The Sage Group PLC's (LSE:SGE) share price got a big lift this morning after the software company said it would kick off an up to £350 million share buyback programme.
The share buyback started today and will last until 23 April, the company said.
In a statement, the UK enterprise software provider said the buyback reflects the board’s “confidence in Sage’s future prospects”.
Sage has also proposed a final dividend of 12.75p, increasing its full-year dividend to 19.3p, up from 18.4p per share a year ago.
The company reported a 12% rise in total revenue to more than £2.18 billion for the year ended 30 September 2023.
It grew turnover across its business cloud and cloud native platforms but said sales of products with the potential to migrate within the business cloud segment fell.
Sage reported a 14% decline in operating profit on a statutory basis to £315 million on a margin of 14.4%, representing a 4.5 percentage point slide.
It reported basic earnings per share of 20.7p, down from 25.5p.
Sage said that in 2024 it expects to generate organic revenue growth in line with fiscal 2023, and operating margins are expected to trend upwards as it focuses on scaling.
Sage’s chief executive officer Steve Hare said: "Small and mid-sized businesses are continuing to digitalise, despite the macroeconomic uncertainty. We are building a resilient platform to deliver sustained, efficient growth, and I am confident that Sage is well positioned to take advantage of the market opportunity in 2024 and beyond."
Sage’s share price, which passed the 1,000p mark for the first time in September before falling back, had leapt more than 12% by 11 am to 1,126p.