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The
Company Behind the Product When it comes to evaluating accounting software, too many evaluators dive right into the product without giving a second thought to the company behind the product. It is not prudent to disregard the stability and future of the accounting software publisher. Customers who have traveled this path before know that when you select an accounting software package, the resulting relationship is akin to a marriage. Once the product is installed, the customer becomes dependent upon the accounting publisher to supply updates for payroll taxes, sales taxes, and depreciation rates. The customer must also rely on the publisher to fix bugs, provide support, and continually enhance the product to run on the latest platforms and technologies. Like it or not, the continued success of the accounting software publisher has a direct bearing on the customer's continued success with the accounting software product. The bottom line is that some accounting software vendors have figured out the magical formula for producing top quality products, successfully distributing those products directly or through a profitable dealer channel, and supporting those products in an timely matter - all while remaining profitable and achieving a high level of customer satisfaction. Those companies that fall into this category should rate higher in your evaluation and selection process. With this in mind, presented below is an brief overview of Best Software - the company.
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1.
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Company
Name |
Best Software |
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2.
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Address,
Phone, Web Address. |
80 Technology
Drive, |
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3.
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Ownership |
Best Software is one of the divisions that form Best U.S. Operations which is held by a U.K. parent company and is publicly traded on the London Stock Exchange (Reuters: SGE.L) with annual revenues of more than $600 million |
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4.
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Latest
Product Version |
MAS
90 3.6x |
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5.
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List of
all Products Sold by Best Software. |
BusinessWorks |
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6.
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Best
Software’s
Key Management: Chief Executive Officer Executive Vice President, Customer & Channel Operations - Mid-Market Division Executive
Vice President & Chief Financial Officer |
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7.
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Brief History of MAS 90 |
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8.
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Total number of customers (companies) using MAS 90 |
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9.
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Total number of users (individuals) using MAS 90 |
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Financial Highlights and Other Company Highlights: The Sage Group plc ("Sage") unaudited results for the half-year ended 31 March 2003. Highlights
Chairman, Michael Jackson,
commented: "These results again demonstrate the resilience of
our business, and our ability to generate growth. Our key asset is
our large and growing customer base of over 3 million SMEs to
which we are able to sell an expanding portfolio of products and
services. This enables us to continue to develop the business both
organically and by acquisition. SAGE PRE-TAX PROFIT UP 11% TO £135.2 MILLION FOR YEAR ENDED 30 SEPTEMBER 2002 The Sage Group plc ("Sage") unaudited financial results for the year ended 30 September 2002. Highlights
Foreign currency results for the year ended 30 September 2001 have been retranslated at current year exchange rates to facilitate comparison of results in the table above and in the text below. *The impact of the one-off £6m (£4m after tax) expense of sponsorship of "The Sage Gateshead" is excluded here and throughout this announcement unless otherwise stated. Michael Jackson, Chairman, commented: "The Group continues to win significant numbers of new customers - more than 200,000 this year. Our strategy of marketing an expanding range of relevant products and services to our growing installed base of customers remains our clear focus. Our ability to continue to win new business
from our entry-level and mid-market customer bases, as well as to
realise the full potential of our CRM business, provides a
platform for sustained long-term growth. In addition, we will
continue to seek appropriate acquisitions in both existing and new
markets. We therefore look forward to 2003 with confidence". In each of our territories there is a
constant flow of new business formations and we are winning a
growing share of this market. Through targeted marketing activity
we attracted over 200,000 new customers to the Group during the
year, 180,000 of which were at the entry-level. A number of these
businesses will become mid-market businesses to whom we can sell
further products and services. Our customers increasingly express a preference for software solutions tailored to their particular industry. This trend presents new and substantial opportunities for the Group in terms of providing our customers with industry-specific or "vertical" solutions. In each of our businesses we have identified industry segments where we have large concentrations of customers. We are addressing the needs of these segments through the development of industry-specific versions of our core products, through close collaboration with specialist value-added resellers, and through acquisition. During the year we made good progress with MIP, acquired at the end of the last financial year, a US business dedicated to providing software and services for the large US 'not-for-profit' sector. In the US our Peachtree customer base alone includes 40,000 not-for-profit organisations, many of whom represent target customers for MIP solutions. Financials The annual impairment review of the carrying value of goodwill on acquisitions has been carried out, resulting in no impairment charges. The Group's ability to generate strong cash flow is evidenced by the fact that operating profit of £143.7m (2001: £128.4m) delivered operating cashflow of £151.2m (2001: £119.6m). At 30 September 2002 the Group had net debt of £132.8m (2001: £190.9m) with net interest covered 17 times by operating profit. US Our US business (excluding Interact) grew revenues by 10% in the year and added 80,000 new customers. Operating margins were maintained at 22%, despite the impact of the lower margin of the MIP acquisition, reflecting continued progress with the penetration of installed base products and services and the benefits arising from focusing on a smaller number of core products. Our Small Business Division performed well, delivering an operating margin of 23% (2001: 23%) on turnover which grew 10% to £71m (2001: £64m). Our market share in the important 5-25 employee business segment remains strong, and considerable progress has been made in selling support contracts into our large US customer base. At 30 September 2002 there were 224,000 support contracts (2001: 187,000). Revenues at our Mid-market, Speciality and Not-for-profit Divisions were underpinned by our success in migrating customers from our entry-level software products as well as by cross-selling specialist products, such as FAS (fixed asset management), to accounting software users. In all, 25% of new licence sales were to existing customers
Selected Financial Data:
* Foreign currency results for the year ended 30 September 2000 have been retranslated at current year exchange rates to facilitate comparison of results, in the table above and in the operational review above. Selected Quotes from Michael Jackson, Chairman: “Our businesses have continued to win significant numbers of new customers - nearly a quarter of a million - this year. Throughout the Group we continue to find new ways of selling more products and services to existing customers. Our strategy of marketing an ever-expanding product and service offering to an ever-increasing customer base remains our clear focus. As in the past, we will continue to grow our business both organically and through acquisition. Notwithstanding the current economic climate, we believe that the strength of our brands, the breadth of our product offering, the resilience of our channel and the sheer scale of our customer base provide us with a platform for sustained long-term growth. Therefore we look forward to 2002 with confidence”. "In the US, Sage has a product offering that covers the market from entry-level to mid-market. Acquisitions are being used to build the business management software solutions offering and expand the customer base." "Market conditions have been challenging and were exacerbated by disruption following September’s terrorist attacks. The market for new license sales was especially tough, but despite this our US businesses maintained their market share and the installed base business performed strongly so that revenues (excluding Interact) grew 7% over the prior year." "At the entry-level Peachtree attracted 71,000 new customers and successfully pursued a strategy of migrating customers onto new versions, additional modules, and higher-value support contracts, which has resulted in its operating margin increasing to 23% (2000: 14%). The ability to mine the Peachtree customer base for sales leads to mid-market products provides us with a unique opportunity in the US market. The first signs of the success of this are evident in that 26% of new license unit sales of the mid-market offering, MAS90 were generated from the Peachtree customer base." "Best Software offers business management software solutions outside the accounting core. It has focused its business objectives on its market-leading FAS (Fixed Asset) and Abra (Human Resources) applications and has de-emphasized its non-core products. The resulting efficiencies have improved operating margins to 21% (2000: 14%). Best is now well-placed to address the substantial opportunity to cross-sell its products to the large installed base in the US." "Acquisitions in the US have added complementary customer bases in strategically important industry-specific markets. Haitek, acquired in March, added a manufacturing module which enhances the mid-market Enterprise Suite offering. MIP, acquired in September with 5,000 customers, established a presence in, and an opportunity to consolidate, the fast-growing non-profit sector. In addition, the acquisition of Platinum For Windows in June added 6,000 mid-market accounting customers." "Our US businesses are focused not only on driving growth through new customer acquisition but also on maximizing the significant installed base opportunity in the US market. We will continue to benefit from the competitive advantage we have in covering all segments of the SME market." "The acquisition of Interact in May 2001 for £189m marked a significant step in our strategy to offer SMEs a comprehensive suite of business management software solutions, by establishing for the first time an offering in the CRM market. The two Interact products, ACT! and SalesLogix, address different needs in the marketplace. ACT! is a product used by 3 million salespeople worldwide which helps the user manage individual contacts very efficiently. SalesLogix is a comprehensive CRM suite enabling an entire organization to automate sales, marketing and customer service activities. Both products are being actively marketed to SMEs in all our markets." "In the contact management field ACT! is a bestseller with few competitors. SalesLogix, a more expensive solution, operates in a more competitive market and has suffered this year from a difficult trading environment in the mid-market. In addition, SalesLogix experienced some sales deferrals in September. Following a detailed review of the product positioning for SalesLogix, we have refocused the product offering to be more compelling to the SME market as a whole rather than just the upper end of the mid-market. The product repositioning, a simplified pricing structure and the launch of a number of innovative channel marketing campaigns are expected to stimulate revenue growth." "ACT! and SalesLogix have an estimated user base of more than 3 million. Historically, however, Interact has done very little to sell additional products and services to this substantial installed base. We are developing a range of installed base marketing campaigns to the Interact customer base, focusing in the first instance on support contracts as well as industry-specific versions of ACT! and SalesLogix. We expect this installed base activity to lead to a significant increase in revenues for Interact." "Our research confirms that there is strong demand from existing Sage customers for CRM solutions that are tightly integrated to our core accounting products. Over the last few months, we have invested considerable time and effort in building an efficient software integration tool that will allow rich integration between ACT! and Sage accounting software products. The ACT! integration tool is now complete which means that Sage operating companies are able to launch new integrated versions of ACT! In the UK, for example, the launch of Sage Contact Manager powered by ACT! is planned for March 2002." "The integration tool that will allow seamless integration between SalesLogix and our accounting products will be completed during calendar 2002. In the meantime our channel partners have access to a number of development toolkits which facilitate integration between SalesLogix and our accounting products. Links, for example, between SalesLogix and our mainstream accounting products in the US, MAS90 and Sage Enterprise, already exist and are being actively marketed to our customer base." "Drawing on our experience of integrating acquisitions and improving their operating performance, we are confident of maximizing the strategic CRM opportunity represented by Interact, not only as a stand-alone business, but also as a provider of important additional products to sell to our installed bases around the world." Source of Financial Information: RNS |
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Two-Year
Financial Information for Sage Group PLC
CONSOLIDATED PROFIT AND LOSS ACCOUNT
For the year ended 30 September 2001
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Continuing operations |
2001 |
2000 |
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(unaudited) |
Acquisitions (unaudited) |
Total (unaudited) |
Total (audited) |
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£’000 |
£’000 |
£’000 |
£’000 |
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Turnover |
460,582 |
23,555 |
484,137 |
412,153 |
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Cost of sales |
(49,694) |
(1,037) |
(50,731) |
(43,066) |
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Gross profit |
410,888 |
22,518 |
433,406 |
369,087 |
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Selling and administrative expenses |
(282,658) |
(22,367) |
(305,025) |
(257,205) |
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Operating profit |
128,230 |
151 |
128,381 |
111,882 |
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Interest receivable |
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3,192 |
3,139 |
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Interest payable and similar charges |
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(10,256) |
(6,273) |
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Profit on ordinary activities before taxation |
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121,317 |
108,748 |
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Taxation on profit on ordinary activities |
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(37,609) |
(34,799) |
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Profit on ordinary activities after taxation |
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83,708 |
73,949 |
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Equity minority interest |
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32 |
71 |
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Profit for the financial year |
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83,740 |
74,020 |
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Equity dividends |
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(5,515) |
(4,898) |
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Amount transferred to reserves |
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78,225 |
69,122 |
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Earnings per share (pence) - basic |
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6.59p |
5.92p |
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Dividend per share (pence) |
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0.425p |
0.386p |
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2001 (unaudited) £’000 |
2000 (audited) £’000 |
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Fixed assets |
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Intangible assets |
836,329 |
540,422 |
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Tangible assets |
51,208 |
46,504 |
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887,537 |
586,926 |
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Current assets |
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Stocks |
2,308 |
2,489 |
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Debtors |
95,248 |
85,369 |
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Cash at bank and in hand |
42,764 |
66,417 |
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140,320 |
154,275 |
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Creditors: amounts falling due within one year |
(138,479) |
(110,178) |
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Net current assets |
1,841 |
44,097 |
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Total assets less current liabilities |
889,378 |
631,023 |
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Creditors: amounts falling due after more than one year |
(237,585) |
(78,472) |
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Deferred income |
(112,809) |
(98,066) |
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Equity minority interest |
(62) |
(94) |
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538,922 |
454,391 |
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Capital and reserves |
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Called up equity share capital |
12,725 |
12,680 |
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Share premium account |
437,671 |
432,690 |
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Merger reserve |
61,111 |
61,111 |
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Profit and loss account |
27,415 |
(52,090) |
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Equity shareholders’ funds |
538,922 |
454,391 |
- END -
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