Sage has reported organic revenue growth of 6,6% (FY16: 6,7%), underpinned by recurring revenue growth of 9% and an improved SSRS performance with a decline of 1,4% (FY16: decline of 8,4%).
The group had an organic operating margin of 28% (FY16: 27,1%) and EBITDA margin of 30,3%.
Software subscription revenue growth of 30,3% (FY16: 32,1%), aand now represents 37% of total revenue (FY16: 30%).
Sage enjoyed double-digit organic revenue growth achieved in half of the eight regions over the year.
The Africa and Middle East region saw growth of 12%, reflecting the uptake of Sage X3, which grew 8%, the Sage 200 family which grew 13% in Africa, and 66% growth in Sage One.
Africa continues to embrace a strong relationship with customers, with the highest NPS score of all regions at +53 and retention rates of 87%. Africa’s growth has slowed slightly from H1 17 reflecting challenging market conditions in the region.
Pieter Bensch, executive vice-president: Africa & Middle East at Sage, comment: “”We saw strong double-digit growth across Africa and the Middle East as business builders embraced our cloud accounting, payroll, and financial business management solutions.
“Highlights included the launch of Sage Live in South Africa, the launches of Sage One Payroll in Kenya and Nigeria, and a more than 10% improvement in our Net Promoter Score showing a rise in customer satisfaction.
“Double-digit growth for both Sage One, our offering for small businesses, and for the Sage X3 enterprise solution reflect our commitment to catering to customers at every stage of their business journey,” he adds.
“Sage solutions are available in more than 62 countries across Africa and the Middle East. We have more than 239 000 customers across our product stack and process more than 13-million payslips per year across the region, a number that will rise as we reach new markets and launch new products.
“In FY18, we look forward to introducing Sage Business Cloud, simplifying our product range into a single cloud platform that can grow with any business’s needs.”
Stephen Kelly, CEO at Sage, says: “FY17 marks the completion of the transformation of Sage outlined at the June 2015 Capital Markets Day. For each of the past three years we have delivered management’s guidance for at least 6% organic revenue growth and 27% underlying operating margins, whilst fundamentally transforming Sage. We now have the leadership, organisational alignment, brand and comprehensive suite of cloud solutions, to accelerate momentum in our markets.
“The launch of Sage Business Cloud in October 2017 gives our customers the most comprehensive business management cloud platform in the market and provides the platform for this acceleration. We will continue to drive efficiencies and productivity throughout the organisation and this is now ‘business as usual’.”