SAP trims 2026 profit goal, signalling cost of AI push

By Leo Marchandon

July 23 (Reuters) - SAP trimmed its 2026 operating profit outlook on Thursday as recent AI-focused data acquisitions weighed on earnings, showing the near-term cost for enterprise software makers of adapting their products for artificial intelligence.

The German company cut its 2026 non-IFRS operating profit outlook to 11.8 billion-12.2 billion euros, from 11.9 billion-12.3 billion euros, citing a more than 100 million euro ($113.76 million) dilutive impact from its Dremio and Prior Labs acquisitions.

Unlike consumer AI tools, enterprise AI depends heavily on structured, secured and regulatory compliant company data. Vendors such as SAP are spending on infrastructure and automation systems that matches those demands to connect AI tools and protected data so customers can apply AI to finance, supply chain and HR processes.

"The only change is the operating profit adjustment I just explained, driven solely by mergers and acquisitions," CFO Dominik Asam said in a press call. 

SAP left its 2026 cloud revenue target unchanged at 25.8 billion-26.2 billion euros as second quarter rose 24% year-on-year at constant currencies to 6.28 billion euros. Current cloud backlog rose 26% at constant currencies to 22.93 billion euros, signalling resilient contracted cloud revenue over the next 12 months.

Cloud ERP Suite revenue rose 27% at constant currencies to 5.53 billion euros, while software licence revenue fell 32% at constant currencies to 131 million euros, reflecting SAP's shift from upfront licences to subscriptions remained stable with sustained client spending.

($1 = 0.8790 euros)

(Reporting by Leo Marchandon in Gdansk; Editing by Chris Reese and Alistair Bell)