- SAP has risen 2.7% after hours following its report of preliminary figures for the fourth quarter, including revenues that fell 6% year-over-year.
- Those revenues were €7.54B, capping a not-as-bad-as-expected decline. And cloud revenues rose 7% (non-IFRS basis) to €2.04B. Its current cloud backlog is also up 7%, to €7.15B.
- Software support revenue, on the other hand, fell 4% to €2.83B. And software licenses revenue slid 15%, to €1.7B.
- Operating profit rose 3% in constant currency, and operating margin increased by 1.5 percentage points.
- That led to full-year operating profit that hit the high end of the company's revised outlook range, and free cash flow is coming in even better: expected to land around €5.9B.
- "In a uniquely challenging environment, 2020 was a record year for cash flow in every single quarter and the full year," says Chief Financial Officer Luka Mucic. "Our better-than-anticipated top line performance combined with our quick response on the cost side drove strong operating profit. SAP's expedited shift to the cloud will drive long-term, sustainable growth while significantly increasing the resiliency and predictability of our business."
- For 2021, it's guiding to €9.1B-€9.5B in cloud revenue (up 13-18% in constant currency); with total cloud and software revenue landing at €23.3B-€23.8B (flat to +2%).
- The share of more predictable revenue - cloud plus software support - is expected to climb to 75%, vs. 2020's 72%.
- It expects operating profit of €7.8B-€8.2B (down 1-6%).