WALLDORF, Germany - SAP, the world`s leading maker of business software, said Thursday it planned to pay an increased dividend of 1.10 euros (1.47 dollars) per share for 2004 compared with the previous year`s payout of 0.80 euros.
"We delivered a year of double-digit growth in software revenues, our net income increased by 22 percent," said chief financial officer Werner Brandt.
As reported at end-January, SAP was able to lift bottom-line earnings by 22 percent to 1.311 billion euros, operating profit rose by 17 percent to 2.018 billion euros and sales were up seven percent at 7.514 billion euros.
"SAP is among the few software companies that pay dividends to its shareholders and we have done so continuously since 1988 when SAP was listed on the Frankfurt stock exchange," Brandt boasted.
"Over the midterm, our goal is to pay out approximately 30 percent of net income to our shareholders."
The total 2004 payout would amount to 341 million euros, SAP added.
03/17/2005 15:42 GMT