SAP warns of mixed results

NEWS Business software maker SAP has announced that sales for 2002 are on target to meet analyst projections, but said fourth-quarter licence revenues declined. The German company said 2002 revenue "slightly" exceeded the E7.34bn reported in 2001. Analysts polled by First Call expect SAP to hit E7.42bn in sales and to post earnings of 67 cents per share for last year. SAP retracted its goal of five per cent to 10 per cent revenue growth in 2002 last autumn, citing uncertain economic and conditions. The software maker expects to report about E950m in licence revenue for the quarter ended 31 December - some nine per cent less than the E1.03bn it reported for the fourth quarter of 2001. Demand is on the wane for business management applications made by SAP, Oracle, PeopleSoft, and others. Last month, Oracle reported that licence revenue from business applications fell 34 per cent year-on-year in its second quarter, which ended 30 November. SAP plans to report further details on the quarter and the year on 30 January. Alorie Gilbert writes for News.com