The Sage Share Discussion Threads

[miata] 15/5/2013 10:02

Nice increase yesterday maintained this am - after adjusting for Ex dividend.

[a77] 15/5/2013 09:02

Yes, so they could have just repurchased their own shares rather than this long winded cap re-org and special cash div. Fees for advisors...............
Anyways nice increase yesterday wiped out this am - pomo still continuing so may see further gains yet.

[miata] 14/5/2013 18:41

I might speculate that directors bonuses/share awards are probably linked to improvements in EPS - a buy-back generally results in an increase in the EPS because the number of outstanding shares reduces.

[a77] 14/5/2013 18:22

Why didn't they re purchase their own shares instead of this special div lark?
Less cost & administration.
Is there a tax benefit? Or is the share price now too high for the repurchase to have been beneficial?

[a77] 14/5/2013 17:42

Interim div 3.69p - record date 17/5.

[miata] 14/5/2013 16:57

17.1p per share.

EXPECTED TIMETABLE
Ordinary Shares marked ex-Existing Interim Dividend Wednesday 15 May

Payment of the Existing Interim Dividend to Shareholders Friday 7 June

Shareholder Record Date for the Special Dividend and for the
Share Consolidation 6.00 p.m. on Friday 7 June

Commencement of dealings in New Ordinary Shares 8.00 a.m. on Monday 10 June
Ordinary Shares marked ex-Special Dividend Monday 10 June

Despatch of cheques for fractional entitlements and
certificates for New Ordinary Shares; CREST accounts
credited with the value of fractional entitlements Wednesday 19 June

Payment of the Special Dividend to Shareholders Friday 28 June

[a77] 14/5/2013 16:33

Consolidation for 81 shares held you'll get 77 new shares (5% drop)
Special div 17p per share.
So net effect - shareholders effectively lose the tax deduction on divs

[jardi20] 10/5/2013 20:05

What date is the special div ????

[valedo] 09/5/2013 08:09

Sage executive drops into the cloud

The finance director of a FTSE 100 software developer has jumped ship for the same job at a fast-growing company on the junior AIM index.

Paul Harrison has left Sage Group after 13 years for the Sheffield start-up WANDisco, a cloud software developer that listed last year and whose shares have risen almost fivefold since. They gained another 43½p, or 5 per cent, yesterday to reach 983½p.

Mr Harrison joined the Newcastle-based Sage in 1997 and was promoted to finance director in 2000, but he failed to get the top job in 2010, despite being a front runner.

It was, he said, the right time to leave: "No doubt Sage is set on a really exciting course now. When things are going well, then that is the time to think about your future. I am joining a smaller and faster-growing business."

Anthony Miller, of TechMarketView, the research company, said: "There's no doubting that Harrison will add 'gravitas' to the WANdisco board. But let's hope that he is polishing up his quickstep after years waltzing at Sage."

Mr Harrison's departure emerged alongside appointments to Sage's board, including that of Neil Berkett, the outgoing chief executive of Virgin Media, and Jo Harwell, Nokia's head of product development.

The newcomers' arrival will mean that the board has been almost entirely cleared out since Paul Walker, its former chief executive, left in 2009, with only his replacement Guy Berruyer dating back to the company's earliest days.
Times

[major clanger] 08/5/2013 17:23

Broker recs for today.... mostly sticking at hold:

[uknighted] 08/5/2013 16:23

Special dividend of 17p per share.

[birdsedgeuk] 04/5/2013 19:13

www.traderdiary.co.ukI see he has started up articles again...

[el chupacabra] 18/3/2013 18:48

lol, what happened here today! tree shake?

[uknighted] 11/3/2013 20:58

"Accountancy software giant Sage suffered a steep fall on Monday after Bank of America Merrill Lynch downgraded its rating for the stock from 'neutral' to 'underperform'.

The broker said in a research note that investors should remain cautious as to whether Sage can pull off its move to cloud computing."

[miata] 11/3/2013 11:43

Merrill selling.

[major clanger] 06/3/2013 20:06

View from Numis:

[trunkyjo] 20/2/2013 12:52

is sage a prime target for being acquired is that why they are building up their bank account?

[dimotane] 20/2/2013 09:03

momentum still with this one.

[uknighted] 13/2/2013 15:51

This fall is more that just going ex-div.

[dimotane] 25/1/2013 09:39

Been rising steadily here since the midddle of last month.

[valedo] 06/12/2012 08:53

Largesse is obscured by clouds

Tempus, The Times December 6 2012


The market has a continuing beef with Sage Group. The business solutions provider has the distinction of being one of Britain's most successful software companies and one of the few global businesses based in the North East.

But Sage, which enjoys a market rating a little more than 13 times this year's earnings that would be more appropriate to a fast-growth business, seems to have gone ex-growth.

A company that once boasted that acquisitions were in its DNA could think of doing little more with its cash - including the £200 million freed up from the sale of its non-core healthcare business - than handing it back to shareholders, although there was a purchase in Brazil.

Sage spent £300 million buying back its shares in the financial year to the end of September. Including dividend payments,largesse to shareholders totalled £437 million.

Two points stand out from yesterday's results. One, a positive, that Sage is doing well converting its business to a subscriber model. Consumers are signing up for a longer-term relationship that makes future earnings more reliable. Subscription revenues, about two thirds of the total, were up by 6 per cent, ahead of 2011's 5 per cent rise. Second, a negative, that Sage One, the cloud-computing offering to small businesses, seems to be taking a while to get off the ground. The company says, not unreasonably, that new ventures take time while it builds relationships with routes to market, such as the big banks and telecoms companies.

But revenues, on an organic basis, managed to grow by only 2 per cent in the past financial year, half the rate in 2011. The geographical performance was patchy, strong in the United States and emerging markets, flat in France and dreadful in Spain as customers went out of business. Pre-tax profits, therefore, came in at £334.3 million, a mere 1 per cent ahead, although a final dividend of 6.67p gives a total 4 per cent higher at 10.15p.

Sage says that it is focusing on areas where it can grow and has identified another 10 per cent of the business as non-core. The rise of tablets and smartphones should allow extra revenues from existing customers. It is aiming to double revenue growth from its historic level to 6 per cent.

To bring borrowings up to an appropriate level, £200 million will have to be spent on acquisitions or further share buybacks next year.

It will be interesting to see where the money goes. Until then, hold.

[apsis2] 29/10/2012 12:48

citigroup upgrade today

[barryrog] 10/10/2012 12:27

i recently closed my CFD at 320p, poised to reopen a new one.