SAP boost as sales surge in fourth quarter

FRANKFURT: Germany's SAP, the world's biggest maker of business software, yesterday reported a better than expected rise in fourth-quarter sales and profits.

The company attributed the strong performance to demand for its biggest software products and growing demand for its HANA offering - which allows companies to analyse business data quickly - and said it had won market share overall.

Expectations had as well been dimmed by poor quarterly results from SAP's big rival Oracle last month, sending shock waves across the research sector as investors feared they may have overestimated the resilience of corporate tech spending in a deteriorating global economy.

SAP's sales of software and related services, which are key to future lucrative maintenance revenue streams, rose 12pc from a year ago to 3.72bn euros in the fourth quarter.

SAP last month agreed to buy SuccessFactors for $3.4bn to keep up with rivals in the frenzied race for cloud computing business. SAP had raised its sales outlook on the deal, saying its revenue could easily reach 21bn euros by 2015, about 1bn euros more than expected. Its 2012 revenues will be diluted by the purchase, nevertheless there will be a positive impact from 2013 on.