Software giant SAP reports quarterly profit rise in clouds
Berlin (AFP) - German business software giant SAP said on Monday that net profit rose in the third quarter as its cloud computing activities grew, enabling it to confirm its annual forecast.
Quarterly net profit rose to 762 million euros ($1.04 billion), up 23 percent from a year earlier at SAP, a leader in supplying software systems for industrial sites and business management.
Per share, this came to 0.64 euros, better than the 0.58 euros expected on average by analysts polled by Dow Jones Newswires.
However, the rise in revenue was less robust, with a 2.0-percent increase to 4.05 billion euros, as the dollar and the yen devalued versus the euro, said the Walldorf, Germany-based company.
"SAP had a very strong performance in the third quarter, considering the mixed macroeconomic environment and the strong currency headwinds," said chief financial officer Werner Brandt.
SAP's revenue with subscriptions and support for cloud computing, Internet-based data storage and management tripled to 191 million euros.
The company continues to see full-year operating profit of 5.85 billion to 5.95 billion euros.
Shares rose almost five percent on the news in mid-morning.
LBBW analysts praised SAP's guidance confirmation and earnings results.
"We regard SAP's success on the margin level as more important then the revenue miss which was predominantly caused by currencies," said LBBW. "We also regard the confirmed full-year forecast as positive."
