SAP's Q3 profits sliced in half

Software giant's revenue continues to rise despite plummeting operating profits

German software giant SAP's operating profits took a battering in the firm's third fiscal quarter as they tumbled year on year by 48 per cent.

For the three months to 30 September, the vendor saw operating profits fall to €921m (£749m) on revenue that rose 16 per cent to €3.4bn.

Despite the sinking income, SAP claims that it is still on track to meet its full-year financial outlook.

Software revenue rose by 17 per cent compared to 2011's third quarter and stood at more than €1bn. The vendor recorded triple-digit growth in its cloud, SAP HANA and mobile areas over the same period.

In September, SAP shelled out $306m to Oracle to end a legal spat in which Oracle alleged that SAP's subsidiary TomorrowNow wrongfully downloaded millions of Oracle files.

Werner Brandt, SAP's chief financial officer, said that the firm is still on course to meet its 2012 targets.

He said: "I am pleased with SAP's overall performance in the third quarter. This is the 11th consecutive quarter of double-digit... software-related service revenue growth for SAP.

"We continued to invest in our cloud business in the third quarter. We remain focused on operating discipline and remain confident in our full-year outlook."