Software giant SAP eyes double-digit growth

European software giant SAP has presented an optimistic outlook for this year, saying it would aim to post double-digit growth in 2013. Booming business in the cloud is one of the firm's new drivers. Europe's largest software company, SAP of Germany, on Wednesday reported it was aiming to log double-digit growth in the current year. The announcement from the Walldorf-based company came after a year of record sales, but shrinking profit. "We're confident we will continue our growth momentum in 2013 and further improve our profitability," Chief Financial Officer Werner Brandt said in a statement. Based on calculations in line with the International Financial Reporting System (IFRS), SAP last year saw its revenues rising by 14 percent to 16.22 billion euros ($21.6 billion). But bottom-line net profit dipped 16 percent year-on-year to 2.83 billion euros primarily due to costly strategic acquisitions. SAP shares big winners But it's those takeovers which would see the company in good shape in 2013, CEOs Bill McDermott and Jim Hagemann Snabe maintained. SAP completed its acquisition of California-based cloud computing firm Ariba after taking over US company SuccessFactors, another expert in cloud-based operations. "Business in the cloud has only just started for SAP with those acquisitions," said Jim Hagemann Snabe. "Now we have the speed to deliver innovative solutions to our customers." Investors appeared pleased with SAP's optimistic outlook for the months ahead, sending the company's shares up in early trading at the Frankfurt Stock Exchange and making the stock the biggest gainer in Germany's blue-chip DAX-30 index.