FRANKFURT - German business software company SAP set ambitious new medium-term profit targets on Wednesday as it reported a first-quarter operating loss that chiefly arose from a restructuring charge.
While the quarterly loss was expected, the company’s announcement in January that it will shed 4,400 staff has been followed by a string of senior departures, leading some customers to fret that its transformation may be going off track. “This is that magic moment that people have been waiting for where they are like, wow, nobody grows like SAP, but can I get some margin out of this growth?” McDermott, 57, told Reuters in an interview.
Activist investor Elliott Management Corp, which disclosed a 1.2 billion euro stake in SAP on Wednesday, said it supported management’s strategy.The quarterly operating loss of 136 million euros chiefly resulted from an 886 million euro up-front charge in relation to the layoffs, which Chief Financial Officer Luka Mucic said were on track.
That came as investments in infrastructure upgrades rolled off, while further improvements should come as SAP completes the migration of its cloud applications to its HANA database engine, and works more with ‘hyperscale’ partners.
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