SAP says sales of software and software-related services are behind strong second quarter results with revenue rising 14 per cent to €2.4bn (£1.6bn).

The supplier achieved double digit growth in all regions, says chief executive Henning Kagermann, and continues to gain market share against enterprise application vendors such as chief rival Oracle.

‘The second quarter was an excellent quarter and our performance demonstrates our global strength,’ he said.

‘We plan to build upon our first half success by expanding adoption of our enterprise services-oriented architecture (SOA).’

The SOA paln includes the company's Netweaver integration tool, which generated a 50 per cent increase in revenue since its launch last year.

The supplier grew sales of software and software-related services by 19 per cent from €1.5bn (£1bn) to €1.7bn (£1.15bn). Net profits for the second quarter also rose by eight per cent to €449m (£303m).

SAP says the UK and Europe continues to perform strongly, with sales up 17 per cent, but Asia Pacific will be the big growth driver in years ahead.

Despite the strong performance, SAP has not increased its guidance for full year growth, which it expects to be between 12 and 14 per cent.