SAP: Too early to call bottom

Reuters

Sept. 30, 2002 8:01 a.m. PT

European software maker SAP said Friday the industry is facing a much tougher market and it was too soon to tell if the company had turned a corner. SAP board member Peter Zencke said SAP was still in better shape than its competitors, however, and expected the company to emerge from the global downturn.

In July, SAP reported weaker demand in all regions except Germany, confirming previous forecasts. Earlier last month, the company slashed its 2002 sales forecast to 5 to 10 percent from 15 percent after posting preliminary second-quarter results well short of analysts' forecasts. Like many software makers, SAP saw a number of big deals snatched away at the last minute after customers pulled out of spending commitments because of uncertainty over the economic outlook.