Walldorf, Germany September 20, 2001 SAP, the 800-pound gorilla of enterprise applications, said today that it will meet its previously announced revenue and margin goals for the nine months ending September 30, although the company was less sanguine about prospects for the fourth quarter.
Customer and prospect activity through early September was in line with company expectations, with businesses continuing to move forward on purchases and implementations of SAP's software solutions, the company reported.
SAP previously predicted revenue growth for the first nine months of 2001 would slightly exceed 23 percent.
At the same time, SAP sounded a cautionary note regarding the last three months of the year, saying in a statement, "While the impact on business conditions for the fourth quarter 2001 from last week's attacks is more difficult to assess, the company, as yet, sees no reason for changing its earlier guidance for the full year 2001."
SAP has said it sees full-year 2001 revenues growing by more than 20 percent. The company also said that its operating margin, excluding stock-based compensation and acquisition-related charges, is expected to exceed the 20 percent achieved in 2000 by 1 to 2 percentage points.
SAP plans to release its nine-months financial results on October 18.
In trading on Thursday, the company's shares on the New York Stock Exchange were down slightly by mid-afternoon, despite another sharp drop in the Dow.
