SAP, the German business software group, has reported a better than expected second quarter profit.
The company, which employs around 800 people in Dublin and Galway, said net profit rose by 3.7% from the same period a year earlier to €423m. But software revenue, a key measure of its performance, fell by 40% to €543m.
SAP chief executive Leo Apotheker added: 'While the operating environment remains difficult, we are beginning to have improved visibility into the second half of the year.'
Cost cuts narrow Infineon loss
Troubled German semiconductor maker Infineon says it managed to limit losses in its latest quarter, but warned that full-year asset writedowns would be larger than expected.
Infineon said it suffered a loss of €23m in its third quarter which runs from April to the end of June, but that was much better than the loss of €379m a year earlier. It said the results did not include its bankrupt memory chip maker Qimonda.
Infineon said quarterly operating profit fell 18% from a year earlier to €845m but was up 13% from the three months to March.
An improved economic outlook and cost-cutting programmes were responsible for the comparatively better result, the company said, adding that sales were expected to pick up in the group's final quarter.
But Infineon warned too that annual charges for depreciation and amortisation would exceed its previous forecast of €500m. The company has suffered from the collapse of component sales to the car industry and is being restructured by a new investor, the US investment fund Apollo Global Management.
