SAP - Der Koloss wankt ( Seite 3)

SAP First-Quarter Net Income Rises 11% on U.S., Asia (Update1)
April 21 (Bloomberg) -- SAP AG, the world`s largest maker of business-management software, said first-quarter profit rose 11 percent as the company gained market share and increased sales in the U.S. and Asia.

Net income rose to 254 million euros ($332 million) from 229 million euros a year earlier, the Walldorf, Germany-based company said in a PR Newswire statement today. License revenue, a measure of future growth, gained 17 percent to 434 million euros.

The U.S. is one of SAP`s fastest-growing regions as the company focuses on taking business from Oracle Corp., which closed in on SAP with its $10.3 billion acquisition of PeopleSoft Inc. To retain its lead in the market for software that helps clients manage tasks such as tracking inventory, SAP wants to hire 3,000 people this year, bolster research spending and add products.

``The continued strength of SAP`s results is just another example of how far we have distanced ourselves from other software companies, and the gap continues to widen,`` Chief Executive Henning Kagermann said in the statement.

The company was projected to have net income of 249 million euros on license revenue of 412 million euros, according to the median estimate of 12 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg News.

U.S. Gains

Software revenue in the U.S. increased 27 percent to 131 million euros, while license revenue growth in Asia rose 41 percent to 65 million euros, SAP said. In Europe, SAP`s biggest region by sales, license revenue rose 9 percent to 215 million.

``The U.S. side of the business is so much more agile than Europe, where a recovery is a more gradual process,`` said SES Research analyst Felix Ellmann, who rates SAP ``marketperform.`` He spoke in an interview before the earnings announcement.

SAP is trying to wrest clients from Oracle by telling them the acquisition of PeopleSoft has created uncertainty about the future of some software they use. Oracle last month rebuffed SAP`s foray into its home market by trumping SAP`s bid for Retek Inc., a U.S. maker of retail software.

Oracle`s purchase of PeopleSoft in January made it the No. 2 vendor of business-management software behind SAP, which counts PepsiCo Inc. and Porsche AG among its 26,150 customers worldwide.

Software makers typically generate the least license revenue in the first quarter as customers spend more of their budgets toward the end of the year. In 2004, SAP generated 42 percent of its annual license revenue in the fourth quarter.

SAP reiterated a forecast for license sales to rise between 10 percent and 12 percent this year, the fastest growth since 2000. Its operating margin excluding stock-based compensation and acquisition-related costs is expected to rise as much as 0.5 percentage point this year, half the rate of last year`s growth.

Kagermann, 57, will hold a conference call for analysts at 3 p.m. Frankfurt time to discuss the results.



To contact the reporter on this story:
Benedikt Kammel in Berlin at bkammel@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editors responsible for this story:
Lars Klemming at lklemming@bloomberg.net or
Zimri Smith at zsmith@bloomberg.net.
Last Updated: April 21, 2005 01:15 EDT





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