Best Software Reports Record Revenue and Profits for Fiscal Year 2002
Total revenue for The Sage Group’s US businesses for the year ended September 30, 2002, was $409 million, and operating income was $85 million, increases of 22 percent and 29 percent, respectively, over the same period of the prior year.

Irvine, Calif. - December 03, 2002 - Best Software, Inc., today announced that its UK-based parent company, the Sage Group plc, reported revenues of $815 million for the fiscal year ended September 30, 2002, an increase of 14 percent over the prior fiscal year. Operating Income for fiscal year 2002 was $212 million, an increase of 12 percent over the prior year, and earnings per share increased 11 percent over the prior year to $0.11.

Total revenue for The Sage Group’s US businesses for the year ended September 30, 2002, was $409 million, and operating income was $85 million, increases of 22 percent and 29 percent, respectively, over the same period of the prior year.

“These strong results for Sage worldwide have been largely driven by our ongoing focus on marketing our broad range of leading products and services to new and existing customers, along with our continuing ability to add value to acquisitions,” said Sage Chairman Michael Jackson.

“Operating results for our US businesses were particularly encouraging, with continued double -digit growth in both revenue and operating income,” said Ron Verni, Best Software president and CEO. “Operating margins improved from 20 percent to 21 percent as a result of our increasing focus on product cross-selling via our nationwide network of 6,600 business partners to our substantial installed base of more than 1.7 million customers (excluding Interact). In particular, our emphasis on customer upselling was supported by the ongoing success of our effort to migrate additional Peachtree customers to our MAS 90 product.”

All dollar amounts for The Sage Group plc were calculated at an exchange rate of 1.47642 for U.S. dollars per GBP for fiscal 2002.

About Best Software
Best Software offers leading business management products and services that give over 1.7 million small and mid-sized customers in North America the insight for success throughout the life of their business. Its parent company, The Sage Group plc (London: SGE.L), supports three million customers worldwide and has revenue of $815 million. For more than 25 years, Best Software has delivered easy-to-use, scalable and customizable applications through its portfolio of leading brands, including Abra, ACT!, CPASoftware, FAS, MAS 90, MIP, Peachtree and SalesLogix, among many others. For more information, please visit the Web site at www.bestsoftware.com/moreinfo or call (866) 308-BEST.

Products Offered

MAS 90 & 200 MAS 90 is an industry-leading accounting, distribution, manufacturing and e-business management software solution for small to medium-sized companies with 10 to 500 employees. Recommended by more CPAs than any other application in its class, this product suite offers a broad selection of feature-rich modules that empower customers with the ability to manage and grow their businesses more effectively. A more powerful addition to the product line is MAS 200. This client/server application incorporates thin-client technology, resulting in more efficiently distributed processing, high performance, enhanced data integrity and reliability, remote access support, and scalability. MAS 200 is also available on the Microsoft SQL Server 7.0 database management platform.

MAS 500 MAS 500 (formerly Best Enterprise Suite) is a highly reliable, robust and integrated series of applications covering all areas of business for the enterprise of 20 to 1,000 employees. These areas include customer relationship management (CRM), accounting and financials, project accounting, distribution, manufacturing, human resources, payroll, enterprise reporting, and electronic commerce. Built from the ground up for the needs of an integrated enterprise, MAS 500 is flexible, scalable and full-featured to deliver a total business management solution.

HR & Timekeeping Best Software is an industry leader in delivering powerful, easy-to-use human resource and payroll management solutions. HR & Payroll solutions from Best Software offer a wide variety of affordable solutions to meet your organization's changing business needs and daily operations. With solutions that include comprehensive payroll processing; recruiting; training and benefits administration, Best Software can help you get the best results from these elements of your operations.

CRM Products Business begins and ends with your customers, and your ability to follow through on requests and communicate in a timely, consistent manner can make or break your chances for success. To that end, software industry analysts are predicting that customer contact and relationship management will become the largest growth segment in the software market, and will have a lasting impact on how companies conduct business in the future. Best Software understands that the way you connect with your customers is one of the most important aspects of your business. That's why Birdwell & Associates has made it our business to integrate customer relationship management (CRM) systems that are designed to help you keep your customers satisfied.

Services Offered

Client Support Services Birdwell & Associates and Best Software offer support solutions that ensures that you can be secure in your investment, and in running your business. The cooperation between vendor and partner offers you a collaborative support solution - balancing the service of Birdwell & Associates and Best Software.

Training Training is essential to realizing the value of your solution, increasing its productivity benefits and speeding a return on your investment. We make it easy for you to develop the skills you need to become productive as quickly as possible by including basic training features within your implementation plan. Once you've learned how to use your solution, you can boost productivity through continuing education opportunities from classroom, to CD-ROM, to the Internet, to highly personalized on-site training. With Birdwell & Associates, you'll find training where and when you need it.

Web Design We know from our extensive experience and expertise, the key to success in any web project is in the planning phase. Your web development process will begin with a complete analysis and detailed design proposal prior to the actual production and implementation of your site. Our experts can seamlessly integrate the web shopping cart with the back office distribution system to eliminate the double-entry of transaction data.

Management Consulting Services Consultants can give many complicated answers when asked what they do. Our answer is simple - We look at business through our clients’ eyes, and we do whatever it takes to help them achieve their business goals and overcome their daily challenges. For detailed information on our service areas, click here. (For industry-specific information, use the "Solutions" link on the main menu.)