WALLDORF, Germany, April 23, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- SAP SE (NYSE: SAP) announced today its financial results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2026.
- Current cloud backlog of €21.9 billion, up 20% and up 25% at constant currencies
- Cloud revenue up 19% and up 27% at constant currencies
- Cloud ERP Suite revenue up 23% and up 30% at constant currencies
- Total revenue up 6% and up 12% at constant currencies
- IFRS operating profit up 17%, non-IFRS operating profit up 17% and up 24% at constant currencies
Christian Klein, CEO:
We had a strong start to the year, with Current Cloud Backlog growing by 25% and Cloud Revenue up 27% at constant currencies. This performance is supported by our momentum in Business AI as we are already delivering real outcomes for customers today. We are growing faster than the market and are gaining share as customers expand across our Suite and with our AI solutions. At Sapphire, we will show how we are taking the next leap forward.
Dominik Asam, CFO:
We delivered a solid start to the year, supported by disciplined execution in revenue and profitability. At the same time, we have remained focused on managing our cost base and maintaining profitability as we navigate an increasingly complex and uncertain macroeconomic and geopolitical environment.
Group Results at a Glance
First quarter 2026
IFRS |
Non-IFRS1 |
|||||||
€ million, unless otherwise stated |
Q1 2026 |
Q1 2025 |
∆ in % |
Q1 2026 |
Q1 2025 |
∆ in % |
∆ in % const. curr. |
|
Current cloud backlog |
21,932 |
18,202 |
20 |
25 |
||||
SaaS/PaaS |
5,896 |
4,890 |
21 |
5,896 |
4,890 |
21 |
28 |
|
Thereof Cloud ERP Suite2 |
5,214 |
4,251 |
23 |
5,214 |
4,251 |
23 |
30 |
|
Thereof Extension Suite2 |
681 |
639 |
7 |
681 |
639 |
7 |
12 |
|
IaaS2 |
66 |
104 |
–36 |
66 |
104 |
–36 |
–32 |
|
Cloud revenue |
5,962 |
4,993 |
19 |
5,962 |
4,993 |
19 |
27 |
|
Software licenses revenue |
116 |
183 |
–37 |
116 |
183 |
–37 |
–33 |
|
Software support revenue |
2,469 |
2,761 |
–11 |
2,469 |
2,761 |
–11 |
–6 |
|
Cloud and software revenue |
8,548 |
7,938 |
8 |
8,548 |
7,938 |
8 |
14 |
|
Services Revenue |
1,007 |
1,075 |
–6 |
1,007 |
1,075 |
–6 |
–1 |
|
Total revenue |
9,555 |
9,013 |
6 |
9,555 |
9,013 |
6 |
12 |
|
Cloud gross profit |
4,450 |
3,720 |
20 |
4,481 |
3,745 |
20 |
26 |
|
Cloud gross margin (in %) |
74.6 |
74.5 |
0.1pp |
75.2 |
75.0 |
0.2pp |
–0.1pp |
|
Gross profit |
6,973 |
6,607 |
6 |
7,013 |
6,632 |
6 |
12 |
|
Gross margin (in %) |
73.0 |
73.3 |
–0.3pp |
73.4 |
73.6 |
–0.2pp |
–0.3pp |
|
Operating profit (loss) |
2,741 |
2,333 |
17 |
2,867 |
2,455 |
17 |
24 |
|
Operating margin (in %) |
28.7 |
25.9 |
2.8pp |
30.0 |
27.2 |
2.8pp |
2.9pp |
|
Profit (loss) after tax |
1,946 |
1,796 |
8 |
2,002 |
1,681 |
19 |
||
Earnings per share - Basic (in €) |
1.66 |
1.52 |
9 |
1.72 |
1.44 |
20 |
||
Net cash flows from operating activities |
3,513 |
3,780 |
–7 |
|||||
Free cash flow |
3,248 |
3,583 |
–9 |
|||||
1 For a breakdown of the individual adjustments see table Non-IFRS Operating Expense Adjustments by Functional Areas in this Quarterly Statement. |
||||||||
Supplementary Information
Financial Results
Cloud revenue growth was positively impacted by several quarter-specific effects, contributing to an expected deceleration of cloud revenue growth in the second quarter.
IFRS and non-IFRS operating profit were supported by a decline of share-based compensation expenses of €135 million.
Operating cash flow and free cash flow were impacted by a payout of €408 million related to the settlement of the Teradata litigation case.
Share Repurchase Program
In January 2026, SAP announced a new share repurchase program with an aggregate volume of up to €10 billion and a term until December 31, 2027. As of April 1, 2026, the first tranche of the program was completed. By that time, SAP had repurchased 16,280,097 shares at an average price of €161.16 resulting in a purchased volume of approximately €2.6 billion under the program.
Outlook
Financial Outlook
SAP's financial outlook for the full-year 2026 is based on the assumption of a near-term de-escalation of the conflict in the Middle East and the imminent consolidation of Reltio.
For 2026, SAP continues to expect:
- €25.8 – 26.2 billion cloud revenue at constant currencies (2025: €21.02 billion), up 23% to 25% at constant currencies.
- €36.3 – 36.8 billion cloud and software revenue at constant currencies (2025: €32.54 billion), up 12% to 13% at constant currencies.
- €11.9 – 12.3 billion non-IFRS operating profit at constant currencies (2025: €10.42 billion), up 14% to 18% at constant currencies.
- Approximately €10 billion free cash flow at actual currencies (2025: €8.24 billion).
- An effective tax rate (non-IFRS) of approximately 29% (2025: 30.5%)[1].
- Constant currencies current cloud backlog growth to slightly decelerate (2025: 25%).
SAP further expects:
- Constant currencies total revenue growth in 2026 to remain at similar levels as in 2025 and to accelerate in 2027. The previous outlook assumed constant currencies total revenue growth to accelerate through 2027.
- Total operating expenses to grow at 80% to 90% of total revenue growth in 2027.
- Constant currencies software support revenue decline rate to accelerate in the coming years as a consequence of an acceleration of customers transforming to the cloud.
Other impacts due to the evolving situation in the Middle East are currently unknown and could potentially subject our business to materially adverse consequences should the situation continue or even further escalate beyond its current scope.
While SAP's 2026 financial outlook for the income statement parameters is at constant currencies (including an average exchange rate of 1.13 USD per EUR), actual currency reported figures are expected to be impacted by currency exchange rate fluctuations as the company progresses through the year, as reflected in the table below.
Currency Impact Assuming March 31, 2026 Rates Apply for 2026
In percentage points |
Q2 2026 |
FY 2026 |
Cloud revenue growth |
-1.5pp |
-1.5pp |
Cloud and software revenue growth |
-1.0pp |
-1.5pp |
Operating profit growth (non-IFRS) |
-2.0pp |
-2.0pp |
This includes an exchange rate of 1.15 USD per EUR.
Non-Financial Outlook
For 2026, SAP continues to expect:
- Cloud Customer Satisfaction (Cloud CSAT) to be in a range of 75% to 76% (2025: 75%).
- The Employee Engagement Index to be in a range of 74% to 78% (2025: 76%).
- The Business Health Culture Index (BHCI) to be in a range of 80% to 82% (2025: 81%).
- To steadily decrease carbon emissions across the relevant value chain (2025: 3.6 Mt).
Business Highlights
In the first quarter, customers around the globe continued to choose the "RISE with SAP" journey. These customers included: AIR LIQUIDE, Aptiv, Bristol-Myers Squibb, CMS Energy, ConocoPhillips, Diehl Group, Garuda Indonesia, Hyundai Motor EU, ITU (International Telecommunication Union), Nutresa, PayPal, PinkRoccade Local Government, Schweiter Technologies, Thales, Wella.
Adesso, Japan Display, OAKBERRY chose "SAP GROW".
Carl Zeiss, Helvetia Baloise Group, Hochland, SKF Group chose SAP's AI and data solutions.
Key customer wins across SAP's solution portfolio included: Apollo Tyres, Compass Group, Government Service Insurance System, Grupo Comercial Chedraui, Liebherr, Migros, Red Bull, Transport for London.
Alibaba Cloud Computing, ExxonMobil, Fonterra, Norfolk Southern, Samsung Electro-Mechanics, VEKA, Volaris went live on SAP solutions in the first quarter.
In the first quarter, SAP's cloud revenue performance was particularly strong in APJ and EMEA and solid in the Americas region. Brazil, France, Germany, India, South Korea, Switzerland and the United Kingdom had outstanding performance, while the U.S. were particularly strong.
On February 19, SAP proposed a dividend of €2.50 per share for fiscal year 2025 representing a year-over-year increase of 6.4% compared to the regular dividend paid for fiscal year 2024. The dividend is subject to shareholder approval at the upcoming AGM scheduled for May 5, 2026.
On February 26, SAP announced that it has filed the SAP Annual Report on Form 20-F for the year ended December 31, 2025, with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and published its Integrated Report 2025.
On March 2, SAP announced the creation of the new Customer Value Group, bringing together the Customer Success and Customer Services & Delivery organizations, effective April 1. The Customer Value Group will be led by Thomas Saueressig, whose role expands to Chief Customer Officer. In this capacity, he will oversee the full customer journey, aligning selling, delivery, services and support, driving adoption, renewal and expansion of SAP's cloud and AI-powered solutions.
On March 27, SAP and Reltio Inc. announced that SAP has agreed to acquire Reltio, a leading master data management (MDM) software provider, to help customers make their SAP and non-SAP enterprise data AI-ready.
Additional Information
This quarterly statement and all information therein are preliminary and unaudited. Due to rounding, numbers may not add up precisely. The Q1 2026 Quarterly Statement can be downloaded from: https://www.sap.com/investors/sap-2026-q1-statement
SAP Annual General Meeting of Shareholders
The Annual General Meeting of Shareholders will take place on May 5, 2026, as a virtual event. The whole event will be webcast on the Company's website and online voting options will be available for shareholders. Further details can be found at https://www.sap.com/agm .
Financial Analyst and Investor Conference
SAP will hold a financial analyst event on Wednesday, May 13th, 2026, in conjunction with SAP Sapphire & ASUG Annual Conference Orlando.
SAP Performance Measures
For more information about our key growth metrics and performance measures, their calculation, their usefulness, and their limitations, please refer to the following document on our Investor Relations website: https://www.sap.com/investors/en/financial-documents-and-events/reporting-framework.html.
Webcast
SAP senior management will host a financial analyst conference call on Thursday, April 23rd at 11:00 PM (CEST) / 10:00 PM (BST) / 5:00 PM (EDT) / 2:00 PM (PDT). The conference will be webcast on the Company's website at https://www.sap.com/investor and will be available for replay. Supplementary financial information pertaining to the first quarter results can be found at https://www.sap.com/investor
About SAP
As a global leader in enterprise applications and business AI, SAP (NYSE: SAP) stands at the nexus of business and technology. For over 50 years, organizations have trusted SAP to bring out their best by uniting business-critical operations spanning finance, procurement, HR, supply chain, and customer experience. For more information, visit www.sap.com.
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[1] The effective tax rate (non-IFRS) is a non-IFRS financial measure and is presented for supplemental informational purposes only. We do not provide an outlook for the effective tax rate (IFRS) due to the uncertainty and potential variability of gains and losses associated with equity securities, which are reconciling items between the two effective tax rates (non-IFRS and IFRS). These items cannot be provided without unreasonable efforts but could have a significant impact on our future effective tax rate (IFRS).
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