The German company SAP’s financial results for the second quarter far outstripped expectations for the company’s, including its own forecast for 2020. The company reduced its forecast in April over concerns that the coronavirus crisis would have an extremely negative effect on its results. In the end, however, it recorded an increase in sales of 1 percent to €6.74 billion, while its operating result improved 8 percent to €1.96 billion. If there was disappointment, it came from other positive numbers, such as the 19 percent growth in SAP’s cloud business. Originally, it had predicted 30 percent growth. Its licensing business produced a decline of 18 percent to just €770 million, but growth in Asia suggested improvement was on the way. SAP is Germany’s most valuable listed company with its market capitalization of €171 billion.
