Sage today said it will meet market expectations for the financial year to September 30. In a trading update, the company said revenues were up 14 per cent on last year to £777m and pre-tax profits were up 13 per cent to £204m. The accounting software giant will publish a full set of results on 30 November.

Sunny as this may seem, analysts say the numbers might cause some mild disappointment. The company had posted pre-tax profit gains of 16 per cent for the first half of the year, suggesting things became a little sluggish as the year wore on. ®