SAP said its fourth quarter results will come in better than expected as new initiatives such as HANA—the company’s in-memory analytics system—and mobile software showed solid progress.
The enterprise applications software giant said revenue in the fourth quarter will check in at euro 4.5 million. Wall Street was looking for euro 4.47 billion. Software revenue was up 16 percent in the fourth quarter compared to a year ago and software related service sales were up 14 percent.
In a statement, SAP touted its HANA software, which delivered 2011 revenue of euro 160 million, well ahead of the company’s goal of euro 100 million. Mobile solutions—Sybase for the most part—had 2011 revenue topping targets of euro 100 million. Bill McDermott and Jim Hagemann Snabe, co-CEOs of SAP, added that the company saw “double-digit growth across all regions” for 2011.
Operating profits and margins for SAP were hit by the company’s decision to increase sales and marketing headcount by 500 full-time employees. Total headcount for SAP was up 1,200 in the fourth quarter compared to the third quarter.
For 2011, SAP had revenue of euro 14.23 billion, up 14 percent from a year ago.
SAP reports full results Jan. 25.
