The Sage Group plc

Good morning, everyone, and welcome to Sage's Q1 Trading Update. I'll briefly run through the key numbers and the performance of the business. And after that, we can open for Q&A. Sage has made a strong start to the year, delivering revenue growth in line with our expectations. Total revenue for the group increased by 10% to 612 million. driven by broad-based growth across all regions. In North America, revenue grew by 11% to $279 million, with a good performance in Sage Intact, together with continuing growth in Sage 200 and Sage 50. In the UKIA region, revenue grew by 9% to $176 million, This was driven by strong progress in Sage Intact, together with further success in Sage Accounting, Sage Payroll, and Sage 50. And in Europe, revenue increased by 8% to 157 million, with a strong performance across our accounting, HR, and payroll solutions.

Turning now to the main performance drivers,

Sage business cloud revenue grew by 13% to just over 500 million, reflecting good strategic progress as we further expand our global cloud solutions. Within this, cloud native revenue grew by 22% to 208 million. And importantly, growth remained well balanced between new and existing customers. Recurring revenue increased by 10% to 595 million, driven by continued momentum in ARR. This includes subscription revenue growth of 12%, resulting in subscription penetration of 83%. On an organic basis, total revenue increased by 9% to 611 million. And finishing on the outlook, with first quarter growth in line with our plan, we reiterate our guidance for the full year. Organic total revenue growth is expected to be 9% or above. And we expect operating margins to trend upwards in FY25 and beyond. And so in summary, SAGE has made a strong start to the year as we continue to execute on our strategy and focus on delivering sustainable, efficient growth.