SAP SAP SE

By Christopher Alessi 

FRANKFURT---Business software provider SAP SE posted a 73% jump in net profit for the second quarter of 2016, boosted by lower restructuring costs year-over-year and cloud growth.

The German company's net profit for the period ended June 30 was EUR816 million ($902 million), compared with EUR471 million during the corresponding period in the previous year.

"There were close to zero restructuring costs in the first half" of 2016, said Chief Financial Officer Luka Mucic said on a conference call with reporters Wednesday. Restructuring costs in the first half of the year came in at EUR22 million, compared with EUR418 million in the first half of 2015, according to the company.

SAP also provided a net profit figure of EUR979 million, up 2% from last year, based on calculations that aren't recognized under international financial reporting standards. That figure, which doesn't take into account restructuring costs, fell short of analysts' forecasts. Analysts had predicted a non-IFRS net profit of EUR1.05 billion, according to a recent poll conducted by The Wall Street Journal.

Revenue rose by 5% to EUR5.24 billion, boosted by strong sales of the company's internet cloud-based business. Cloud services and support revenue climbed by 30% to EUR720 million.

Revenue for SAP's core on-premise software licenses also grew, by 4%, to EUR3.64 billion.

Chief Executive Bill McDermott has moved in recent years to shift the company's focus away from its on-premise business to cloud-based software products, which initially weighed on profitability.

Mr. McDermott said that both the cloud and on-premise software offerings contributed strong growth in Europe, making it the fastest-growing region in the world.

He added that SAP hadn't been adversely affected by the U.K. vote to leave the European Union, saying that the company had achieved double-digit growth in the British market in the second quarter.

SAP confirmed its guidance for the full year, saying it expected non-IFRS operating profit to be in a range of EUR6.4 billion to EUR6.7 billion, compared with EUR6.35 billion in 2015.

Write to Christopher Alessi at christopher.alessi@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

July 20, 2016 02:55 ET (06:55 GMT)

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