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SAP reports healthier Q2 2010

By | July 27, 2010, 12:04am PDT

Summary: SAP is slowly returning to double digit growth but its Q2 2010 results represent a mixed picture. High growth in the Americas was offset by sluggishness in other territories. Cost control remains tight though there is expansion in sales and marketing spend.

SAP has reported its Q2 FY2010 results. They are looking healthier than this time last year but it was something of a mixed bags with declines in professional services margin offset by improvements in software licensing and support margins combined with a continuing emphasis on cost control, despite an expansion in sales and marketing.

Key revenue and profit numbers (all stated millions euros):

As always, the devil is in the detail. It is worth noting that in the regions and under constant currency measures, software revenue in EMEA fell 9% offset by a 64% jump in revenue in the Americas and an 11% improvement in Asia Pacific year over year. Using the same method of measurement, total software and software related services (SSRS) revenue was strong in the Americas, climbing 28% in the US and 31% in the rest of the Americas.

On a sequential basis total software revenue climbed 37% overall while support revenue grew a modest 9%.

Analysts will be pleased to see a return to growth in the Americas but whether that is sustainable or not depends on many factors including macro-economic confidence. The offsetting fall in EMEA will be a concern, especially given the relative importance of SAP’s German home market.

In the press release, Bill McDermott, c0-CEO is quoted as saying: ”Customers continue to invest for growth across large, midsized and small enterprises and within many industries. We had outstanding growth in strategic markets like the U.S. and we saw continued double-digit growth in key emerging markets in Latin America and Asia.  This solid performance is due to renewed customer confidence, an ever-expanding ecosystem, as well as focused execution on our go-to-market strategy.”

Bill’s remarks do not surprise. He is the consummate sales person but is largely ’stuck’ in the US. From what I am led to understand, the company is preparing to put its foot cautiously on the Business ByDesign gas. That will mean an expansion in marketing spend as the company rolls out its go to market strategy. It is clear from this set of numbers that SAP is slowly getting customers to buy into its Enterprise Support story. I am not surprised given the relative penalties for not doing so.

I expect we will get more color on these results during the earnings call, scheduled for 9am ET.

As an aside, in the last week, both Forrester and Gartner have come out predicting significant growth in cloud computing in the coming years. Some have interpreted this as representing the demise of the traditional software business going as far as to say:

This a SaaS market dominated by vendors that sell services more than on-premise licenses. The growth is proof that the IT kings of the enterprise face the greatest potential disruption as traditional licensing models are replaced by subscription services.

I’m sure SAP along with Oracle and others would have something to say about that. Even so, the fact that subscription revenues are chugging along at a healthy 30% year over year increment will provide some cheer to SAP, even though it represented a modest 7% sequential rise.

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Dennis Howlett has been providing comment and analysis on enterprise software since 1991.

Disclosure

Dennis Howlett

Dennis Howlett is committed to maintaining the independent and opinionated stance that his writings are well known for and does not enter into contracts that would limit his freedom of expression in any way. However it is important in the interests of full disclosure to inform readers of those relationships so they can form their own judgment. This page therefore lists all Dennis Howlett’s current business relationships.

Dennis’s consulting arrangements occasionally bring him into direct or indirect business relationships with some of the companies about which he writes, and/or their competitors. Where such a relationship exists, it is disclosed at the end of any article that references the company concerned.

Dennis owns AccMan, an independently produced blog covering the professional services market, primarily focused on Europe. It is currently sponsored by selected TextLink Ads and named sponsors in the ‘Sponsored Content’ block.

He is a member of Enterprise Advocates, a loose association of consultants, and analysts who are concerned with the buyer side of the buy-sell enterprise relationship.

He is a paid contributor to IT Counts, a site dedicated to discussing technology issues as they related to ICAEW members. He also advises ICAEW on certain aspects of its member outreach programs.

He is an SAP Mentor and participates in SAP Mentor webinars. He has recently produced a guide for SAP resellers wishing to record customer videos. Other than as disclosed here, Dennis maintains no business relationship with SAP and is not financially rewarded for his role as a Mentor.

Dennis maintains relationships with a range of end user organizations and in all cases is subject to non-disclosure agreement. He has no current ‘paid for’ relationships with ITC vendors except as disclosed above although certain vendors comp travel and expenses claims. For the benefit of doubt, T&E reimbursement is a common practice among European based writers. It is often the only way we can attend important events. Even so it doesn’t impact our analysis of what vendors have to say. If you believe otherwise then feel free to ignore what is written here.

Except as mentioned above, Dennis has no other investments in any tech industry participants. This page last updated 23rd February, 2010.

Biography

Dennis Howlett

Dennis Howlett has been providing comment and analysis on enterprise software since 1991 in a variety of European trade and professional journals including CFO Magazine, The Economist and Information Week. Today, apart from being a full time blogger on innovation for professional services organisations, he is a founding member of Enterprise Irregulars and an investor in a European start-up. Prior to, Dennis was technology and tax partner in a British firm of Chartered Accountants for 10 years. Prior to that held various senior finance roles across a broad range of industries.

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