The Sage Group (SGE)

LONDON (ShareCast) - (Sharecast News) - Shares in Sage dipped on Thursday despite the enterprise software group raising its full-year outlook slightly after a stronger-than-expected first half, with both revenues and profits growing at double-digit rates.
Total underlying revenues rose 11% year-on-year over the six months to 31 March to £1.36bn, which Sage said reflected "broad-based growth" across the business underpinned by a strong performance in cloud solutions with Sage Business Cloud revenues up 15% at £1.16bn.

"Strong growth across our cloud products, particularly Sage Intacct, supported by investment in our product and go-to-market capabilities together with the focused execution of our AI strategy," the company said.

Underlying operating profit rose 15% to £326m, with margins up 80 basis points at 23.9% helped by cost controls, the company said.

The top line beat the consensus forecast of £1.34bn while earnings met analysts' expectations.

Sage said it now expects organic revenue growth to be "above 9%" for FY26, a slight upgrade to earlier guidance of "9% or above", while operating margins are still forecast to "trend upwards".

Meanwhile, the company said it delivered a strong cash performance, with underlying cash conversion of 116%, up from 115% last year, while cash and available liquidity was £1.15bn by the end of the period, up from £1.02bn.

Net debt, however, swelled to £1.50bn from £0.98bn the year before, partly attributable to £353m being spent on share buybacks, increasing the net debt/underlying EBITDA ratio to 2.0x from 1.5x.

Commenting on the first-half performance, chief executive Steve Hare said: "By embedding AI directly into our customers' day-to-day work, we are making our solutions more valuable, reinforcing our competitive advantages, and driving efficient, sustainable growth.

"With our trusted scalable platform, growing agent portfolio and strong momentum supported by investment across the business, I am confident in Sage's ability to deliver growth and long term value for all stakeholders."

Despite the solid results, shares were 2.7% lower at 872.6p by 0948 BST.

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