Sage escapes financial damage from ‘criminal’ data breach

Shareholders of Sage breathed a sigh of relief today as a cyber-attack did not dent the accounting software firm’s financial performance.

Revenues rose 9.3% to £1.57 billion in the year ended September, with operating profits up 9% at £427 million.

However, Sage took a £110 million hit as part of its two-year turnaround operation, which, combined with a fall in the value of the pound since the Brexit vote, dragged pre-tax profits down slightly to £275 million.

The company declined to comment on the data breach in August, which exposed the details of up to 300 corporate customers, saying it was the subject of an “ongoing criminal investigation”.

Two days after news of the hack, a 32-year-old worker from Sage was arrested at Heathrow on suspicion of conspiracy to defraud.

Asked about potential reputational damage, chief executive Stephen Kelly said: “Our first port of call when it happened was to communicate with our customers… and I think they respect us for that.”

Shares in the FTSE 100 group rose 7.5p to 683p.