StockMarketWire.com - Business software company Sage said it had agreed to sell its payments business to Elavon, a subsidiary of US Bancorp, for around £232m.

Sage said it expected to report a statutory profit on disposal of around £180m on completion.

The business would remain an important payments partner for Sage going forward, the company said.

'Our vision of becoming a great software as a service company for customers and colleagues alike means we will continue to focus on serving small and medium sized customers with subscription software solutions for accounting am financials and people and payroll,' chief executive Steve Hare said.

'Payments and banking services remain an integral part of Sage's value proposition and we will deliver them through our growing network of partnerships, including Elavon.'

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