Sage Group in £232 million Sage Pay sale

A North East software firm is selling a secure payment platform in a £232 million deal.

Sage Group is offloading its Sage Pay operation to global payments company Elavon.

Bosses at Newcastle-based Sage expect the deal to be completed in the second quarter of the 2020 financial year, with the business anticipating a £180 million statutory profit upon disposal.

Officials added Sage Pay, which provides gateway services across the UK and Ireland, will remain an important partner for Sage after the sale is finalised.

For the year ended September 30, 2018, Sage Pay had revenue of £41 million and operating profit of £15 million.

Steve Hare, Sage chief executive, said: “Our vision of becoming a great software as a service company for customers and colleagues alike means we will continue to focus on serving small and medium-sized customers with subscription software solutions for accounting and financials and people and payroll.

“Payments and banking services remain an integral part of Sage’s value proposition and we will deliver them through our growing network of partnerships, including Elavon.”

He added completion of the deal remains subject to Elavon – a wholly-owned subsidiary of U.S. Bancorp – obtaining regulatory approval from the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System in the US, as well as the Central Bank of Ireland.