SAP: earnings up 18% in second quarter

German software giant SAP said on Tuesday that bottom-line profits grew sharply in the second quarter of this year as software sales topped record levels. SAP said in a statement its net profit rose by 18 percent to 831 million euros ($1.01 billion) in the period from April to June. Operating profit grew by 15 percent to 1.173 billion euros on an 18 percent increase in revenues to 3.916 billion euros. Software revenues alone were up 26 percent at 1.059 billion euros while support revenues increased by 15 percent to 2.014 billion euros, the statement said. Looking ahead to the full year, the software maker said it was sticking to its target for operating profit of 5.05 billion to 5.25 billion euros, compared with 4.71 billion euros in 2011. Sales of software and software-related services were set to grow by 10 to 12 percent, it said.