By Anthony O. Goriainoff
Shares in Sage Group fell after the company cut organic revenue growth guidance for the year.
Shares at 0731 GMT were down 126.50 pence, or 11%, at 1,071 pence.
The FTSE 100 software group said Thursday that it expected fiscal 2024's organic total revenue growth to be broadly in line with the around 9% seen in the first half, down from November's guidance of revenue growth being broadly in line with fiscal 2023's increase of around 10%.
The company said that for the six months to March 31, pretax profit rose to 203 million pounds ($257.5 million), compared with GBP139 million the year before.
Adjusted operating profit--a key metric for the company, which strips out exceptional and other one-off items--was GBP254 million compared with GBP215 million the year before, and company-supplied consensus of GBP253 million.
Revenue rose to GBP1.15 billion from GBP1.09 billion. Consensus estimates provided by the company expected revenue of GBP1.17 billion. Underlying annualized recurring revenue--the company's preferred metric--rose 11% to GBP2.25 billion, reflecting growth across all regions being balanced between new and existing customers.
The board proposed an interim dividend of 6.95 pence a share compared with 6.55 pence a year earlier.
Write to Anthony O. Goriainoff at anthony.orunagoriainoff@dowjones.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
May 16, 2024 03:35 ET (07:35 GMT)
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