WALLDORF, Germany (AFP) - SAP, the world's leading maker of business software, said a strong performance of its European activities helped boost earnings in the third quarter, which came out higher than analysts' expectations.
SAP said in a statement Thursday that its net profit grew by 15 percent to 291 million euros (366 million dollars) in the period from July to September and operating profit was up 12 percent at 475 million euros on an eight-percent increase in revenues to 1.776 billion euros.
Software revenues, the most important yardstick for measuring SAP's performance, were up by 13 percent at 491 million euros.
All the key figures beat analysts' expectations and investors appeared happy, too.
On the Frankfurt stock exchange, SAP shares were the biggest gainers in late morning trade, showing a plus of 2.91 euros or 2.24 percent at 132.90 euros.
"It's been an excellent quarter," JP Morgan analyst John Segrich, underlining the group's "solid performance" in Europe.
SAP, too, was pleased with its strong performance in the Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region, where software licences were up 24 percent at 249 million euros following several quarters of stagnation.
Revenues in Germany alone grew by nine percent.
"Our activity was strong in Europe and very strong in Germany and in Britain. Those big countries largely contributed to growth in the third quarter," SAP chief executive Henning Kagermann told CNBC television.
The software giant won a number of big contracts in the July-September period, notably from Belgian brewer InBev and German specialty chemicals maker Dynamit Nobel.
In the United States, however, revenue growth tailed off, with software revenues rising by just six percent to 149 million euros, much slower than the growth of 63 percent recorded in the preceding three months.
But the German software maker was able to gain market share from arch rivals Oracle and PeopleSoft currently engaged in a bitter takeover battle.
"That has certainly helped a little," Kagermann said.
SAP reaffirmed its full-year targets, forecasting net earnings per share before exceptional items of 4.20-4.30 euros.
Full-year software revenues were expected to grow by 10 percent.
In the fourth quarter alone, traditionally SAP's strongest quarter, software licences were expected to rise by seven or eight percent.
SAP's strong numbers are likely to reassure the sector as a whole, as it continues to recover from a difficult period following the bursting of the Internet and high-tech bubble a few years ago.
US rival Oracle last month booked a 16-percent rise in bottom-line earnings in the first quarter of its current financial year and another US maker Siebel also succeeded in returning to profit in the third quarter.
Microsoft and PeopleSoft, scheduled to publish their latest quarterly earnings later on Thursday, were similarly expected to announce a rise in net profits.