Pegasus makes inroads into Sage dealerships in Capital Gold coup

Pegasus is claiming that it has recruited up to 70 of Sage?s key dealers to sell its 32-bit package, Capital Gold, as it looks to break its rival?s stranglehold on the accounting market.

The latest addition to Pegasus? Capital family is aimed at single-user, small business and legacy networks users. It is pitched at the low-end market below Sage?s Opera product.

Chris Leak, Pegasus sales and marketing director, said: ?Sage claims to have 2,000 resellers, but most of them have to discount the product, so there?s no margin.

?We want to offer these people margin by putting them in a non-competitive situation with a flexible product and excellent support.?

But Paul Walker, Sage group chief executive, said: ?I don?t believe a word of it. We spend half Pegasus? revenue on marketing and have an extremely loyal dealer base.?

Leak said Pegasus wanted to have about 200 resellers fully accredited by the end of the next quarter.

The product will be sold through distribution.

According to Jyoti Banerjee, managing director of Tate Bramald Consultancy, the product is not a serious threat to Sage?s installed Sovereign/ Sterling base, but it could make significant inroads into vertical markets.

?Resellers in this space aren?t going to just desert Sage, but there?s certainly room for both. But the visual basic functionality of Pegasus may give them a headway in a vertical space,? said Banerjee.