NEWCASTLE UPON TYNE (dpa-AFX) - Sage Group PLC(SGE.L) reported that profit before income tax for the year ended 30 September 2017 rose to 342 million pounds from 242 million pounds last year.
Profit for the year was 300 million pounds up from 208 million pounds in the prior year.
Underlying basic earnings per share increased by 4% to 31.90 pence from last year's and statutory basic earnings per share increased to 27.80 pence from the prior year's 19.28 pence due to increased operating profit benefitting from the weakening of sterling, and lower non-recurring charges.
Adjusted for transactions underlying earnings per share increased by 7% reflecting a 3% impact from the losses contributed by acquired businesses and the disposal of the North America Payments business.
Organic operating profit increased by 10% to 475 million pounds in line with organic revenue and the 1% increase in margin. Statutory operating profit increased by 81 million pounds.
Statutory revenue grew by 19% to 1.715 billion pounds from last year's 1.439' billion pounds, reflecting organic growth, foreign exchange movements experienced throughout the year and the revenue contribution from acquisitions of Fairsail and Intacct, net of the adjustment to acquired deferred income.
In fiscal year 2017, Sage delivered organic revenue growth of 6.6% (6.0% including North American Payments) and an organic operating margin of 28.0% (27.0% underlying).
On this basis Management expects organic revenue growth for fiscal year 2018 to be around 8%.
The company expects to continue to achieve cost efficiencies that will be more than sufficient to offset any losses in the acquired businesses as they scale. It is therefore confident of delivering an organic operating margin of around 27.5% in fiscal year 2018.
Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX