Sage (SGE) in the reported period. Management also slashed overheads and focused on selling more lucrative software subscriptions, sending adjusted operating profit up 9 per cent to £427m.
Underlying recurring revenue leapt a tenth to almost £1.1bn. That reflected a 32 per cent rise in software subscription sales, as contracted customers grew by nearly half to over 1m. Sage One was a big hit: paid subscribers leapt by more than four-fifths to 313,000, sending sales of the product up 54 per cent. Comparable turnover also rose 6 per cent in the processing business, due to strong demand for payment and payroll-processing software. However, they slid 9 per cent in the software and software-related services (SSRS) division as management switched customers to subscriptions
Brisk trading pushed underlying sales up 7 per cent in Europe, but pricing pressure and tepid marketing and channel-partner gains limited growth to 4 per cent in North America. Moreover, underlying growth in international revenue almost halved to 8 per cent, reflecting a lack of new products and a tough comparative period.
| SAGE (SGE) | ||||
| ORD PRICE: | 666.5p | MARKET VALUE: | £7.2bn | |
| TOUCH: | 666-666.5p | 12-MONTH HIGH: | 761p | LOW: 541p |
| DIVIDEND YIELD: | 2.10% | PE RATIO: | 35 | |
| NET ASSET VALUE: | 98p* | NET DEBT: | 38% | |
| Year to 30 Sep | Turnover (£bn) | Pre-tax profit (£m) | Earnings per share (p) | Dividend per share (p) |
| 2012 | 1.34 | 334 | 18.6 | 10.7 |
| 2013 | 1.38 | 164 | 4 | 11.3† |
| 2014 | 1.35 | 279 | 17.3 | 12.2 |
| 2015 (restated) | 1.44 | 276 | 18.1 | 13.1 |
| 2016 | 1.57 | 275 | 19.3 | 14.15 |
| % change | 9 | 0 | 6 | 8 |
| Ex-div: 9 Feb | ||||
| Payment: 3 Mar | ||||
| *Includes intangible assets of £1.77bn, or 164p a share †Excludes special dividend of 17.1p a share | ||||
Broker Investec expects adjusted pre-tax profit of £440m for the September 2017 year-end, giving EPS of 29.4p, up from £397m and 26.5p in FY2016
