Software maker SAP posted first-quarter earnings today that came in at the top end of analysts' forecasts and stuck to its cautious forecast for the full year.
SAP said first-quarter operating profit, excluding stock-based compensation charges and acquisition costs, rose 28 per cent to €304 million ($329.8 million), within the upper end of the range of expectations.
Software licence sales, the key measure of underlying growth, fell to €352 million from €402 million, in line with expectations.
Sales in the first quarter, normally the weakest of the year, were down eight per cent at €1.5 billion.
Forecasts from 21 analysts polled by Reuters put licence sales between €325 million and €406 million at an average of €367 million, while the average forecast for overall revenues was €.658 billion.
Operating profit, excluding stock-based compensation charges and acquisition costs, was projected at a a range between €192 million and €331 million at an average of €262 million.
The group, which sells business planning software to over 19,000 customers worldwide, has been focusing on cost controls and reiterated its forecast from January that it expected to lift 2003 operating margins by around one percentage point from 2002 on moderate revenue growth.
Slower spending on information technology amid sluggish economic growth and global political uncertainty has weighed on the entire business software sector, but SAP says it has gained market share at the expense of rivals during the downturn.