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sage Trading update for the three months ended 31 December 2020 The Sage Group plc ( the “ Group ” ) is today issuing its trading update for the three months ended 31 December 2020 . Financial performance Organic¹ Revenue Mix Q1 FY21 £ m Q1 FY20 £ m Growth £ m % Revenue by Category Recurring Revenue £ 408m £ 390m + £ 18m + 4.7 % Other Revenue ( SSRS² & Processing ) £ 39m £ 51m - ₤ 12m -24.0 % Organic Total Revenue £ 447m £ 441m + £ 6m + 1.4 % Portfolio View of Recurring Revenue Future Sage Business Cloud opportunity £ 366m £ 345m + ₤ 21m + 6.2 % Non - Sage Business Cloud £ 42m £ 45m - £ 3m -7.2 % Recurring Revenue £ 408m £ 390m + £ 18m + 4.7 % Sage performed in line with expectations in the first quarter , against strong comparators , driven by successful strategic execution . Recurring revenue increased by 4.7 % to £ 408m , supported by software subscription growth of 11.3 % to £ 303m ( Q1 20 : £ 272m ) . As a result , subscription penetration increased to 68 % ( FY20 : 65 % ) . Regionally , North America achieved growth in recurring revenue of 6.4 % to £ 160m ( Q1 20 : £ 150m ) driven principally by a good performance from Sage Intacct . In Northern Europe recurring revenue increased by 3.3 % to £ 96m ( Q1 20 : £ 93m ) , reflecting mainly momentum in cloud connected , together with growth in cloud native solutions . Performance in other regions was largely in line with expectations . In terms of the portfolio view of recurring revenue , the Future Sage Business Cloud Opportunity ( products within , or to be migrated to , Sage Business Cloud ) grew by 6.2 % to £ 366m . This was underpinned by strong growth in cloud native revenue of 26.7 % to £ 63m ( Q1 20 : £ 50m ) , primarily through new customer acquisition , and further growth in cloud connected . Sage Business Cloud penetration increased to 64 % ( FY20 : 61 % ) . In line with our plans to drive further growth in recurring revenue , we are progressively increasing investment in product development and sales and marketing during FY21 , with a particular focus on cloud native solutions . As previously indicated , we may flex the level of this investment during the course of the year , in response to trading conditions . Other revenue ( SSRS and processing ) decreased by 24.0 % to £ 39m , a similar rate of decline to that seen in FY20 . This reduction is in line with Sage's strategy to transition away from licence sales and professional services revenue , and to increase the Group's focus on subscription revenue . Total Group revenue increased by 1.4 % to £ 447m . 1 All numbers throughout this document are organic . Organic results exclude contributions from assets held for sale . Full definitions are available in the FY20 results announcement 2 Software and software - related services