SAP lifts key target after cloud boost SAP, the world's biggest maker of business software by revenues, reassured investors by slightly raising a key sales target to reflect the impact of its $4.3bn acquisition of Ariba, a cloud computing company. SAP's third-quarter software revenues - a closely watched measure due to opportunities for repeat business - rose 17 per cent to €1bn compared with a year ago, exceeding a Bloomberg estimate of €980m. Excluding the impact of a prior year €723m gain from lower litigation costs, operating profit rose 10 per cent to €1.2bn during the quarter. Total sales climbed 16 per cent to €4bn. To reflect the expected contribution from Ariba in the final quarter, SAP now expects the full-year rise in software and software-related service revenues to reach the upper end of a 10.5-12.5 per cent range, at constant currencies. Previously it forecast a 10-12 per cent range. In spite of worries over the global economy, many companies continue to invest in business software. SAP is faring better than most of its peers. Its shares are up 35 per cent for the first nine months of the year, outperforming other German blue-chips. Rival IBM reported a decline in sales in the third quarter but blamed currency volatility. Microsoft also registered a drop in quarterly revenues as consumers awaited the launch of its Windows 8 operating system. SAP's software sales rose 29 per cent in the Americas and 18 per cent in Asia Pacific Japan. However, SAP is facing a greater challenge in Europe. Software sales in SAP's Europe, Middle East and Africa region declined 2 per cent during the three-month period. In order to drive growth, SAP is investing in new areas such as the cloud - the remote provision over the internet of software as a service - mobile and in-memory database computing. The German group has completed two multibillion-euro acquisitions this year - SuccessFactors and Ariba - in order to boost its cloud-computing activities. Net profit slipped 3 per cent to €836m in the third quarter and earnings per share declined by the same proportion to €0.70, due in part to a €64m loss on currency hedging of the purchase price for the Ariba deal. Werner Brandt, chief financial officer, said: "At the time when we announced the Ariba acquisition we thought it was prudent to hedge our position for a weaker euro. However, the euro strengthened instead, . Operating expenses rose 17 per cent to €8bn in the first nine months of the year due to a rise in headcount and increased share-based payment expenses. The number of SAP employees has risen more than 5,500 to 61,000 since the start of the year - of which about 2,000 are due to acquisitions. SAP said in August it would cut costs in the second half of the year and urged employees to travel less and use video conferencing instead. SAP shares rose 3.4 per cent to €54.68 in early Frankfurt trading.