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Sage 'not firing more people'

Sage has confirmed that it has shed around 200 jobs from its Newcastle headquarters since the beginning of the year. Chief Executive Paul Walker added that the company would “absolutely not” be seeking any further cuts.

The company, which invited all of its 2,200 UK staff to apply for voluntary redundancy earlier this year, revealed the figures as it announced its financial results for the six months to the end of March. It said the redundancy programme was almost complete.

Mr Walker said: “In Newcastle we are down about 200 people. This has all been on a voluntary basis and there have been no compulsory redundancies. They have all now left the business. About 700 people have left worldwide since 1 October, from 14,500 employed across the group.”

He said there would “absolutely not” be any further redundancy announcements affecting Sage’s headquarters in Gosforth, Newcastle, which now employs around 1,400 people following the cuts.

Mr Walker said: “When we moved into North Park five years ago, we had nearly 900 people. Our staff numbers increased as the economy boomed. But we still have significantly more people now than when we moved in.”

Sage, which makes accountancy software for small and medium-sized businesses, said it had turned in a ‘resilient’ performance in ‘challenging’ conditions for the first half of its financial year.

Its revenues increased by 17% to £748.4m, helped by the weak pound and the strong dollar.

The group said it had cut annual costs by almost £50m worldwide, including £5.8m from its UK division.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .