The phenomenon that is SAP AG is still skimming over the pain caused by the soaraway Deutsche Mark, and chairman Dieter Hopp told the annual meeting yesdterday that its business had developed very strongly again in the first five months of the year. He said the Walldorf business software specialist had enjoyed impressive growth in sales and earnings so far this year, and would have been even better if currencies had been a bit kinder. The additional advance comes on top of profit growth of 92% on sales growth of 64% last year: actual numbers work out at about $200m and $1,285m at the current exchange rate. Nevertheless SAP is fearful that a billowing payroll will begin to sap its strength, and it wants to rein the growth of its workforce in sharply over the next 12 to 18 months – it ballooned by over 1,000 in the first five months of the year, giving a total workforce of 6,300, and Hopp said a slowdown in new hirings was necessary to ensure smooth integration of all the newcomers. In May, SAP said first-quarter group pre-tax operating profit rose 106% on sales up 72%. The company’s rapid growth over the past two years has led to permanent changes in strategy and organisation, Hopp said, and the company is giving its corporate structure, which had previously been centralised, a more regional orientation with administrative bases in Europe, North America and Asia.
