Financial Performance
SAP’s topline exceeded the revised outlook for 2020.
Our cloud business continued to grow in 2020, with non-IFRS cloud revenue growing 15% from €7.01 billion in 2019 to €8.09 billion.
Total revenue in 2020 was impacted by the accelerated transition to cloud and the COVID-19 pandemic, decreasing 1% to €27.34 billion (2019: €27.63 billion).
SAP’s profit reached the upper end of the revised outlook for 2020.
Non-IFRS operating margin increased 0.6 percentage points compared to last year, in part due to further improvement of our cloud gross margin.
With a disciplined approach to hiring and discretionary spend, while capturing natural savings from lower travel, facility-related costs and virtual events, non-IFRS operating profit in 2020 was €8.29 billion (2019: €8.21 billion), reflecting an increase of 1%.
| Results for 2019 |
Outlook for 2020 (Integrated Report 2019) |
Revised Outlook for 2020 (Q1 Quarterly Statement) |
Revised Outlook for 2020 (Half-Year Report) |
Revised Outlook for 2020 (Q3 Quarterly Statement) |
Results for 2020 |
|
| Cloud revenue (non-IFRS, at constant currencies) |
€7.01 billion | €8.7 billion to €9.0 billion |
€8.3 billion to €8.7 billion |
€8.3 billion to €8.7 billion |
€8.0 billion to €8.2 billion |
€8.24 billion |
| Cloud and software revenue (non-IFRS, at constant currencies) |
€23.09 billion | €24.7 billion to €25.1 billion |
€23.4 billion to €24.0 billion |
€23.4 billion to €24.0 billion |
€23.1 billion to €23.6 billion |
€23,72 billion |
| Total revenue (non-IFRS, at constant currencies) |
€27.63 billion | €29.2 billion to €29.7 billion |
€27.8 billion to €28.5 billion |
€27.8 billion to €28.5 billion |
€27.2 billion to €27.8 billion |
€27,90 billion |
| Operating profit (non-IFRS, at constant currencies) |
€8.21 billion | €8.9 billion to €9.3 billion |
€8.1 billion to €8.7 billion |
€8.1 billion to €8.7 billion |
€8.1 billion to €8.5 billion |
€8,50 billion |
| Share of predictable revenue | 67% | 70% | 72% | 72% | 72% | 72% |
| Effective tax rate (IFRS) | 26.7% | 27.0% to 28.0% |
27.0% to 28.0% |
28.5% to 29.5% |
27.0% to 28.0% |
26.8% |
| Effective tax rate (non-IFRS) | 26.2% | 26.5% to 27.5% |
26.5% to 27.5% |
27.5% to 28.5% |
26.5% to 27.5% |
26.5% |
SAP paid an increased dividend (55% payout ratio) and completed a €1.5 billion share buyback program in 2020. While the SAP share priced decreased during 2020, it still has proven a strong investment, with 11% average annual return over the past 10 years.
We believe our shareholders should participate in our success. Therefore, we have proposed the dividend be increased by 17% to €1.85 per share (2019: €1.58). The 2020 dividend is pending approval of the Annual General Meeting on May 12, 2021.
SAP stock declined 10.9% in 2020. With a market capitalization of €131.7 billion, SAP remained the company with the highest market capitalization in the DAX. In 2020, the benchmark indexes DAX 30 and NASDAQ 100 grew 3.5% and 47.1%, respectively.