Sage to snap up US firm

Volunteers from software firm Sage UK take part in a clean up of Monkton Dene, Jarrow.

The move to acquire Intacct, which employs more than 450 people, is meant to strengthen Sage’s position in the cloud computing space and help it make further strides in the US.

Sage chief executive Stephen Kelly said: “The acquisition of Intacct supports our ambitions for accelerating growth by winning new customers at scale and builds on our other cloud-first acquisitions, strengthening the Sage Business Cloud.

“Intacct opens up huge opportunities in the North American market, representing over half of our total addressable market.”

Intacct, based in San Jose, California, reported £68m in revenue for the 12 months to June this year, 90 per cent of which is based on subscriptions.

Sage said the deal is expected to be completed “within weeks”.

The UK firm issued a trading statement alongside its takeover announcement, saying group organic revenue rose 6.3 per cent in the third quarter.

That number dropped to 5.6 per cent when including its North American Payments business which Sage sold to private equity firm GTCR last month.

It added that its results have been “positively impacted” by exchange rate movements following the Brexit vote, which sent the pound tumbling against major global currencies.

Sage has confirmed its full-year guidance, which forecasts 6 per cent organic revenue growth.