* Growth in Germany offsets lower U. S. public spending
Sees 2017 oper profit at 6.8-7.0 bln vs 6.7-7.0 previously
* Aims for 2020 revs of 28-29 bln euros, vs prior 26-28 bln
* Shares up 0.5 percent
(Rewrites, adds CEO comments on Trump and trade impact)
By Harro Ten Wolde and Eric Auchard
WALLDORF, Germany, Jan 24 (Reuters) – SAP, Europe’s most valuable technology firm, raised its outlook slightly for the next four years, saying challenges to global trade presented by Donald Trump’s new U. S. administration would drive sales of its business planning tools.
The German software company, which counts many of the world’s biggest multinational companies among its customers, reported 2016 results on the lower side of analysts’ expectations on Tuesday.
However, it edged up its 2017 sales and profit guidance and signalled slightly higher revenue ambitions by 2020.
“Geopolitical issues play right to our strengths,” Chief Executive Bill McDermott told Reuters, noting that the company’s products help customers adapt to changing business trends. “It is counter-intuitive, but that is the way it works with SAP. ”
The software maker specialises in applications used in business planning, ranging from accounting to human resources to supply-chain and travel and expense management corporate tools.
As a New York native at the helm of a German software maker, McDermott said it was too early to say what impact the new administration’s “America First” policy may have on trade but that he was “less pessimistic than most” about Trump’s plans.
Macroeconomic uncertainty over global trade issues has buoyed recent results, McDermott said, noting that Britain was one of SAP’s strongest European markets in the post-Brexit period.
