SAP profits up strongly in third quarter

German software giant SAP said Wednesday its profits more than doubled in the third quarter thanks to strong sales and lower legal costs related to litigation with arch-rival Oracle. SAP said in a statement its bottom-line net profit soared by 150 percent from last year to 1.251 billion euros ($1.74 billion) in the period from July to September. The group largely confirmed preliminary figures it published two weeks ago, with operating profit jumping by 146 percent from last year to 1.759 billion euros on a 14-percent rise in revenues to 3.4 billion euros. "We are very pleased with the exceptionally strong top-line growth this quarter," chief financial officer Werner Brandt said. "Our momentum puts us on pace to achieve a record cash flow year." As reported earlier, third-quarter earnings were boosted by a substantially reduced provision set aside for SAP's long-running court battle with Oracle after a judge ruled that compensation the German company had been ordered to pay was excessive. Third-quarter revenue from software alone rose by 28 percent from a year ago to 841 million euros, while revenues from software and software-related services grew by 16 percent to 2.69 billion euros in the three-month period. Looking at the nine months to September as a whole, net profit jumped by 63 percent to 2.242 billion euros, operating profit was up 57 percent at 3.2 billion euros and revenues up 16 percent at 9.7 billion euros. Looking ahead to the full year, SAP said it was maintaining its previous forecast for an increase of 10-14 percent in revenues and operating profit of 4.45-4.65 billion euros, up from 4.01 billion euros in 2010.