Sage director offloads shares

Guy Berruyer, chief executive of the accounting software giant Sage's European and Asian operations, netted a cool £132,000 today when he offloaded a slice of his stake in the group.

He sold 75,000 shares at 176.1p a time, but still has about 300,000.

Unlike many company directors who have sold shares in recent months, Berruyer won't have been rueing losses on the sale, because shares in Sage are only down 20% on the year, a relatively good performance in the current market.

Subscribe to MoneyWeek

Subscribe to MoneyWeek today and get your first six magazine issues absolutely FREE

Get 6 issues free

Sign up to Money Morning

Don't miss the latest investment and personal finances news, market analysis, plus money-saving tips with our free twice-daily newsletter

Don't miss the latest investment and personal finances news, market analysis, plus money-saving tips with our free twice-daily newsletter

Sign up

The sale of the shares comes soon after Sage said said enduring strength in subscription revenues in 2008 had counterbalanced the effects of a subdued market for software and related services.

The company expects the full year results for 2008 will be in line with management expectations.

The UK business was resilient but revenue growth in mainland Europe tailed off, as expected. Conditions in North America proved to be particularly tough, while the rest of the world experienced good growth in a market going off the boil.

Top Director Buys

Value: £1,113,800

Value: $959,000

Value: £891,091

Value: $430,350

Value: $123,690

Value: £107,980

Value: $71,700

Value: $49,100

Value: £46,620

Value: £21,750

Top Director Sells

Value: £132,075