SAP RISES MOST SINCE JANUARY ON RECORD CLOUD BACKLOG GROWTH

(Bloomberg) -- SAP SE rose the most since January after posting record growth in expected revenue from its cloud services over the next year, boosted by the boom in artificial intelligence.

SAP’s current cloud backlog — an indicator of revenue to be booked within next 12 months — grew by 28% at constant currencies to €14.2 billion ($15.2 billion), the fastest growth on record, the Walldorf-based software company said in a statement late Monday.

Europe’s biggest software firm has been seeking to migrate customers from its legacy on-premise software to the cloud, where it is offering business AI services to sweeten the deal. This year, SAP announced discounts of as much as 50% to existing clients to accelerate the shift to subscription models that lead to higher average spending per client.

“The advent of AI has clearly propelled the story of the transformation of the cloud,” Chief Financial Officer Dominik Asam said on Bloomberg TV, adding that the company’s core cloud offering has generated growth in excess of 30% for nine quarters in a row. “We already have more than 27,000 customers using AI-powered use cases.”

The accelerating growth in current cloud backlog contrasts SAP from US software peers that are experiencing slowing trends, JPMorgan analyst Toby Ogg said. It highlights continued good demand across the cloud portfolio, according to Deutsche Bank analyst Johannes Schaller.

SAP shares rose as much as 5.2%, the biggest intraday gain since Jan. 24, and were up 4.1% to €172.98 at 12:48 p.m. in Frankfurt on Tuesday. The stock has gained 25% so far this year.

Adjusted cloud revenue in the quarter rose 25% at constant currencies from a year earlier to €3.9 billion in the first quarter, matching analyst forecasts. Total revenue was also in line with estimates.

SAP has joined an industrywide trend to incorporate AI tools into virtually all of its products. As part of this push, SAP has invested in startups Aleph Alpha GmbH, Anthropic PBC and Cohere.

“We’re off to a great start in 2024 and we’re confident we’ll achieve our goals for the year,” Chief Executive Officer Christian Klein said in the statement. “Looking ahead, we have powerful growth drivers in place – Business AI, cross-selling across our cloud portfolio, and winning new customers particularly in the midmarket.”

The company announced a restructuring program in January amid greater focus on growth areas such as cloud technology and AI. The company’s operating profit to International Financial Reporting Standards was impacted by a €2.2 billion provision related to the program, resulting in a loss of €787 million for the period.

The results are SAP’s first to include share-based compensation expenses in its non-IFRS report. This weighed on non-IFRS operating profit, which was €1.53 billion in the period, compared to estimates of €1.7 billion.

(Updates with CFO comment in fourth paragraph.)