Europe’s most valuable firm SAP flags U.S. trade slowdown but says Japan deal gives 'hope'

German bundle elephantine SAP said Wednesday that U.S. tariff tensions were slowing down its customers' decision-making, but that the Japan commercialized deal announced Tuesday was origin for cautious optimism.

"In immoderate sectors which are astir affected by these [policy] decisions, similar nationalist assemblage U.S. and besides the precise large manufacturing concern companies with analyzable planetary proviso chains, determination was the 1 oregon different ample transaction which has slipped implicit the crook of the past quarter," SAP Chief Financial Officer Dominik Asam told CNBC's "Europe Early Edition."

Deals were not disappearing entirely, but approvals were being passed higher up the concatenation of bid and holding up processes owed to uncertainty, helium noted.

"Now we person to spot however rapidly we tin drawback up. That is precise overmuch a question of however the wide situation volition evolve. I mean, evidently the astir caller developments successful Japan springiness america immoderate hope, but excessively aboriginal to speculate connected that," Asam said.

"The faster the uncertainty abates, the much assurance we person successful the result for the afloat year," helium added.

SAP successful March became Europe's biggest listed company, overtaking French luxury radical LVMH and Ozempic-maker Novo Nordisk successful marketplace capitalization, aft pivoting the concern firstly toward unreality computing and then toward opportunities successful artificial intelligence.

SAP present brings successful the bulk of its gross from unreality services, and has focused connected however AI tin pat into its immense acceptable of finance, income and proviso concatenation information to marque efficiencies for businesses.

The U.S. is 1 of its halfway markets, and investors person been questioning however SAP would beryllium impacted by a imaginable pullback successful spending arsenic the medication of President Donald Trump engages successful tense commercialized disputes and tariff negotiations with overmuch of the world.

The presumption of immoderate model woody with the European Union remained mired successful uncertainty arsenic of Wednesday, but planetary banal markets were buoyed by the announcement Tuesday of an statement with Japan mounting tariffs connected its exports to the U.S. at 15%.

SAP reported precocious connected Tuesday a 9% year-on-year gross emergence to 9.03 cardinal euros ($10.6 billion) successful the 2nd quarter, conscionable shy of an LSEG-compiled statement forecast of 9.08 cardinal euros. Operating nett was conscionable up of estimates astatine 2.57 cardinal euros.

The institution reiterated its full-year 2025 outlook, contempt noting that the "prevailing dynamic situation implies elevated levels of uncertainty and reduced visibility."

On an expert telephone Tuesday, CEO Christian Klein said SAP was seeing "strong momentum" from the caller nationalist information spending propulsion successful Europe, which has driven massive gains successful defence stocks this year, immoderate of which are SAP customers.

SAP stock price.

Its existent unreality backlog, a cardinal metric for the firm, was up 28% connected a changeless currency ground to 18.05 billion, which analysts astatine Deutsche Bank said were "strong" successful a Wednesday note.

"Overall, we spot SAP continuing to execute precise good successful a challenging environment, helped by its beardown merchandise offerings, AI roadmap and structural semipermanent Cloud migration projects. New wins included landmark customers specified arsenic Alibaba successful Q2," the Deutsche Bank analysts said.

However, different reactions were little positive, with analysts astatine TD Cowen and Piper Sandler trimming their people prices connected the stock.

Share moves successful SAP, Novo Nordisk and LVMH.

One resistance connected the results came from fluctuations successful overseas speech rates, peculiarly weakness successful the U.S. dollar against the euro, successful which SAP reports. The steadfast forecast a 5 percentage-point resistance connected unreality gross maturation figures successful the 3rd quarter, assuming speech rates arsenic of June 30.

SAP's Frankfurt-listed shares were 3.5% little successful aboriginal deals connected Wednesday.