Sage Group plc (LON:SGE), a leader in accounting, financial, HR and payroll technology for small and mid-sized businesses, has issued a trading update for the three months ended 31 December 2023[1].
Jonathan Howell, Chief Financial Officer, commented:
“Sage has delivered a strong first quarter, sustaining good momentum and growing in line with our plan for the year. Small and mid-sized businesses are continuing to digitalise despite the ongoing macroeconomic uncertainty, and through our trusted cloud solutions and innovative, AI-powered services we are well positioned to support them. We reiterate our guidance for the full year, as set out in our FY23 results announcement, as we continue to focus on delivering efficient growth.”
| Underlying Revenue Performance[2] | Q1 24 | Q1 23 | % Growth | Organic % Growth |
| Total Revenue | £573m | £522m | +10% | +10% |
| of which Sage Business Cloud | £454m | £384m | +18% | +18% |
| Total Revenue by Region | ||||
| North America | £259m | £229m | +13% | +13% |
| UKIA[3] | £162m | £151m | +8% | +8% |
| Europe | £152m | £142m | +7% | +7% |
Sage Group grew total revenue by 10% to £573m. Regionally, revenue in North America increased by 13% to £259m, with a good performance from Sage Intacct together with continuing growth in Sage 50 cloud and Sage 200 cloud. In the UKIA region, revenue grew by 8% to £162m, driven by further success in cloud native solutions (including Sage Intacct, Sage Accounting and Sage Payroll), alongside growth in Sage 50 cloud. In Europe, revenue increased by 7% to £152m, with a strong performance particularly in cloud connected solutions.
Sage Business Cloud revenue increased by 18% to £454m, driven by growth in cloud native revenue of 25% to £174m (Q1 23: £140m) primarily through new customer acquisition, and by growth in cloud connected revenue from both existing and new customers.
Recurring revenue increased by 11% to £554m (Q1 23: £500m), with software subscription revenue growth of 14% to £466m (Q1 23: £409m) resulting in subscription penetration of 81% (Q1 23: 78%).
Foreign exchange
Sterling has strengthened against the US Dollar and other international currencies compared with the prior period, leading to an exchange rate headwind.
Analyst and investor conference call
Jonathan Howell will host a webcast and conference call today at 8.30am UK time. The webcast can be accessed via the following link: https://edge.media-server.com/mmc/p/zfks4vf3. To join the conference call, please register via: https://register.vevent.com/register/BIc9e9e7ddbd14484d84aaa0b9fae07ae6.
