German software company SAP said on January 21 that annual profit in 2014 would not rise at the pace seen in previous years as the firm continued on its path of expanding its cloud-computing business, with more and more clients now renting software rather than buying it from the Walldorf-based company.

"We want to increase our cloud-computing market share against our competitors," SAP Co-CEO Bill McDermott said in a statement, adding that short-term profit hikes were not in the company's interests in the long run.

The firm said cloud-based turnover would come in at between 950 million and one billion euros ($1.29 billion to $1.35 billion) this year, after surging by 120 percent in 2013.

Robust outlook

SAP also said revenues from software licensing and maintenance would rise by just 6 to 8 percent, after increases in the two-digit percentage range in the previous years.

Nonetheless, SAP confirmed its objective of logging 20 billion euros in turnover next year, with 2 billion euros to come from its cloud computing business.

By 2017, the firm aims to take in 3.5 billion euros from its cloud services, while overall revenues are expected to reach 22 billion euros.

hg/pfd (dpa, AP, Reuters)