
Key facts
- More than 12,300 employees
- More than 6 million customers
- Offices in 23 countries around the world
- Advise 1.9 million customers through support contracts
- Manage 33,000 customer calls a day
- Global network of 28,000 business partners and 40,000 accountants
Highlights for full year ended 30 September 2011:
- Organic revenue# growth of 4%* in the year (2010: 1%*), with 3%* growth in software and software-related service revenues (2010: 3%* contraction) and 5%* growth in subscription revenues (2010: 3%* growth)
- EBITA† margin increased to 27.4% (2010: 26.4%*) at the same time as investing for growth
- Underlying earnings per share increased by 16%* to 20.81p (2010: 17.88p*), reflecting 8%* growth in pre-tax profit, and favourable tax settlements in the year
- Strong operating cash flow of £405.1m (2010: £394.5m), representing 111% of EBITA†, with net debt reducing to £24.9m at 30 September 2011 (30 September 2010: £219.8m)
Rebasing of dividend with 25% increase in total dividend for the year to 9.75p per share (2010: 7.80p per share). This results in a proposed final dividend of 7.07p per share (2010: 5.22p per share) - Share buyback programme of £200m continues, following the sale of Sage Healthcare
- Innovation driving new product releases, including online business solutions and connected services. Significant launches in the year (e.g. Sage One) with strong pipeline of new releases planned for 2012
- 261,000 new paying customers added in the year (2010: 252,000), and our high quality customer service maintained subscription contract renewal rates at 81%
* Underlying figures neutralise the impact of foreign exchange movements and exclude amortisation of acquired intangible assets. Foreign currency results for the prior year ended 30 September 2010 have been retranslated based on the average exchange rates for the year ended 30 September 2011 of $1.61/£1 and €1.15/£1 to facilitate the comparison of results.
# Organic figures exclude the contributions of current and prior year acquisitions, disposals and non-core products.
† EBITA is defined as earnings before interest, tax and amortisation of acquired intangible assets and is after neutralising the impact of foreign exchange movements.
For further information on our financial performance please visit our investor relations website.