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Sage chief executive retires after 17 years

This article is more than 9 years old
Guy Berruyer says there are still 'has many things I want to achieve besides my executive career'

Sage Group, the Newcastle-based FTSE 100 software firm, surprised investors by announcing that chief executive Guy Berruyer is to retire after 17 years with the company.

The shares fell 5.5% to 399p as the accounting software specialist said he was leaving for lifestyle reasons and would be gone by the end of March 2015.

"Life is about making choices, and at 63 years old I still have many things I want to achieve besides my executive career," said Berruyer.

Sage is making a difficult transition from selling software installed on computers to providing cloud based services that can be accessed from the office or on the go, and are paid for by subscription rather than one-off licence fees.

Berruyer took the helm in October 2010, succeeding Paul Walker, who had led Sage since 1994 and overseen its growth into one of Britain's largest software companies.

Analysts expressed surprised that Berruyer was stepping down before October 2015, the deadline for three-year growth targets he set for the company. David Tomas at broker Numis wrote: "With Guy having set his target at 6% growth for 2015, to retire 'by March 2015' means he will not be around to see his strategy through. After 17 years with Sage, it seems surprising that he does not want to hang on for the last few months to see if he delivers."

The news came as Sage reported half-year results in line with expectations, with underlying earnings of £180m just below City forecasts, and organic growth of 5%.

Headhunters will begin the search for a replacement, with broker Panmure Gordon tipping Pascal Houillon, head of Sage's US operations, as the most promising internal candidate, saying the American arm had moved more quickly towards a cloud-based model.

Sage chairman Donal Brydon said: "The Board understands the reasons that have led Guy to his decision and thanks him for his service to Sage. During his four years as chief executive Guy has set the company on a new path to growth, clarified the strategy and ensured performance against publicly communicated objectives. He will leave Sage in good shape for his successor with a strong team in place."

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