SAP slightly lowers outlook after Qualtrics divestment

Business software maker SAP Friday slightly lowered its outlook due to the divestment of its Qualtrics unit while reporting first-quarter revenue growth that beat expectations.

SAP reported revenue growth of 10% in the first three months of 2023, to 7.44 billion euros ($8.15 billion), beating expectations of 7% in company-provided consensus.

SAP has already discounted subsidiary’s Qualtrics profits, which it divested last month, from the current earnings report. However, the income from the sale hasn’t been included yet.

The tech giant now expects non-IFRS operating profit in the range of 8.6-8.9 billion euros, 200 million euros less than before. For cloud revenue, it now targets between 14 and 14.4 billion euros, down 1.3 billion euros from previous guidance.

Revenue from SAP’s lucrative cloud business grew 24% year-on-year, broadly in line with the company-provided consensus, while IFRS operating profit fell 45%, mainly driven by the increase in share-based compensation over the same period last year.

Additionally, the IFRS operating result was affected by restructuring costs associated with SAP’s recent cost-cutting program. Non-IFRS net result rose 12% to 1.9 billion euros, also higher than expected. Nasdaq