Minister Martin opens Sage’s New Localisation Centre in Dublin

And announces additional investment of €400k for Sage Data Hosting Centre

Minister for Enterprise Trade and Employment, Micheál Martin T.D. today (Wednesday 25^th April 2007) performed the official opening of the new Localisation Centre at Citywest in Dublin for the Sage Group, the largest software company in the UK. The Minister also announced the company’s additional investment in Sage’s Data Hosting Centre which doubles the size of the Centre. The Localisation Centre and European Data Centre in Dublin, supported by IDA Ireland, were established as a result of Sage’s development of global markets and to drive the company’s market-leading CRM business around the world.

Minister Martin said “I am delighted to officially open Sage’s Localisation centre today. I had the pleasure of announcing the establishment of the centre just over a year ago and would like to congratulate the company on their excellent progress in that short period of time. Sage’s activities in Dublin deepen and enhance Ireland’s capabilities in this field and it is a welcome addition to the growing list of software companies choosing Ireland to locate strategic activities.”

The Localisation Centre is an integral part of Sage’s worldwide activities and serves customers in Europe, the US, Asia, South Africa and Australia. The Centre will employ 40 knowledge intensive jobs, over 80% requiring third level qualifications in software, engineering, localisation and IT networking.

The Data Hosting Centre is a disaster recovery site and also hosts mission critical IT infrastructure for its US and European subsidiaries. The Data Centre also hosts current and future Sage Software as a Service (SaaS) based applications such as Sage CRM, Coretime and Line 50.

Liam Mullaney, Managing Director, Sage Ireland, said “Due to our increasing requirement for innovative products and solutions and our positive experience with our existing Irish operations we have decided to expand our facility in Dublin. The other major influence on our decision was the availability of people with the key skills and the advanced technical knowledge that we require. This expansion will play a strategic role in the company’s development of its global markets and is a testament to Ireland’s highly attractive business environment. It is the ideal base to provide for the growing demand for our CRM products and services”.

Sage’s Global CRM organisation was launched in October 2005 to drive the company’s market-leading CRM business around the world. Sage created this organisation to fully capitalise within the CRM market on its existing advantages in products, local service capabilities and customer base.

“No other vendor today reaches businesses with the breadth of product selection that Sage offers”, concluded Joe Bergera who was recently appointed as Senior Vice President and General Manager of Global CRM. “CRM is not bound by the taxation and jurisdictional necessities of accounting products, enabling it to cross boundaries easily. We have a unique opportunity to use our leading global position, expertise and resources to bring effective CRM solutions to businesses worldwide. This announcement demonstrates our ability to deliver our global CRM strategy at a local level, led in this instance by Sage in Ireland supported by IDA Ireland”.

Media Contacts:

Press Office - Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment. Tel:01- 6312200

Notes to editors
The Sage Group plc is a leading international supplier of accounting and business management software solutions and related products and services for small to medium-sized enterprises. Formed in 1981, Sage was floated on the London Stock Exchange in 1989 and the Group now employs over 9,000 people worldwide.

Key facts:

• 13,000 employees

• 5.2 million customers

• Advise 1.5 million customers through support contracts

• Manage over 30,000 customer calls a day

• Global network of 23,000 reseller partners and 60,000 accountants (as at 31 March 2006)

Key financial information for the full year ended 30 September 2006

• Revenues increased by 22%* to £935.6m (2005: £766.4m*)

• EBITA increased by 23%* to £249.3m (2005: £203.3m*)

• Pre-tax profit after amortization charges rose by 14% to £221.2m (2005: £193.6m)

• Adjusted earnings per share^ increased by 20% to 12.54p (2005: 10.49p)

• EBITA margin of 27% (2005: 27%*)

• Operating cash flow represented 107% of EBITA (2005: 119%)

• Proposed total dividend raised 25% to 3.59p per share (2005: 2.88p)

Foreign currency results for the year ended 30 September 2005 have been retranslated based on the average exchange rates for the year ended 30 September 2006 of $1.80/£1 and €1.46/£1 to facilitate the comparison of results. Results for 2005 have been restated in accordance with IFRS.

EPS figures stated prior to amortization of intangible assets.