SAP Rises on 1Q Results, Raised 2021 Outlook

By Maria Armental

SAP SE raised financial projections for the year, following a stronger-than-expected performance in the latest period driven by the fastest growth in new cloud business in five years, the company said.

ADRs closed at $134.43, up 1.5% for the day, and rose 4% to $140 in extended trading on the raised outlook and first-quarter performance.

The German software company now expects EUR9.2 billion to EUR9.5 billion in adjusted cloud revenue and EUR23.4 billion to EUR23.8 billion adjusted cloud and software revenue, compared with its earlier view of EUR9.1 billion to EUR9.5 billion and EUR23.3 billion to EUR23.8 billion, respectively.

SAP reports on a IFRS basis and its forecast is based on constant currencies.

The company said it still expects software licenses revenue to decline as customers turn to the "RISE with SAP" subscription offering and expects global demand to improve in the second half of the year as the pandemic recedes with the vaccine rollout.

Chief Executive Christian Klein said SAP in the March quarter saw the highest order entry growth across cloud and software in five years and posted the strongest increase in Non-IFRS operating profit and margin in a decade.

"In the mid term SAP's expedited shift to the cloud will accelerate topline growth and significantly increase the resiliency and predictability of our business," Mr. Klein said.

First-quarter profit, on a per-share basis, rose to EUR0.88 cents, or EUR1.40 as adjusted, reflecting strong contribution from Sapphire Ventures, SAP said.

Revenue, meanwhile, fell to EUR6.35 billion, from EUR6.52 billion a year earlier.

The results beat Wall Street expectations, according to FactSet.

Write to Maria Armental at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

April 13, 2021 17:53 ET (21:53 GMT)

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