THE new boss of Sage is making his mark on the business by selling off the software giant’s US healthcare division for £205m and offering shareholders a share-buyback programme.

Guy Berruyer, who has been at the helm of the Newcastle-based business for a year, decided to sell the division after taking a “hard and strong look at the business”.

Sage Software Healthcare is used by US doctors to manage their practices. It reported sales of £72m and profits of £10m in the six months to March 31.

Berruyer said the company had been “unlucky” with the healthcare business, which was trying to provide surgeries with management software at a time when most healthcare IT spending was going into electronic healthcare records for patients.

“When we bought this business we could not have predicted that the Obama administration would change the market in the way it did,” he said.

“This business was contracting and had moved away from our core strategy. Our North American business has been performing less well overall. Selling the healthcare business will allow our US team to concentrate on our business priorities again.”

The healthcare business has been seen as a drain on Sage’s resources and former chief executive Paul Walker had moved to the States to try to turn round its fortunes, but without success. It is being taken over by Vista Equity Partners, a private equity firm with offices in San Francisco, Chicago and Austin.