German software giant SAP said Wednesday it is projecting a further
strong improvement in sales this year from last year's record levels,
and profits were also set to rise after falling in 2012.
"We are
confident we will continue our double-digit growth momentum in 2013 and
further improve our profitability," chief financial officer Werner
Brandt said in a statement.
As reported earlier, SAP achieved
record sales in 2012, beating its full-year forecasts, even though
acquisition costs hit earnings.
Overall revenues rose by 14
percent to 16.22 billion euros ($21.6 billion) and software and
software-related sales were up 16 percent at 13.16 billion euros,
exceeding expectations for an increase of 10.5-12.5 percent.
At
the same time, operating profit fell by 17 percent to 4.06 billion
euros, impacted by acquisition-related charges, the group explained.
Bottom-line net profit was down 18 percent at 2.826 billion euros.
Growth would be fuelled by SAP's recently acquired cloud-computing activities, it said.
The
German group completed its acquisition of California-based cloud
computing company Ariba for $4.3 billion at the beginning of October.