Sybase buy gives SAP third-quarter revenue boost

SAP has announced a healthy profit and revenue increase for the third quarter, spurred by its acquistion of Sybase in May.

Third-quarter software and services revenue was €2.32bn, an increase of 20 per cent compared to the same period last year. Profit increased 12 per cent for the quarter to €501m from €447m.

SAP's $5.8bn acquisition of mobile management software provider Sybase looks an increasingly shrewd move, especially in light of the various tablets set to hit the market within the next few months.

Excluding revenues from Sybase products, SAP saw only seven per cent growth in software and related services sales for the quarter.

Aside from its success with Sybase, the German software company has performed strongest in its non-core regions. Asia Pacific revenues rose by 34 per cent to €429m, while across the Americas the firm saw a 29 per cent increase to €1.08bn.

EMEA is still the biggest region overall, with revenues of €1.5bn, representing 12 per cent growth.

Revenue for the year increased 16 per cent to €6.52bn, while profit has leaped 29 per cent to €1.38bn.

During a conference call to announce the results, Jim Hagemann Snabe, co-chief executive of SAP, was keen to talk up the potential of the firm's on-demand product line.

Snabe said that SAP intends to expand Business ByDesign around vertical markets and a partner eco-system to enable a low-cost delivery model.

However, it was clear on the call that uptake of the on-demand system has not exactly rocketed. Snabe cited two customer wins, enterprise resource planning consulting firm RJT Compuquest, which has 215 employees, and 10-man band Anthesis.

Snabe pointed out that Business ByDesign had only launched in July across six countries, and that the firm "was not going for volume so far".

"We still need to build the pipeline to get to the big numbers we have in mind," he added, declining to give any actual customer numbers.

Co-chief executive Bill McDermott also shed light on SAP's plans for Sybase during the call. He said that by next year's Sapphire Now user event, which usually takes place in May, SAP will have rolled out a single enterprise mobility platform, and released a software development kit for creating mobile applications.

"We are building out a rich developer eco-system for the mobile environment, " he added.

McDermott also played down speculation that SAP will be purchased by HP, in light of former SAP chief executive Léo Apotheker's appointment as HP chief executive.

"It's nothing more than speculative rumours. I think they've been going on for about 40 years now," he said, adding that SAP will continue to innovate and grow its business as a "strong, independent company".

McDermott also responded to Oracle chief executive Larry Ellison's call for Apotheker to testify at next week's TomorrowNow court case between Oracle and SAP.

He said that SAP assumed responsibility for any damages incurred by Oracle, and will now wait for the court to make a decision.

"We recognise that TomorrowNow, as a small company, made some mistakes. We have owned up to that," he added.