Sage's first-half results were more or less in line with forecasts, but currency headwinds and the departure of Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Guy Berruyer are causes for concern, according to Numis Securities.

The broker maintained a 'hold' rating and 420p target price for the accountancy software stock.

"It feels like currency headwinds will push numbers down 2-3% which, coupled with the CEO departure and the relatively full [...] rating, means we think the shares could be slightly down on these results."

Constant-currency organic growth of 4.9% in the first six months of the financial year ending September "is a good result" and modestly ahead of the consensus forecast of 4.7%, Numis said.

"However, currency is slightly more of a headwind than we forecast which leads the absolute numbers to be all slightly below our expectations despite us trimming these down at the end of March."

CEO Berruyer reiterated his target for 6% growth next year, but separately announced that he will be retiring by March 2015 which means that "he will not be around to around to see his strategy though", according to Numis.

"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 stock was 5.4% lower at 399.12p by 11:29.

BC

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