Published by Global Banking & Finance Review®
Posted on November 19, 2025
2 min readLast updated: January 20, 2026
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Sage's profit rose 16% as it integrated AI into its products, enhancing customer efficiency. The company announced a share buyback and dividend increase.
LONDON (Reuters) -Britain's Sage reported a 16% rise in underlying operating profit on Wednesday after it grew both its top line and its margin, and said it expected another year of progress as its customers benefit from AI capabilities in its products.
The company, which supplies accountancy and payroll software to small and medium sized businesses, announced a share buyback of up to 300 million pounds ($393 million) and a 7% increase in its dividend, which it said reflected confidence in its prospects.
Chief Executive Steve Hare said the company had deployed its AI-powered Sage Copilot, underpinned by its own domain-specific large language models, to about 150,000 customers.
"I've spoken to customers who've told me that it's saving them 10-12 hours a week of admin, and that's time that they can use to really focus on growing their businesses," he said.
Shares in Sage rose 3.7% in morning deals.
The company reported a 10% rise on an organic basis in annualised recurring revenue to 2.57 billion pounds ($3.37 billion) for the year to end-September, and a 16% rise in underlying profit to 600 million pounds.
($1 = 0.7627 pounds)
($1 = 0.7627 pounds)
(Reporting by Paul Sandle; editing by Sarah Young)
Artificial Intelligence (AI) refers to the simulation of human intelligence in machines programmed to think and learn. It enables systems to perform tasks that typically require human intelligence, such as understanding natural language and recognizing patterns.
Operating profit is the profit a company makes from its core business operations, excluding any income derived from non-operational activities such as investments or sales of assets.
A share buyback occurs when a company purchases its own shares from the marketplace, reducing the number of outstanding shares. This can increase the value of remaining shares and is often seen as a sign of confidence in the company's future.
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