Software giant Sage has posted double digit revenue growth in what bosses have called a strong first quarter.
The Tyneside-based provider of accounting, HR and payroll systems told investors on the London Stock Exchange it had booked a 10% rise in Q1 revenue to £573m, up from £522m in the same period the year before. Growth was at its strongest across the firm's North American market, where CEO Steve Hare has previously said there is more business optimism.
Revenue across North America grew 13% to £259m, compared with the first quarter of 2023. And it grew 8% and 7% in the º£½ÇÊÓƵ, Ireland and Africa, and Europe respectively.
Read more: Holiday boom helps Hays Travel double transactions to top £2bn
Read more: Scrumconnect Consulting opens Newcastle office creating 150 new jobs
The three-month trading update also showed cloud products now constituted a larger proportion of overall revenues, with 18% growth across the suite of software. Those gains were driven by growth in Sage's 'cloud native' products - applications built for use in the cloud - which saw revenue boosted 25% to £174m thanks to new customers and more cloud connected revenue from new and existing customers.
In the º£½ÇÊÓƵ, Ireland and Africa, Sage said growth had been delivered by more revenue attached to cloud native packages and its Sage 50 cloud product which combines desktop accounting with cloud features. And the 7% European growth was helped by the firm's cloud connected products.
In full year 2023 results released in November, Sage said it expected a similar 12% uptick in revenues in 2024, having reported underlying recurring revenue of £2.09bn and operating profit of £456m. At the time, Mr Hare told BusinessLive investment in research and development and marketing in recent years could be dialled down as the FTSE100 business started to see the benefits of a scaled up operation.
In today's trading update Jonathan Howell, chief financial officer, said: "Sage has delivered a strong first quarter, sustaining good momentum and growing in line with our plan for the year. Small and mid-sized businesses are continuing to digitalise despite the ongoing macroeconomic uncertainty, and through our trusted cloud solutions and innovative, AI-powered services we are well positioned to support them. We reiterate our guidance for the full year, as set out in our FY23 results announcement, as we continue to focus on delivering efficient growth."
Sage is currently in the midst of a £350m share buyback programme which is due to run until April.
