German ERP giant SAP AG saw a 43% increase in revenues to $1.25bn in the third quarter of this year, according to preliminary figures released on Friday. It also said that growth in pre-tax profits was slightly higher than that in revenues during the quarter. The company had said in mid-year that its business had been hit harder by the Asian crisis than it had expected, and this had impacted its performance in the first six months of the year. The company also said, when releasing its first-half figures, that it was expecting a slowdown in demand for Y2K rectification work. The figures released show that, while still enjoying significant growth in the third quarter, the rate at which revenues were growing slowed in comparison with the first half. Analysts at investment bank CSFB commented that, after the mid-year warnings of negative factors impacting the company’s performance, they had downgraded their forecast for third-quarter revenue growth from 50% to 33%, so that Friday’s figure was actually an improvement on their latest prediction. This may have contributed to the company’s share performance too, as it closed up 10% at DM605 ($378). Full results for the third quarter are to be released October 20.
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