SAP weathered the intensifying economic storm to post solid second quarter results this morning that showed the German business software giant beating market expectations.

The tricky acquisition and integration of Business Objects depressed net profits 9 per cent compared to a year earlier, at €408m. That's a softer blow than many had expected however, and SAP was able to tweak its guidance towards the upper end of estimates.

On a non-GAAP basis, ignoring the Business Objects costs, net profits were up 8 per cent on Q2 2007 to €494m.

Total revenue for the three months to June 30 was up 18 per cent to €2.86bn. SAP's core software and software-related services business' revenues rose 21 per cent to €2.06bn. Full results are available here.

The strong showing has sent SAP shares up 6.83 per cent at time of writing.

Good news will be welcome in the firm's boardroom as Oracle turns the heat up in its long-running intellectual property theft lawsuit and user groups complain about enforced price rises. ®

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