SAP has beaten market forecasts for quarterly licence sales and operating profit.
But the recovery from a weak second quarter was not robust enough for the software firm to leave its full-year outlook untouched.
SAP's sales of new software licences rose 17 per cent to €691 million in the third quarter, compared with an average of €672 million projected by 22 analysts in a Reuters poll.
The company said it increased licence sales in all regions, including a 19 per cent rise in the important Americas market - the world's biggest for software - and a 3 per cent rise in its German home market.
SAP said it had also increased its share of the global $16.4-billion market for core enterprise applications - which help companies automate processes such as supply chains and payroll - by 0.9 percentage points to 22.6 per cent.
The world's biggest producer of business software, which is facing increasingly aggressive competition from Oracle, stuck to its forecast that 2006 licence sales should rise 15 to 17 per cent.
In the second quarter, the German software maker had disappointed investors with a rise of just 8 per cent in licence sales; in contrast to Oracle, which surprised markets with stronger results.
SAP Irish operations, which were established in 1997, now employ 640 people in Dublin and Galway.
Local customers include AIB, Bank of Ireland, CIE, Eircom, Elan, Glanbia, Diageo, Jurys Doyle Hotels, Ryanair and Waterford Crystal.
Later today the company will formally announce the appointment of industry veteran Steve Rogers to the role of Managing Director, United Kingdom and Ireland