Germany's SAP expects a war in Iraq would hurt business for
one or two quarters but should not affect results for the whole
year, the software giant's co-head told a newspaper on
Monday."We have been assuming that the negative
impact would be limited to one or at the most two quarters,"
co-Chief Executive Henning Kagermann told business daily
Handelsblatt.
"We would perhaps have a worse quarter but the
full year would not be affected," he said.
SAP has abandoned its full-year sales forecast
for 2003, citing uncertain market conditions, but said in January
it expected to improve its profit margins and increase its market
share as clients choose systems from big, established
suppliers.
Kagermann said SAP would continue the
cost-cutting programme that helped it beat analysts' forecasts for
2002 results but would at some point reach the limits of useful
cost savings.
"We will have to very pay close attention to
see that we do not miss chances by exaggerated and mistaken
savings," he said. "Once we are convinced that things are moving
up, we will invest again," he said.
He sidestepped speculation about the
possibility that his counterpart Hasso Plattner may step down
before the end of his contract in 2004, saying the board had been
refreshed by the recent appointments of Leo Apotheker as sales head
and Shai Agassi in technology.
"Once one approaches the age of 60, every
manager thinks about how much longer their period in office will
last. That's a normal process and everything else is speculation,"
he said.