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Technology Stocks : SAP A.G. -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Ibexx who wrote (761)	4/21/1998 9:21:00 PM
From: nnillionaire	Respond to of 3424

From the Wall Street Journal: April 21, 1998 German Software Giant SAP Says Profit Surged in Quarter Dow Jones Newswires WALLDORF, Germany -- Business-software giant SAP AG Tuesday reported a stunning 72% rise in first-quarter pretax profit to 311 million marks ($173 million) from 181 million marks a year ago. Earnings were sharply higher than market forecasts that ranged between 293 million marks to 304 million marks. SAP is the No. 1 player in the software market segment known as enterprise-resource planning, or ERP. First-quarter sales shot up 63% from a year ago to 1.68 billion marks, while costs surged 58% to 1.44 billion marks. SAP said sales were fueled by the Year 2000 business and as companies scramble to get ready for the introduction of the euro, the single European currency, in 1999. It expects sales for the current fiscal year to rise 30% to 35%. SAP said "the continued, very high demand for SAP products as well as positive foreign-exchange-rate influences contributed" to developments in the first quarter. The company said currency-translation effects added 5% to its sales growth and 2% to its pretax profit. SAP has posted a string of stellar earnings on strong sales of its flagship R/3 business software platform, a complex system that ties together and automates the basic processes of business. Many experts say R/3 has become the standard for global big business. Analysts said rising personnel costs likely won't have too negative an impact on pretax profit, but SAP's employee stock options plan might affect earnings for the year. The company already has added 2,000 new employees after earlier announcing plans to boost its payroll by 5,000. SAP plans to list its shares on the New York Stock Exchange this August and last month released revised financial results based on U.S. accounting standards. The company also unveiled its stock-option program for employees and charted plans to offer three new products this year in addition to an upgraded version of R/3. SAP rejiggered its financial reporting for 1996 and 1997 to comply with U.S. accounting standards, saying the overall effects were "extremely insignificant and transparent." In addition to version 4.0 of the R/3 platform, SAP said it will introduce three products in 1998 that are independent from R/3. These new products include Advanced Planner Optimizer, a supply-chain software product; Business Information Warehouse, a database warehouse program; and SAP Sales Force Automation, a so-called help-desk, or front-office, software product. SAP is the world's fourth-largest software-focused company after Microsoft Corp., Oracle Corp. and Computer Associates International Inc., and its arrival on the Big Board has been eagerly anticipated. Separately, SAP said Tuesday it had linked with Andersen Worldwide's Andersen Consulting unit in a global strategic alliance to combine resources for utilities and energy-services companies. The companies will open several solution-center locations, to be called SolutionWorks for SAP Utilities. The centers will be located in London; Madrid; Manila; Walldorf, Germany; St. Petersburg, Fla.; and Cincinnati. .................. FWIW Good Investing