SAP, Europe's largest software company, today reported slightly lower than expected first-quarter core profit as it sold more of its cloud products, which are less profitable.
First-quarter operating profit, excluding special items, for the German software maker rose 8% to €1.198 billion, the company said.
That was slightly below the average of €1.229 billion in a Reuters poll of 13 analysts, with individual estimates ranging from €1.183 billion to €1.298 billion.
First quarter revenues rose 12% to €5.285 billion, which was above average expectations of €5.179 billion.
SAP's customer base moved further to newer cloud-based and less profitable Internet platforms from classic high-margin packaged software products it has sold for decades.
New cloud bookings jumped 49% to €215m during the first quarter.
"We continued our rapid expansion in cloud," SAP's finance chief Luka Mucic said in a statement.
"We're off to a good start to reach our full-year targets and we are confident that we will grow our profitability in 2018 and beyond," he added.
SAP said it still expects revenue for 2017 of €23.2-23.6 billion, while operating profit is seen at €6.8-7 billion euros, both at constant currencies.
SAP is Europe's most valuable technology company.
