SAP income drops by 4 per cent

Dubai: SAP AG, Europe’s largest software company, today announced annual net income dropped by 4 per cent in 2009 to euro 1,789 billion due to difficult market condition.

Revenue from software and relates services dropped 3 per cent, however revenue from software alone dropped 27 percent, or about euro 1 billion.

Net income from Q4 was down 12 percent to euros727 million from euro830 million in Q4 of 2008.

However, Bill McDermott, SAP president of Global Field Operations and a member of the company’s executive board, told Gulf News he believes the company “turned the corner” in the fourth quarter. During the time, he said, SAP exceeded expectation by $200 million in software revenue. He predicted growth of 4 to 8 per cent in 2010.

“We are back to growth,” he said. “There is still a question of how much, but we are back to growth.”

Over the last few months, McDermott said the company has seen growth return to it core markets, namely the US, Uk, Germany and Australia, as well as the BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India and China) countries, the Middle East and North Africa.

McDermott said the Middle East will still be a major focus for the company, were industry experts are predicting double-digit growth.

“There are not many markets in the world that have that potential for growth. We’re hoping we can even make it a triple-digit growth story.”

SAP, which has regional offices in Dubai, is based in Walldorf, Germany. It is the fourth largest software company in the world.