The recession has ended for software giant SAP.
SAP Wednesday reported healthy sales growth in its first quarter ended March 31 -- its first sales growth in more than a year -- and a near-doubling of its profits.
"The first-quarter growth was made possible by all around solid execution in both our large, well-established markets and our fast-growing emerging markets," co-CEO Bill McDermott said in a statement. "We saw strong results from the rapidly expanding demand for SAP BusinessObjects solutions, as well as in our small and midsized enterprise business."
SAP reported total sales of $3.30 billion in the first quarter, up 5 percent from $3.15 billion in the first quarter of 2009. That included 11 percent growth in software revenues to $610 million from $550 million one year ago.
Net income in the quarter grew 97 percent to $509 million from $258 million in the first quarter of 2009.
SAP had not reported sales growth since the fourth quarter of 2008. The company's lackluster performance in 2009 led to the resignation of CEO Leo Apotheker and the appointment of McDermott and Jim Hagemann-Snabe as co-CEOs.
While net income dropped 4 percent for all of 2009 to $2.36 billion, SAP remained profitable after it slashed costs, including cutting its workforce by 3,000 or 5.8 percent during the year.
SAP predicted that revenue would grow between 4 percent and 8 percent in 2010.
