Sage to help clients weather the crunch

May 7 2009 by Andrew Mernin, The Journal

SOFTWARE firm Sage yesterday heralded the end of its recent cost-cutting drive and vowed to beat the recession by helping its small business customers weather the economic storm.

The Newcastle firm drew a line under recent cutbacks at the firm which have seen £49.3m shaved of its annual overheads and 700 jobs lost, including 200 at its Great Park headquarters.

The group said it had now made all the cost-cutting measures needed to bolster itself in tough trading conditions and would only make further cutbacks in the event of an unexpected downturn.

Meanwhile, as the company revealed a 17% climb in half-year revenues, it said future revenues would be driven by products which cater for SMEs finding it increasingly tough to balance their books.