The Sage Group (LSE:SGE) said it now expects organic total revenue growth for FY26 to be above 9% after a first half driven by execution of its AI strategy.
Underlying total revenue rose 11% to £1,363m, underlying operating profit increased 15% to £326m with an 80 basis-point margin gain to 23.9%, underlying EBITDA grew 14% to £375m and underlying cash conversion was 116%, while the group held £1.1bn of cash and available liquidity and net debt to underlying EBITDA was 2.0x.
"By embedding AI directly into our customers' day-to-day work, we are making our solutions more valuable, reinforcing our competitive advantages, and driving efficient, sustainable growth," Steve Hare, Chief Executive Officer, said.
Underlying ARR rose 11% to £2,727m, Sage Business Cloud revenue increased 15% to £1,162m with cloud native revenue up 25% to £518m, renewal rates by value were 102% and Sage Intacct delivered particularly strong momentum.
The Board raised the interim dividend 8% to 8.05p and reiterated a substantial buyback programme, with £300m announced in March now taking total H1 buybacks to £600m.
Sage said it is scaling AI across products and operations, launching Sage Copilot and multiple intelligent agents, and integrating recent acquisitions including Criterion, Akao and Doyen AI to accelerate customer adoption and time-to-value.
The group said it expects operating margins to trend upwards in FY26 as it continues to scale the business efficiently.
