
SAP’s quarter didn’t turn out quite as well as Oracle’s, its great competitor.
Oracle’s earnings in the calendar second quarter were up 25%, helped by the Sun acquisition. SAP’s profits were up 16% to $638 million (€491 million), or 52 cents a share, but not as much as the punters thought they should be and it didn’t boost its sales outlook as much as expected either.
It did say that its acquisition of Sybase should increase software and software-related services by 9%–11% this year, up from 4%–8%, with an operating margin of 30%–31% and its Q2 results, especially in the U.S., where software revenue was up 64%, seem to indicate that the spending freeze has thawed. read more