Sage North America announced 500 job cuts as the accounting software developer’s U.K. parent company posted revenue declines.

Sage North America, which develops the Peachtree, Accpac, Act, MAS, FAS, and SalesLogix lines of software, said the 500 cut positions included both employees leaving the company and unfilled positions that will remain that way.

The Sage Group plc reported global revenues of $1.11 billion for the half year ended March 31, 2009, and earnings before interest, taxes and amortization of $249.2 million. Those two figures represented decreases of 3 percent and 6 percent, respectively, over the same prior-year period, at constant exchange rates.

Sage North America’s revenue for the half year ended March 31, 2009 was $450.5 million, and its EBITA was $79.0 million. Those figures both represented 9 percent decreases over the same prior-year period. Overall North American EBITA margins remained at 18 percent compared to 2008, including one-time charges for company restructuring, and increased to 20 percent without these charges.

“Despite a general weakening in the market, we continue to experience bright spots, with significant operational and financial improvement in our health care business, growth in serving the nonprofit sector, and substantial year-over-year improvements in selling our payment solutions to customers of our software product lines,” Sage North America president and CEO Sue Swenson (pictured) said in a statement.