Software giant SAP posted on April 29 a 16% drop in first quarter profit, where analysts had expected a slight increase. The net profit of 204 million euros (US$270 million) was well below the forecast.
SAP sales slipped by 3% to 2.397 billion euros.
Software revenues, the group's benchmark, recorded a steep drop of 33% to 418 million euros.
SAP said a recently-announced restructuring program had taken 160 million euros from its bottom line, and that it would cost a total of 200-300 million euros. The group's first such program since its creation in 1972 is expected to result in the loss of 3,300 jobs.
For the full year, SAP said it hoped that software revenues would fall by less than one percent, excluding exceptional items.
Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2009
