SAP Q1 Net Profit Drops

reported a 23 percent drop in its first-quarter net profit. SAP's quarterly net profit slipped to EUR414 million ($444.17 million), versus a year-ago profit of EUR534 million. Its revenue rose 22 percent to EUR4.5 billion. Revenue from software licenses and support climbed 16 percent to 3.15 billion euros, while non-IFRS revenue from cloud subscriptions and support jumped 131 percent to 509 million euros. Non-IFRS cloud and software revenue rose 34 percent in the Americas region, while non-IFRS cloud and software revenue climbed 38 percent in APJ. Its operating profit, excluding items, rose to 1.06 billion euros. New cloud bookings climbed 121 percent to €120 million. At March 31, 2015, the company had a total group liquidity of €5.33 billion, versus €3.42 billion at December 31, 2014. The company reiterated its forecast for 2015. "We are pleased to report triple-digit growth in both cloud and our business network segment which started on a high note," said Bill McDermott, CEO of SAP. "SAP S/4HANA saw robust early traction and is catalyzing momentum across SAP. We are a strong growth company with every region growing in double digits in cloud and software revenue this quarter. We remain ever focused on seamless execution of our consistent, customer-driven strategy." SAP shares gained 0.82 percent to close at $72.32 yesterday.