LONDON (dpa-AFX) - Sage Group Plc (SGE.L), a British enterprise software company, on Wednesday registered a rise in earnings, helped by improved revenue from all regions. In addition, the Group has announced a drive to repurchase up to 400 million pounds of shares.
For the 12 month-period to September 30, the company posted a pre-tax income of 426 million pounds, higher than 282 million pounds in the previous year.
Net profit stood at 323 million pounds or 31.55 pence per share as against last year's 211 million pounds or 20.43 pence per share.
Operating profit improved to 452 million pounds from 315 million pounds a year ago. This reflects lower merger and acquisition related expenses, and the non-recurrence of prior year restructuring charges.
Underlying operating profit grew by 21 percent to 529 million pounds, year-on-year basis.
EBITDA stood at 622 million pounds, compared with last year's 534 million pounds.
Underlying Annualized Recurring Revenue or ARR rose to 2.339 billion pounds from 2.112 billion pounds a year ago.
Revenue was 2.332 billion pounds, up from previous year's 2.184 billion pounds, supported by all regions. In North America, revenue grew by 12 percent, driven by a good performance from Sage Intacct together with continued growth in Sage 50 cloud and Sage 200 cloud.
The Board will pay a final dividend of 13.50 pence per share on February 11, 2025 to shareholders of record as of January 10, 2025. The final dividend will bring the total dividend for the year to 20.45 pence per share, higher than prior year's 19.30 pence per share.
The Group has also announced a program to repurchase up to 400 million pounds of shares, which is expected to commence on November 20, and end no later than June 3, 2025.
Looking ahead, the company said: 'We expect organic total revenue growth in FY25 to be 9% or above. Operating margins are expected to trend upwards in FY25 and beyond, as we focus on efficiently scaling the Group.'
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