Cloud, Mobile, HANA Help SAP Boost Q2 Revenue

SAP’s revenue for the second quarter grew 18 percent over the same quarter last year to ¬3.9 billion (US$4.9 billion) following record software revenue of over ¬1 billion, it reported on Tuesday.

The business software company in Walldorf, Germany, said all regions posted double-digit software revenue gains, while demand for SAP’s new offerings continued to grow.

SAP said it benefited in the cloud market from its February acquisition of cloud software company SuccessFactors, leading to a 112 percent increase year-on-year in 12 month new and upsell subscription billings for SuccessFactors on a stand-alone basis. Cloud revenue was ¬69 million in the quarter.

The company said it recorded ¬85 million in business from its in-memory platform HANA in the quarter, putting it on track to meet its forecast of at least ¬320 million for the year. Mobile revenue was ¬54 million against a target of ¬220 million for the year.

In line with preliminary estimates released earlier this month, SAP said its software revenue according to international financial reporting standards (IFRS) was about ¬1.06 billion, up by 26 percent from the same quarter last year, while software and software-related service revenue was up 21 percent to ¬3.12 billion.

The second quarter figures include revenue, profit and cash flows from SuccessFactors which were not included in the second quarter last year.

Net profit was ¬661 million up 12 percent from a year ago.

The company said it had reached the upper end of its second quarter software revenue guidance range and was at the mid-point of the guidance range for software and software-related service revenue.

Operating margins were however down at 23.6 percent from 26 percent a year earlier, because of severance expenses, the acquisition of SuccessFactors, and an increase in headcount.

The company had 60,972 employees at the end of the quarter, up by 13 percent from the same quarter last year. Some of these came from acquisitions.

SAP has forecast full-year 2012 non-IFRS software and software-related service revenue to increase in the range of 10 to 12 percent at constant currencies, which includes a contribution of up to 2 percentage points from the SuccessFactors’ business.

The company expects full-year 2012 non-IFRS operating profit to be in the range of ¬5.05 billion to ¬5.25 billion at constant currencies, which is expected to be in a similar range if SuccessFactors is excluded.

SAP said it was on track to achieve its 2015 goals, which includes a revenue target of ¬20 billion.

John Ribeiro covers outsourcing and general technology breaking news from India for The IDG News Service. Follow John on Twitter at @Johnribeiro. John’s e-mail address is john_ribeiro@idg.com