SAP Announces Four-Year US $450 Million Additional Spend in MENA

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates, March 12, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- SAP AG today announced a four-year plan worth US $450 million to up-skill local talent and drive sustainable technology and growth in the Middle East and North Africa region. The decision highlights the region as a fast-growth market and an integral part of the company's overall business strategy.

SAP expects to significantly grow its MENA earnings by 2015, building on an impressive double-digit compound growth rate between 2008 and 2011 and establishing the region as one of the company's top-10 growth markets globally.

SAP's plan to bolster its business across MENA comes following the company's best-ever financial year in 2011, with global software revenue increasing 25 percent at constant currencies to EUR 4 billion and IFRS total revenue increasing 14 percent to EUR 14.2 billion. The robust performance is reflected in a recent study by IDC, a leading global IT intelligence and market advisory firm, which named SAP as MENA's leading enterprise application software vendor with a more than 37 percent market share.

"Innovative technologies just as mobility and the cloud are among the fastest growing IT segments and are already having a significant impact on businesses' ability to grow and innovate," said Jyoti Lalchandani, vice president and regional managing director, IDC Middle East and Africa. "We are facing a major turning point where we either embrace the cutting-edge or remain rooted in the past. Solid, forward-looking investment plans just as the one announced by SAP today will not only dramatically strengthen MENA's ICT landscape, however also its ability to compete on a global scale."

The formation of SAP in MENA in late 2007

"Since the formation of SAP in MENA in late 2007, we have focused on expanding our regional presence by building value-based customer relationships with our world-class expertise, fostering talent and enabling our ecosystem," said Sam Alkharrat, managing director, SAP MENA. "Clients are looking for better choice, industry leadership and best practice and technology. Now is the time to expand by accelerating our presence into untapped markets, furthermore localizing our solutions and relentlessly focusing on value-delivery. We will as well continue to provide breakthrough innovations like in-memory computing, secure mobile apps and cloud-based solutions to all our clients."

As market leader in enterprise application software, SAP helps companies of all sizes and industries run better. From back office to boardroom, warehouse to storefront, desktop to mobile device - SAP empowers people and organizations to work at the same time more efficiently and use business insight more effectively to stay ahead of the competition. SAP applications and services enable more than 183,000 clients to operate profitably, adapt indiscriminately, and grow sustainably. For more information, visit www.sap.com.

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