Software maker SAP AG said that it would cut 3,000 jobs worldwide as its 2008 net profit fell 2 per cent, weighed by a difficult year-end when the financial crisis deepened.
The software giant has declined to forecast revenue for 2009 and said that it would accelerate cost cuts to handle what it called a "challenging operating environment" this year.
SAP, the world's biggest maker of business management software, said in a statement that 2008 operating profit rose 4 per cent to 2.84 billion euros ($3.75 billion) and total sales for the group gained 14 per cent to 8.46 billion euros.
The sales number was exactly in line with the average in a Reuters poll of analysts. The Walldorf-based company had told investors on October 6 that business suddenly fell off in the closing two weeks of its third quarter, which ended September 30.
Its closest competitor, US company Oracle, in December posted second-quarter results that were better than feared and gave investors reason to hope that Oracle would manage the economic slowdown relatively well.
SAP is valued at around 13 times estimated 2009 earnings compared with a sector average of 11, according to Reuters data.
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