SAP has reported an 11% increase in sales and a
headcount jump of 3,000 during the first quarter ended 31
March.
The enterprise software supplier said total revenues for the
first quarter were €1.7bn (£1.18bn) compared with €1.6bn for the
same quarter last year. Operating income also rose by 12% to
€374m.
“We are pleased to report another strong quarter for SAP,” said
Henning Kagermann, SAP chief executive officer. “The continued
strength of SAP’s results is just another example of how far we
have distanced ourselves from other software companies, and the gap
continues to widen.
“Our strength is attributable to keeping a strong focus on
driving innovation, building and maintaining a robust, complete and
integrated product portfolio, and continuing to meet the needs and
demands of our customers with a clear and concise product roadmap
for the future of their software investments.”
The headcount now stands at 33,200, which is a 10% increase on
the same quarter last year. SAP is still recruiting globally and
the expansion comes at a time of widespread redundancies at other
major technology companies.
In the US alone, it is estimated that 60,000 IT and telecoms
jobs have disappeared since last year, and SAP competitor Oracle
has made 5,000 redundant following its acquisition of
PeopleSoft.
