SAP has reported strong growth figures for the second quarter of 2010, driven by a return to big money deals as companies begin spending on business software again. The firm has also raised its sales outlook for the rest of the year as a result of the Sybase acquisition.
Total revenue was up 12% to €2.89bn, driven by a 17% rise in software revenue to €637m and a 16% increase in revenue from software and software-related services to €2.26bn. This was well up on analysts’ expectations of €2.14bn.
Net income at the software giant stood at €491m, up 15% year on year.
The impact of SAP’s now-completed acquisition of Sybase means that company has raised its sales guidance for the year. It now expects to increase software and software-related service revenue between 9% and 11% this year, with between 6% and 8% of that coming from SAP’s core business, co-CEO Bill McDermott said in a conference call this morning.
Figures at the company were boosted by an increase in big money deals, especially those over €5m in value, McDermott said. He added that growth in Europe was "cautious" due to the on-going economic worries, and results in Japan were muted because of the slow growing economy there. Growth in the Americas was "outstanding", McDermott added.
SAP’s other co-CEO, Jim Hagemann Snabe, said that Business ByDesign, the firm’s on-demand offering, was seeing strong adoption. "Our success in the SME segment creates a strong foundation for the new version of our on-demand platform SAP Business ByDesign. The new version will be available on time on July 31st and is ready for volume deployment in six countries," he said.
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"Our focus on customer-driven innovation is positively impacting our growth. Reaching more than 100,000 customers is a testament to the inroads we have made in expanding our volume business and our success in the small and midsized enterprise (SME) segment," he added.
