Sage on the bounce back
EVEN Sage, whose steady climb in global software markets had previously been almost uninterrupted, was challenged in recession.
Despite being Britain’s largest software group, it still had to restructure its North American division to plug a sales hole, and shed 700 jobs out of 14,600, including 1,200 in the UK.
Around 200 of the jobs lost were in Newcastle. However, it stripped more than £54m from its costs in 2009 and is investing £174.6m in ongoing research. It is also recruiting again following a rise in contract renewals among its six million customers.
Despite the adversities, Sage now rises one place to fifth in the 200 – in a year when Paul Walker, 52, is stepping down as chief executive after 26 years with the company, 16 of which were in key posts.
One of the longest serving chiefs of a FTSE-100, he is after fresh challenges, which should not be lacking.
Walker, North East Business Executive of the Year in 2004, trained as a chartered accountant with Arthur Young. He joined Sage and worked on the 1987 flotation before rising through the ranks. The acquisitions he made have made the group a global leader in its sector.
Next year, Sage may show benefits from difficulties rival firm Intuit has met. Unlike Sage, the Californian company embraced a new platform called Cloud early on, which has data stored on external servers. Problems with the system, however, angered many of its 300,000 small business subscribers.
Meanwhile, Sage is bidding £41m for a Polish software firm, and seeks further buys in Eastern Europe. Walker’s successor, once installed, should get off to a good start against the competition, be it Intuit or whoever.
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