SAP Mena's quarterly revenue from software increases 50%

Dubai: SAP Mena announced yesterday that its second quarter revenues from software sales were double the rate seen by its parent company, SAP AG, the world's largest maker of business management software.

Sergio Maccotta, SAP Mena's managing director, said the company's revenue from software grew 50 per cent over the previous quarter.

SAP AG said that global revenue from software has increased 25 per cent.

Half of SAP Mena's growth is from new customers, Maccotta said, which he called "another healthy indicator that the market is growing". He added that the company is in line to meet an annual growth rate of 65 per cent for the next three years, a goal that Maccotta had announced earlier this year.

He said the company did not have a breakdown of revenues from individual countries or regions. However, in the Europe, Middle East and Africa, SAP AG saw a growth rate of 22 per cent in the second quarter.

SAP Mena was formed in February 2007, when SAP AG bought back the exclusive distribution rights for its software from SAP Arabia.

"Through the acquisition of its long standing exclusive partner SAP Arabia last year, SAP was able to establish itself directly in the Middle East. Since then, SAP has been busy building resource and infrastructure capability to address the regional market," said said Ranjit Rajan, a senior researcher for IDC, which monitors IT companies.

Challenge

"Unlike other regions worldwide, in the Middle East SAP does not dominate the enterprise application software market, which is a position they would be looking to challenge. It will be interesting to observe how SAP goes about building an effective channel network, which is crucial to success in this region, and managing regional skills shortage issues as their business expands," he said.