Sage needs to scale faster from Newcastle to the world

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When Shares of Sage Group grown In November 19 percent, as announced its all year’s results, said something about how unhealthy British software company has become. It raised its dividend and announced the £ 400 million Buyback, but investors were just as relieved.

Sage had a tangled decades because he tried to change his desktop program using millions of small businesses for cloud calculations. For a while, it seemed that it could succeed. “It’s as if we started to face ourselves, whose fault was,” says Steve Nahapet, the chief executive.

The mood has become more positive in Kobalt Park in North Tenizid, where 1,200 sage workers, including 400 software developers, work at its headquarters. This is not a silicone valley. The closest Ocean is in front of the North Sea, located in the nearby Whitley Bay, but not the Pacific Ocean, but in 1981, FTSE 100 fired company restored its momentum.

There is still a lot. The company remains the dwarfed value through intuit, mountain watch business in the US Small Business Software Package QuickBooks. Although Sage’s Market Capitalization has increased by 93 percent in recent weeks, intuit costs about $ 165 billion (both have been affected by the uncertainty of global business this year).

Sage is also crowded by smaller peers, particularly Xero, of course, the New Zealand Cloud Counting Platform for small enterprises, which have raised its business in the mid-2000s. Sage has relied much on the impact of Sage 50’s operation, a dear program on the roots of 1989. Stepan Kelly, the previous one of the rabbit removed In 2018, as it was clumsy.

It now grows faster and more smoothly, 83% of the subscriptions last year. Some UK small businesses glad to desktop Sage 50 software displeasing To be strong to be strong to change the cloud options, Sage has awarded US funds, which now make up 40% of its shareholder base, pushing forward.

The rabbit notes the assessment that has been achieved with consistent growth. Sage has traditionally slowed down and relied on the achievements, such as its $ 850 million worth $ 850 million in the US Cloud Start-Up.

Sage simply cannot be the UK champion in the fragment of the world market. It offers 185 products in all over the countries, including France, Germany and the United States, but the industry unites the borders. “You start to see winners and losers in technology. I am determined to be one of the winners, “says the rabbit.

Kevin Kevander says the director of the Enterprise Applications in the EDC Research Group that “Sage” should further be substantiated on older products “share its time and energy.” “You can see it in the moment when the company has turned a turn. I expected it to grow rapidly because it covers the principles and artificial intellect of clouds.”

The benefits of Cloud Computing are clear in Sage’s results. Last year, 12% increased in the United States compared to 7% in the United Kingdom and Ireland. The program (now called Sage Intacct) is mainly aimed at medium companies and the UK has given small companies as they expand.

It tries to miss the AI ​​chance so that it was too late to switch. Last year, it began to roll the update of AI, called Sage Copilot software products that can change and point to the possible errors in accounting records. The rabbit likens the current repetition of AI tools “Very smart child”, but it grows rapidly.

The future of Sage also depends on culture. It is clear that during the recent visit, talking about the company is happier. It is one of the largest employers in the northeast and has the warmth of natural landlords. However, this cannot give up satisfaction. “You don’t have to be unscrupulous or unpleasant, you have to be demanding,” says the rabbit.

Although Sage is doing better than before, it must be accelerated. There are no fewer technologies for small companies. The United Kingdom is among the countries that impose the use of financial software to fill in tax returns. But it must be captured by the day or others.

john.gapper@ft.com