The Register®

Original URL: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/07/29/sap_q2_2008/

BO buy takes bloom off SAP Q2

But ERP giant dodges economic stormclouds

By Christopher Williams

Posted in Financial News, 29th July 2008 11:21 GMT

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SAP weathered the intensifying economic storm to post solid second quarter results this morning that showed the German business software giant beating market expectations.

The tricky [1] acquisition and integration of Business Objects depressed net profits 9 per cent compared to a year earlier, at €408m. That's a softer blow than many had expected however, and SAP was able to tweak its guidance towards the upper end of estimates.

On a non-GAAP basis, ignoring the Business Objects costs, net profits were up 8 per cent on Q2 2007 to €494m.

Total revenue for the three months to June 30 was up 18 per cent to €2.86bn. SAP's core software and software-related services business' revenues rose 21 per cent to €2.06bn. Full results are available here [2].

The strong showing has sent SAP shares up 6.83 per cent [3] at time of writing.

Good news will be welcome in the firm's boardroom as Oracle turns the heat up [4] in its long-running intellectual property theft lawsuit and user groups complain [5] about enforced price rises. ®