SAP Profit Up 15 Percent

The German company said net income for the quarter, ended Sept. 30 was $366.2 million, or 94 European cents a share, up from $318.1 million, or 81 European cents a share, in the same period a year ago. Overall revenues increased 8 percent, to $2.25 billion from $2.1 billion.

Software sales in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, the company's largest sale region, increased 24 percent, to $314.2 million, from $253.65 million a year ago. Software revenues were up 6 percent in the U.S., to $188 million from $176.7 million.

"SAP delivered a strong set of results this quarter as we continued to gain share against our peer group," Henning Kagermann, chief executive of SAP, said in a statement. "Each of the three regions reported year-over-year growth, resulting in a more balanced performance than we have previously seen this year."

SAP maintained its full-year forecast of a 10 percent rise in software sales, and said software revenues in the fourth quarter were expected to increase by 7 percent to 8 percent, compared with a year ago.