The Sage Group plc (SGE) Q2 2025 Earnings Call

Investor webinar replay

Replay transcript excerpt

Good morning and welcome to Sage's results for the first half of the year. I'm pleased to be joined by Jonathan Howell, our CFO. I'm going to start with an overview of our key messages for today. Sage delivered strong results in the first half as we continue to pursue our ambition to create the world's most trusted, thriving network for small and mid-sized businesses powered by Sage Copilot. We achieved stable, broad-based revenue growth across all regions, driven by a sustained double-digit increase in ARR. Discipline cost control, together with operating leverage, supported strong operating profit, margin and EPS expansion. An ongoing strength in cash conversion led to robust cash flow generation. Now this performance is underpinned by our constant focus on driving value for customers. We continue to innovate, enhancing our core products and growing our network platform. Sage Copilot, launched just over a year ago, is delivering productivity and insights to thousands of customers and we're just getting started. Sage is at the forefront of AI innovation in accountancy, HR and payroll. And our aim is to leverage this position to revolutionise productivity and decision-making for SMBs and accountants. And finally, we are executing consistently and making good strategic progress. Macroeconomic conditions are volatile and uncertain, but Sage is resilient, underpinned by our subscription-based business model and secular growth drivers. In this environment, the need for SMBs to continue to digitalise, to unlock growth, efficiency and regulatory compliance is greater than ever. And Sage is well positioned for the growing market opportunity ahead of us. And I'm confident that whatever the short-term uncertainties, we will build on our advantages and deliver further long-ter...