SAP Q3 boosted by cloud

Christian Klein / SAP CEO | SAP first quarter

SAP has announced strong financial results for Q3 ended 30 September 2021, showing a 20 percent year-on-year rise in cloud revenue to €2.39bn and a surge in RISE with SAP adoption. SAP’s total revenue was up 5 percent year-on-year to €6.84bn, with cloud and software revenue up 7 percent to €5.91bn. Current cloud backlog was up 24 percent to €8.17bn.

RISE with SAP continued to gain traction in Q3, with the programme securing a further 300 customers. S/4HANA added 500 customers in the quarter, an increase of 16 percent year-on-year.

The company saw a 15 percent decline in operating profit to €1.25bn, which it attributes to ‘higher share-based compensation expenses,’ primarily related to Qualtrics.

Christian Klein, SAP CEO, said: “Our strategy is clearly working. Customers are choosing SAP for their business transformation in the cloud. We see record adoption of our applications and our platform. This has resulted in strong acceleration of our cloud growth.”

SAP has now raised its full year outlook for 2021, expecting non-IFRS cloud revenue of between €9.4 and €9.6bn, up 16 to 19 percent at constant currencies.

Luka Mucic, SAP CFO, added: “This has been an excellent quarter across all key financial metrics. We are seeing sustained, strong progress in SAP’s transformation. Our cloud business is growing at an accelerating pace and has led to our improved full year outlook.”