Sage Group

The Sage Group plc, commonly known as Sage, is a British multinational enterprise software company based in Newcastle upon Tyne, England. As of 2017, it is the UK's second largest technology company,[3] the world's third-largest supplier of enterprise resource planning software (behind Oracle and SAP), the largest supplier to small businesses, and has 6.1 million customers worldwide.[4] It has offices in 23 countries.[5] The company is a patron of the Sage Gateshead music venue in Gateshead.[6]

"Sage Software" redirects here. For other uses, see Sage (disambiguation) § Software.
Not to be confused with Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies or SAGE Publishing.

The Sage Group plc
TypePublic limited company
IndustrySoftware
Founded27 April 1981 (1981-04-27)[1]
Founder
HeadquartersNewcastle upon Tyne, England, UK
Number of locations
Offices in 23 countries
Area served
Worldwide
Key people
Products
RevenueIncrease £ 1,949 million (2022)[2]
Increase £ 377 million (2022)[2]
Decrease £ 260 million (2022)[2]
Total assetsIncrease £ 3,896 million (2022)[2]
Total equityIncrease £ 1,397 million (2022)[2]
Number of employees
11,228 (2022)[2]
Websitewww.sage.com

Sage is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index.

History

1981 to 2000

The Company was founded by David Goldman, Paul Muller, and Graham Wylie in 1981 in Newcastle upon Tyne, to develop estimating and accounting software for small businesses.[7]

A student at Newcastle University, Graham Wylie, took a summer job with an accountancy firm funded by a government small business grant to write software to help their record keeping. This became the basis for Sage Line 50. Next, hired by David Goldman to write some estimating software for his printing company, Campbell Graphics, Graham used the same accounting software to produce the first version of Sage Accounts. David was so impressed that he hired Graham and academic Paul Muller to form Sage, selling their software first to printing companies, and then to a wider market through a network of resellers.[8]

In 1984, the Company launched Sage software, a product for the Amstrad PCW word processor,[7] which used the CP/M operating system. Sage software sales escalated in that year from 30 copies a month to over 300.[7] The Company was first listed on the London Stock Exchange in 1989.[7]

In 1991, Sage acquired Dac Software, Inc., a pioneering American accounting software developer, from Insilco Corporation who were undergoing bankruptcy reorganization at the time. Dac Software were well known for their DacEasy software suite, which was one of the first integrated accounting software titles to retail for well under $100, when most of its competitors sold suites with equivalent functionality for thousands of US$.[9]

In 1994, Paul Walker was appointed Chief Executive. In 1998, Sage's Professional Accountants Division was established. In 1999, Sage entered FTSE 100[7] and launched a dedicated Irish division, based in Dublin as well as its e-business strategy. In that same year the UK acquisition of Tetra saw Sage enter the mid-range business software market.[10][11]

Sage was the best-performing UK share in the 1990s, increasing in value by 28,000%.[12]

2000 to 2010
The Sage Gateshead music venue, located on the banks of the River Tyne, is named after the company.

In 2001, Sage acquired Interact Commerce Inc.[13] and entered the CRM/contact management market and in 2002 Sage won 'Business of The Year' in the National Business Awards.[14] Also that year, Sage sponsored the new Music Centre in Gateshead for £6m – now known as Sage Gateshead – the largest ever UK arts/business sponsorship.[15] Sage are one of two technology stocks listed on the FTSE 100 Index,[16] the other being Micro Focus.[17] In 2003, at age 43, Graham Wylie retired with 108.5 million shares in Sage worth £146m. He was rated Britain's 109th richest person in the 2002 Sunday Times Rich List.[8]

Tony Hobson joined the Sage board of directors in June 2004 and became chairman in May 2007.[18]

2010 to present

On 19 April 2010, Sage announced that its CEO, Paul Walker, had indicated an interest in stepping down from his position, which he had held for 16 years.[19] The Financial Times reported that his departure would lead to speculation over Sage's mergers and acquisitions, which have been a key component to the group's growth in the past 20 years.[19]

Walker was one of the longest serving CEOs of an FTSE100 company. Walker left the company on 1 December 2010.[20]

On 1 October 2010 Guy Berruyer became CEO of Sage Group; Berruyer had previously been CEO of Sage's Mainland Europe & Asia operations.[20]

On 15 February 2013, Sage announced that Accel-KKR intended to buy Sage Nonprofit Solutions, its division that produced software designed for nonprofit organisations and governmental agencies.[21]

In August 2014, Sage announced that Guy Berruyer would retire. Stephen Kelly, the UK government's former chief operating officer, became group CEO in November 2014.[22] In September 2014 the company announced the acquisition of PayChoice for $157 million.[23] In 2016 Sage introduced their first AI offering, a chat bot named Pegg.[24]

In March 2017, Sage Group acquired Compass, an analytics and benchmarking platform.[25] In March 2017, Sage Group also acquired Fairsail, a Human Capital Management (HCM) cloud-based platform.[26] In July 2017, Sage purchased Intacct for $850M.[27]

On 31 August 2018, Sage announced that Stephen Kelly had stepped down as a director and CEO.[28] On 2 November 2018, Steve Hare was appointed CEO.[29] Hare had been chief financial officer of Sage since 2014 and had been interim COO following the departure of the previous CEO.[29]

In 2020, Sage divested its Brazilian operations to the president of the local business, Jorge Carneiro.[30][31] In the 2020s Sage began to integrate artificial intelligence into more of their products.[32] In 2022 Sage launched a carbon accounting product, Sage Earth.[33]

Operations

Founded and headquartered in Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom, the company has grown organically, through acquisitions and, more recently, through subscription services.[34]

In June 1991, Sage Group moved into their first dedicated headquarters building, Sage House, in Benton, Newcastle upon Tyne, having previously been located in the Regent Centre office park.[35] In 2004, the company completed their £50 million headquarters in the Great Park area of Newcastle upon Tyne.[36] In 2021 Sage's Newcastle headquarters moved to Cobalt Park.[37][38]

The company's US headquarters are in Atlanta, Georgia, the Canadian headquarters are in Richmond, British Columbia, the Africa, Middle East & Australia headquarters are in Johannesburg, South Africa and the French and Continental European headquarters are in Paris, France. Sage has 6.1 million customers and 13,400 employees across the world. Key industry focus includes: Healthcare; HR & Payroll; Construction/ Real-Estate; Transport/ Distribution; Payment Processing; Accountancy; Not-for-Profit; Manufacturing; Retail; Automotive Distribution.[39]

Financial information
Sage's former logo used from 2015 until 2022.

Financial results are as follows:[40]

Sept year-end, £ millions 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022
Revenue 552 560 688 760 936 1,158 1,295 1,439 1,435 1,334 1,340 1,376 1,307 1,436 1,569 1,715 1,857 1,936 1,903 1,846 1,949
Reported growth n/a n/a n/a n/a +12% +30% +7% +11% 0% +4% 0% +3% -5% +10% +9% +19% +8% +5% -2% -3% +5%
Underlying growth n/a n/a n/a n/a +7% +7% +3% -4% -1% +4% +2% +4% +5% +6% +12% +7% +7% +6% +8% +5% +6%
Operating profit n/a n/a n/a 202 249 283 300 321 365 365 366 180 360 360 427 348 427 382 404 373 367
Pre-Tax Profit 129 151 181 194 221 223 241 267 319 331 334 164 278 276 275 342 398 361 373 347 337

Sponsorships
A Marussia F1 promotional car on display in Sage's Newcastle headquarters.

The Sage Group is a patron of The Sage Gateshead, a Tyneside music venue designed by Sir Norman Foster. The Sage Gateshead was completed in 2004 at a cost of £70 million, and has since become a main sight on the River Tyne. It is primarily used as a concert venue and centre for musical education, but also hosts other events including conferences.[15]

In 2008, Sage funded the revival of The Krypton Factor television series for ITV as a part of the Business Brain Training campaign.[41] Sage were the football shirt sponsor in May 2011 for Whitley Bay F.C.'s FA Vase winning match.[42] Sage had previously been a minor sponsor for Newcastle United F.C.[43]

For the 2012 Formula One season, Sage were an official supplier for the Marussia F1 team, and for the 2013 and 2014 seasons Sage logos were placed on the car.[44] For the 2017–18 Bristol City F.C. season, Sage has partnered with Bristol City F.C. as minor sponsor through their provision of Sage X3 for Bristol Sport.[45][46]

Sage sponsored the Invictus Games in a multi-year partnership starting in 2016.[47] Sage also sponsored the 2019 editions of the Reading Half Marathon and the Blaydon Race.[48][49] Sage are an official partner of The Hundred cricket tournament.[50]

Sage are sponsoring the 2023 Rugby World Cup,[51] as well as the Six Nations Championship.[52] Starting in the 2023 season Sage are an official partner of Major League Baseball organization.[53] Additionally, opening 2025, Sage are the named sponsor of the new Newcastle Gateshead Quayside arena and conference centre, named "The Sage".[54]

See also

References
  1. "Company name changed / certificate issued". Companies House — Sage Systems Ltd. 27 April 1981. Archived from the original on 5 February 2023. Retrieved 27 April 2021.
  2. "Annual Report 2022" (PDF). Sage Group. Retrieved 15 February 2023.
  3. Ram, Aliya (22 November 2017). "Sage posts 7% revenue growth after switching customers to cloud". Financial Times. Archived from the original on 10 December 2022. Retrieved 25 January 2017.
  4. "Competitive Profile". The Sage Group plc. Archived from the original on 1 November 2007. Retrieved 3 September 2010.
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  8. Vaughan-Adams, Liz (12 April 2003). "Sage founder retires at 43 to get married and enjoy his £146m fortune". The Independent on Sunday. London. Archived from the original on 9 February 2009. Retrieved 15 March 2009.
  9. Hill, Dee (3 May 1991). "British firm snares DacEasy for $18M". Dallas Business Journal. 14 (36): 1 et seq. – via Gale.
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  11. "Accounting for Sage's move on Tetra". The Register. Retrieved 21 March 2015.
  12. Buckingham, Lisa; Finch, Julia (23 December 1999). "The share that rose 28,000%". The Guardian. Retrieved 5 February 2023.
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  30. PYMNTS (3 March 2020). "Sage Exits Latin America With £1M Deal". PYMNTS.com. Retrieved 4 March 2020.
  31. Mari, Angelica. "Sage sells Brazilian business". ZDNet. Retrieved 17 September 2020.
  32. Whitfield, Graeme (26 March 2021). "Sage buys Israeli AI firm as part of push into new technologies". Business Live. Retrieved 22 October 2023.
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