FRANKFURT, Germany - Software maker SAP AG said Wednesday its profit slipped in the fourth quarter even as sales edged higher, and forecast revenue growth from software sales and services of about 14 percent in 2008.
The Walldorf-based company, whose programs help companies do back-office work such as payroll, inventory management and accounting, said its net profit in the October-December period fell 6 percent to 756 million euros ($1.1 billion) from 804 million euros a year earlier. Its total revenue rose 10 percent to 3.2 billion euros ($4.7 billion).
Of its sales, the company said that its software and software-related service revenue in the quarter rose 13 percent to 2.5 billion euros ($3.7 billion) from 2.2 billion euros a year ago. Its software sales rose 14 percent to 1.4 billion euros ($2 billion) from 1.2 billion euros.
For all of 2007, the company posted a profit of 1.9 billion euros ($2.8 billion), up 3 percent from 1.87 billion euros in 2006. Total sales rose 9 percent to 10.2 billion euros ($15 billion) compared with nearly 9.4 billion euros in 2006.
Of the sales total, software and software-related service revenue rose 13 percent to 7.4 billion euros ($10.9 billion) from 6.6 billion euros in 2006. Software sales also rose 13 percent to 3.4 billion euros ($5 billion) from 3 billion euros.
"The outstanding performance reflects the continued success we are seeing in SAP's established business, which will continue to be the foundation for growth heading into 2008 and beyond," chief executive Henning Kagermann said in a statement. "We expect new innovations like SAP Business ByDesign to help us capture tremendous opportunities in untapped segments in the midmarket, to augment growth going forward."
He added that the acquisition of France's Business Objects last year in a 4.8 billion euro ($7 billion) friendly takeover "makes us the clear leader in business performance optimization products."
"This will help us further penetrate the fast-growing business user segment and will be another driver of growth as we move ahead," he said.
Shares of SAP rose 0.7 percent to 31.67 euros ($46.79) on Wednesday in Frankfurt.
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