Acquisition(s)

16 November 2004

Sage enhances its North American payroll outsourcing service with acquisition
of Federal Liaison Services

The Sage Group plc ('Sage') announces that it has acquired Federal Liaison
Services, Inc. ('FLS'), based in Dallas, for an enterprise value of £9.7
million. The acquisition will be paid for in cash.

FLS is a vendor of software and information technology for the electronic
payment and reporting of tax obligations within payroll software solutions.
Revenue for the year ended 31 December 2003 was £4 .5 million, and its
operating profit was £0. 2 million.

Sage has over 200,000 payroll software customers in North America, to which it
offers an outsourced payroll service. This service collects salaries from
customers, deposits the salaries with their employees, deposits tax and other
deductions with public authorities and sends out all the associated documents
and filings. The acquisition of FLS will enhance the tax depositing and filing
part of this process.

Paul Walker, Sage Chief Executive, commented, 'Outsourced payroll is the latest
addition to our growing portfolio of automated business management products and
services for small to medium-sized businesses in North America. The
technological expertise that FLS has in payroll process and tax compliance will
help us develop payroll outsourcing as a complementary service for our payroll
customers in North America.'

All financial information calculated on the basis of £1 = $1.85

Enquiries                                                                      
                                                                               
The Sage Group plc [phone] Tulchan [phone]           
                                                                               
Paul Walker, Chief Executive            Julie Foster                           
                                                                               
Paul Harrison, Finance Director         Kirstie Hamilton                       
                                                                               
Phil Branston, Investor Relations                                              

Notes to editors

The Sage Group plc is a leading international supplier of accounting and
business management software solutions and related products and services for
small to medium-sized enterprises. Formed in 1981, Sage was floated on the
London Stock Exchange in 1989 and the Group now employs over 8,000 people
worldwide.