Sage Group Plc announce a final dividend in respect of the financial year ended 30 September 2022 of 12.10p per share which will absorb an estimated £124m of shareholders' funds. The Company's distributable reserves are sufficient to support the payment of this dividend. If approved at the AGM, it will be paid on 10 February 2023 to shareholders who are on the register of members on 13 January 2023. These financial statements do not reflect this proposed dividend payable.
Other financial highlights include:
Organic recurring revenue increased by 9% to £1,824m, underpinned by Sage Business Cloud growth of 24% to £1,261m. Organic total revenue grew by 6% to £1,924m.
Organic operating profit grew by 8% to £383m, with margin increasing to 19.9% (FY21: 19.5%) driven by operating efficiencies as they scale the Group.
EBITDA increased by 3% to £468m, with margin decreasing slightly to 24.0% (FY21: 24.2%) mainly due to the impact of disposals.
Statutory operating profit decreased by 2% to £367m due to the change in recurring and non-recurring items, including higher net gains in the prior year from disposals.
Underlying basic EPS up by 8% reflecting higher underlying profit and the recent £600m share buyback.
Continued strong cash performance, with cash conversion of 107% reflecting ongoing growth in subscription revenue.
Robust balance sheet, with c. £1.3bn of cash and available liquidity, and net debt to EBITDA of 1.6x.
