Having by acquisition established a US operation rather more successful than most such adventures by UK companies, Sage Group Plc’s primary target is the continental Europe, and on Friday it announced that it had spent a very substantial 40.1m British pounds for KHK Software AG in Germany. The Frankfurt company is billed as the largest supplier of branded accounting software in the country. It was founded in 1983 and employs 295 people. The 1996 figures are not yet out, but it did 2.2m pounds pre-tax after non-recurring charges on sales of 27.6m pounds in 1995, and in December that year, net assets were 6.2m pounds. The purchase marks the Newcastle-upon-Tyne UK accountancy software market leader’s first foray into Germany, and also gives it offices throughout Switzerland and Austria. The deal was financed via a 40m pounds unsecured loan facility that is good for five years, but with no penalty for early repayment.
