INTRODUCTION

SAP SE is a European Company (Societas Europaea, or “SE”) and is referred to in this report, together with its subsidiaries, as SAP, or as “Company,” “Group,” “we,” “our,” or “us.” Our Consolidated Financial Statements included in “Item 18. Financial Statements” in this report have been prepared in accordance with International Financial Reporting Standards as issued by the International Accounting Standards Board, referred to as IFRS throughout this report.

In this report: (i) references to “US$,” “$,” or “dollars” are to U.S. dollars; (ii) references to “€” or “euro” are to the euro. Our financial statements are denominated in euros, which is the currency of our home country, Germany. Certain amounts that appear in this report may not add up because of differences due to rounding.

Unless otherwise specified herein, euro financial data have been converted into dollars at the noon buying rate in New York City for cable transfers in foreign currencies as certified for customs purposes by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York (the “Noon Buying Rate”) on December 31, 2014, which was US$1.2101 per €1.00. No representation is made that such euro amounts actually represent such dollar amounts or that such euro amounts could have been or can be converted into dollars at that or any other exchange rate on such date or on any other date. The rate used for the convenience translations also differs from the currency exchange rates used for the preparation of the Consolidated Financial Statements. This convenience translation is not a requirement under IFRS and, accordingly, our independent registered public accounting firm has not audited these US$ amounts. For information regarding recent rates of exchange between euro and dollars, see “Item 3. Key Information – Exchange Rates.” On March 6, 2015, the Noon Buying Rate for converting euro to dollars was US$1.0855 per €1.00.

Unless the context otherwise requires, references in this report to ordinary shares are to SAP SE’s ordinary shares, without nominal value. References in this report to “ADRs” are to SAP SE’s American Depositary Receipts, each representing one SAP ordinary share. References in this report to “ADSs” are to SAP SE’s American Depositary Shares, which are the deposited securities evidenced by the ADRs.

SAP, ABAP, Adaptive Server, Advantage Database Server, Afaria, Ariba, Business ByDesign,

BusinessObjects, ByDesign, Concur, Crystal Reports, ExpenseIt, Fieldglass, GDSX, hybris, PartnerEdge, PowerBuilder, PowerDesigner, Quadrem, R/3, Replication Server, SAP BusinessObjects Explorer, SAP Business Workflow, SAP EarlyWatch, SAP Fiori, SAP HANA, SAP Jam, SAP Lumira, SAP NetWeaver, SAP S/4HANA, SAPPHIRE, SAPPHIRE NOW, Smart Expense, SQL Anywhere, Sybase, SuccessFactors, The Best-Run Businesses Run SAP, TravelTrax, TripIt, TripLink, TwoGo, Web Intelligence and other SAP products and services mentioned herein as well as their respective logos are trademarks or registered trademarks of SAP SE (or an SAP affiliate company) in Germany and other countries.

Throughout this report, whenever a reference is made to our website, such reference does not incorporate by reference into this report the information contained on our website.

We intend to make this report and other periodic reports publicly available on our web site (www.sap.com) without charge immediately following our filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). We assume no obligation to update or revise any part of this report, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, unless we are required to do so by law.

FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

This report contains forward-looking statements and information based on the beliefs of, and assumptions made by, our management using information currently available to them. Any statements contained in this report that are not historical facts are forward-looking statements as defined in the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. We have based these forward-looking statements on our current expectations, assumptions, and projections about future conditions and events. As a result, our forward-looking statements and information are subject to uncertainties and risks. A broad range of uncertainties and risks, many of which are beyond our control, could cause our actual results and performance to differ materially from any projections expressed in or implied by our forward-looking statements. The uncertainties and risks include, but are not limited to:

We describe these and other risks and uncertainties in the Risk Factors section.

If one or more of these uncertainties or risks materializes, or if management’s underlying assumptions prove incorrect, our actual results could differ materially from those described in or inferred from our forward-looking statements and information.

The words “aim,” “anticipate,” “assume,” “believe,” “continue,” “could,” “counting on,” “is confident,” “development,” “estimate,” “expect,” “forecast,” “future trends,” “guidance,” “intend,” “may,” “might,” “outlook,” “plan,” “project,” “predict,” “seek,” “should,” “strategy,” “want,” “will,” “would,” and similar expressions as they relate to us are intended to identify such forward-looking statements. Such statements include, for example, those made in the Operating Results (IFRS) section, our quantitative and qualitative disclosures about market risk pursuant to the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS), namely IFRS 7 and related statements in our Notes to the Consolidated Financial Statements, the Expected Developments section, the Risk Factors section, and other forward-looking information appearing in other parts of this report. To fully consider the factors that could affect our future financial results, both this report and our Annual Report should be considered, as well as all of our other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date specified or the date of this report. We undertake no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements as a result of new information that we receive about conditions that existed upon issuance of this report, future events, or otherwise unless we are required to do so by law.

This report includes statistical data about the IT industry and global economic trends that comes from information published by sources including

International Data Corporation (IDC), a provider of market information and advisory services for the information technology, telecommunications, and consumer technology markets; the European Central Bank (ECB); and the International Monetary Fund (IMF). This type of data represents only the estimates of IDC, ECB, IMF, and other sources of industry data. SAP does not adopt or endorse any of the statistical information provided by sources such as IDC, ECB, IMF, or other similar sources that is contained in this report. In addition, although we believe that data from these sources is generally reliable, this type of data is imprecise. We caution readers not to place undue reliance on this data.

PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM

We use various performance measures to help manage our performance with regard to our primary financial goals, which are growth and profitability, and our primary non-financial goals, which are customer loyalty and employee engagement. We view growth and profitability as indicators for our current performance, while customer loyalty and employee engagement are indicators for our future performance.

Measures We Use to Manage Our Financial Performance

Measures We Use to Manage Our Operating Financial Performance

In 2014, we used the following key measures to manage our operating financial performance:

Cloud subscriptions and support revenue (non-IFRS):    This revenue driver comprises the main revenues of our fast-growing cloud business. We generate cloud subscriptions and support revenue (non-IFRS) when we provide software and the respective support for delivery in the cloud. We use the measure cloud subscriptions and support revenue both at actual currency and at constant currency.

Software and software-related service (SSRS) revenue (non-IFRS):    We use SSRS revenue (non-IFRS) and constant currency SSRS revenue (non-IFRS) to measure our revenue growth. Our SSRS revenue includes cloud subscriptions and support revenue plus software and related support revenue. Cloud subscriptions and support revenue and software revenue are our key revenue drivers because they tend to affect our

other revenue streams. Generally, customers that buy software licenses also enter into maintenance contracts, and these generate recurring software-related service revenue in the form of support revenue after the software sale. Maintenance contracts cover support services and software updates and enhancements. Software revenue as well as cloud subscriptions and support revenue also tend to stimulate service revenue from consulting and training sales.

New and upsell bookings:    For our cloud activities, we also look at new and upsell bookings. This measure reflects the committed order entry of a given period from new customers and from incremental purchases by existing customers for offerings that generate cloud subscription revenue. Thus, it is an indicator for cloud-related sales success in a period and for secured future cloud subscription revenue. We focus primarily on the average contract value variant of the new and upsell bookings measure that considers annualized amounts for multiyear contracts. Additionally, we monitor the total contract value variant of the new and upsell bookings measure that considers the total committed order entry amounts regardless of the contract durations. There are no comparable IFRS measures for these bookings metrics.

Operating profit (non-IFRS)/operating margin (non-IFRS):    We use operating profit (non-IFRS)/operating margin (non-IFRS) and constant currency operating profit (non-IFRS)/operating margin (non-IFRS) to measure our overall operational process efficiency and overall business performance. Operating margin (non-IFRS) is the ratio of our operating profit (non-IFRS) to total revenue (non-IFRS), expressed as a percentage. See below for more information on the IFRS and non-IFRS measures we use.

Measures We Use to Manage Our Non-Operating Financial Performance

We use the following measures to manage our non-operating financial performance:

Financial income, net:    This measure provides insight especially into the return on liquid assets and capital investments and the cost of borrowed funds. To manage our financial income, net, we focus on cash flow, the composition of our liquid asset and capital investment portfolio, and the average rate of interest at which assets are invested. We also monitor average outstanding borrowings and the associated finance costs.

Days’ Sales Outstanding (DSO) and Days’ Payables Outstanding (DPO):    We manage working capital by controlling the days’ sales outstanding for operating receivables, or DSO (defined as average number of days from the raised invoice to cash receipt from the customer), and the days’ payables outstanding for operating liabilities, or DPO (defined as average number of days from the received invoice to cash payment to the vendor).

Measures We Use to Manage Overall Financial Performance

We use the following measures to manage our overall financial performance:

Earnings per share (EPS):    EPS measures our overall performance because it captures all operating and non-operating elements of profit as well as income tax expense. It represents the portion of profit after tax allocable to each SAP share outstanding (using the weighted average number of shares outstanding over the reporting period). EPS is influenced not only by our operating and non-operating business, and income taxes but also by the number of shares outstanding. We are authorized by our shareholders to repurchase shares and believe that such repurchases, additional to dividend distributions, are a good means to return value to our shareholders.

Effective tax rate:    We define our effective tax rate as the ratio of income tax expense to profit before tax, expressed as a percentage.

Operating, investing, and financing cash flows and free cash flow:    Our consolidated statement of cash flows provides insight as to how we generated and used cash and cash equivalents. When used in conjunction with the other primary financial statements, it provides information that helps us evaluate the changes of our net assets, our financial structure (including our liquidity and solvency), and our ability to affect the amounts and timing of cash flows in order to adapt to changing circumstances and opportunities. We use our free cash flow measure to estimate the cash flow remaining after all expenditures required to maintain or expand our organic business have been paid off. This measure provides management with supplemental information to assess our liquidity needs. We calculate free cash flow as net cash from operating activities minus purchases (other than purchases made in connection with business combinations) of intangible assets and property, plant, and equipment.

Measures We Use to Manage Our Non-Financial Performance

In 2014, we used the following key measures to manage our non-financial performance in the areas of employee engagement and customer loyalty:

Employee Engagement Index:    We use the employee engagement index to measure the motivation and loyalty of our employees, how proud they are of our company, and how strongly they identify with SAP. The index is derived from surveys conducted among our employees. With this measure, we recognize that we can achieve our growth strategy with engaged employees only.

Customer Net Promoter Score (NPS):    This score measures the willingness of our customers to recommend or promote SAP to others. It is derived from our customer survey. Conducted each year, this survey identifies, on a scale of 0–10, whether a customer is loyal and likely to recommend SAP to friends or colleagues, is neutral, or is unhappy. We introduced this measure in 2012, as we are convinced that we can achieve our financial goals only when our customers are loyal to, and satisfied with, SAP and our solutions. To derive the Customer NPS, we start with the percentage of “promoters” of SAP – those who give us a score of 9 or 10 on a scale of 0 to 10. We then subtract the percentage of “detractors” – those who give us a score of 0 to 6. The method ignores “passives,” who give us a score of 7 or 8. In addition to our on-premise customers, in 2014 for the first time we included Ariba, SuccessFactors and Sybase customers in the survey. Therefore, the 2014 Customer NPS score is not fully comparable to the prior year’s score.

Value-Based Management

Our holistic view of the performance measures described above, together with our associated

analyses, comprises the information we use for value-based management. We use planning and control processes to manage the compilation of these key measures and their availability to our decision makers across various management levels.

SAP’s long-term strategic plans are the point of reference for our other planning and controlling processes, including a multiyear plan through 2020. We identify future growth and profitability drivers at a highly aggregated level. This process is intended to identify the best areas in which to target sustained investment. Next, we evaluate our multiyear plans for our support and development functions and break down the customer-facing plans by sales region. Based on our detailed annual plans, we determine the budget for the respective year. We also have processes in place to forecast revenue and profit on a quarterly basis, to quantify whether we expect to realize our strategic goals, and to identify any deviations from plan. We continuously monitor the concerned units in the Group to analyze these developments and define any appropriate actions.

Our entire network of planning, control, and reporting processes is implemented in integrated planning and information systems, based on SAP software, across all organizational units so that we can conduct the evaluations and analyses needed to make informed decisions.

Non-IFRS Financial Measures Cited in This Report

As in previous years, we provided our 2014 financial outlook on the basis of certain non-IFRS measures. Therefore, this report contains a non-IFRS based comparison of our actual performance in 2014 against our outlook in the Performance Against Outlook for 2014 (Non-IFRS) section.

Explanation of Non-IFRS Measures

We disclose certain financial measures, such as revenue (non-IFRS), operating expenses (non-IFRS), operating profit (non-IFRS), operating margin (non-IFRS), earnings per share (non-IFRS), deferred revenue (non-IFRS), and calculated cloud billings measures (non-IFRS), as well as constant currency revenue, expense, profit, deferred revenue, and calculated cloud billings measures that are not prepared in accordance with IFRS and are therefore considered non-IFRS financial measures. Our non-IFRS financial measures may

not correspond to non-IFRS financial measures that other companies report. The non-IFRS financial measures that we report should only be considered in addition to, and not as substitutes for or superior to, our IFRS financial measures.

We believe that the disclosed supplemental historical and prospective non-IFRS financial information provides useful information to investors because management uses this information, in addition to financial data prepared in accordance with IFRS, to attain a more transparent understanding of our past

performance and our anticipated future results or – in the case of calculated cloud billings (non-IFRS) – management uses the measures to anticipate metrics that investors use. We use the revenue (non-IFRS) and profit (non-IFRS) measures consistently in our internal planning and forecasting, reporting and compensation, as well as in our external communications, as follows:

Our non-IFRS financial measures reflect adjustments based on the items below, as well as adjustments for the related income tax effects.

Revenue (Non-IFRS)

Revenue items identified as revenue (non-IFRS) have been adjusted from the respective IFRS financial measures by including the full amount of support revenue, cloud subscriptions and support revenue, and other similarly recurring revenue that we are not permitted to record as revenue under IFRS due to fair value accounting for the contracts in effect at the time of the respective acquisitions.

Under IFRS, we record at fair value the contracts in effect at the time entities were acquired. Consequently, our IFRS support revenue, IFRS cloud subscriptions and support revenue, IFRS software and software-related service revenue, and IFRS total revenue for periods subsequent to acquisitions do not reflect the full amount of

revenue that would have been recorded by entities acquired by SAP had they remained stand-alone entities. Adjusting revenue numbers for this revenue impact provides additional insight into the comparability of our ongoing performance across periods.

Operating Expense (Non-IFRS)

Operating expense numbers that are identified as operating expenses (non-IFRS) have been adjusted by excluding the following expenses:

We exclude certain acquisition-related expenses for the purpose of calculating operating profit (non-IFRS), operating margin (non-IFRS), and earnings per share (non-IFRS) when evaluating SAP’s continuing operational performance because these expenses generally cannot be changed or influenced by management after the relevant acquisition other than by disposing of the acquired assets. Since management at levels below the Executive Board does not influence these expenses, we generally do not consider these expenses for the purpose of evaluating the performance of management units. Additionally, these non-IFRS measures have been adjusted from the respective IFRS measures for the results of the share-based payment expenses and restructuring expenses, as well as the TomorrowNow and Versata litigation expenses.

The adjustment for expenses and income from the Versata litigation was introduced in 2014 (for details regarding this litigation refer to our Notes to the Consolidated Financial Statements section, Note (24)). Prior-year amounts have been adjusted to comply with the modified set of

non-IFRS adjustments. We exclude expenses and income from the Versata litigation to provide additional insight into the comparability of our ongoing operating performance across periods and to continue the alignment of our non-IFRS measures with our internal performance measures.

Operating Profit (Non-IFRS), Operating Margin (Non-IFRS), and Earnings per Share (Non-IFRS)

Operating profit, operating margin, and earnings per share identified as operating profit (non-IFRS), operating margin (non-IFRS), and earnings per share (non-IFRS) have been adjusted from the respective IFRS measures by adjusting for the above-mentioned revenue (non-IFRS) and operating expenses (non-IFRS).

Deferred Cloud Subscriptions and Support Revenue (Non-IFRS) and Calculated Cloud Billings (Non-IFRS)

It is common in capital markets to use metrics based on billings to help evaluate the performance of cloud subscription offerings. A common metric of this kind is calculated cloud billings that can be calculated as the total of a period’s cloud subscriptions and support revenue and the respective period’s change in the deferred cloud subscriptions and support revenue balance. To ease the effort of determining this metric, we report the metric’s components as well as a calculation of the metric itself. To allow an alignment of this calculated cloud billings metric with our revenue reporting, we present the calculated cloud billings metric on an IFRS basis (that is, derived from IFRS numbers) as well as on a non-IFRS basis and a non-IFRS at constant currency basis. The calculated cloud billings (non-IFRS) are derived from both:

Constant Currency Information

We believe it is important for investors to have information that provides insight into our sales.

Revenue measures determined under IFRS provide information that is useful in this regard. However, both sales volume and currency effects impact period-over-period changes in sales revenue. We do not sell standardized units of products and services, so we cannot provide relevant information on sales volume by providing data on the changes in product and service units sold. To provide additional information that may be useful to investors in breaking down and evaluating changes in sales volume, we present information about our revenue and various values and components relating to operating profit that are adjusted for foreign currency effects.

We calculate constant currency revenue and operating profit measures by translating foreign currencies using the average exchange rates from the comparative period instead of the current period. Constant currency deferred revenue balances are calculated by translating the current period’s opening and closing deferred revenues balances as well as the comparative period’s closing deferred revenue balance using the opening exchange rates of the comparative period.

Free Cash Flow

The following table shows our free cash flow measure. We use this measure among others to manage our overall financial performance.

Free Cash Flow

Usefulness of Non-IFRS Measures

We believe that our non-IFRS measures are useful to investors for the following reasons:

Limitations of Non-IFRS Measures

We believe that our non-IFRS financial measures described above have limitations, including but not limited to, the following:

We believe that constant currency measures have limitations, particularly as the currency effects that are eliminated constitute a significant element of our revenue and expenses and could materially impact our performance. Therefore, we limit our use of constant currency measures to the analysis of changes in volume as one element of the full change in a financial measure. Additionally, we use different prior period exchange rates for deferred revenue versus revenue items to adjust for currencies. We do not evaluate our results and performance without considering both constant currency measures in revenue (non-IFRS) and operating profit (non-IFRS) measures on the one hand, and changes in revenue, operating expenses, operating profit, or other measures of financial

performance prepared in accordance with IFRS on the other. We caution the readers of our financial reports to follow a similar approach by considering constant currency measures only in addition to, and not as a substitute for or superior to, changes in revenue, operating expenses, operating profit, or other measures of financial performance prepared in accordance with IFRS.

Despite these limitations, we believe that the presentation of the non-IFRS measures and the corresponding IFRS measures, together with the relevant reconciliations, provide useful information to management and investors regarding present and future business trends relating to our financial condition and results of operations. We do not evaluate our growth and performance without considering both non-IFRS measures and the comparable IFRS measures. We caution the readers of our financial reports to follow a similar approach by considering our non-IFRS measures only in addition to, and not as a substitute for or superior to, revenue or other measures of our financial performance prepared in accordance with IFRS.

PART I

ITEM 1. IDENTITY OF DIRECTORS, SENIOR MANAGEMENT AND ADVISERS

Not applicable.

ITEM 2. OFFER STATISTICS AND EXPECTED TIMETABLE

Not applicable.

ITEM 3. KEY INFORMATION

SELECTED FINANCIAL DATA

The following table sets forth our selected consolidated financial data as of and for each of the years in the five-year period ended December 31, 2014. The consolidated financial data has been derived from, and should be read in conjunction with, our Consolidated Financial Statements prepared in accordance with International Financial Reporting Standards as issued by the International Accounting Standards Board (IFRS), presented in “Item 18. Financial Statements” of this report.

Our selected financial data and our Consolidated Financial Statements are presented in euros. Financial data as of and for the year ended December 31, 2014 has been translated into U.S. dollars for the convenience of the reader.

EXCHANGE RATES

The sales prices for our ordinary shares traded on German stock exchanges are denominated in euro. Fluctuations in the exchange rate between the euro and the U.S. dollar affect the dollar equivalent of the euro price of the ordinary shares traded on the German stock exchanges and, as a result, may affect the price of the ADRs traded on the NYSE in the United States. See “Item 9. The Offer and Listing” for a description of the ADRs. In addition, SAP SE pays cash dividends, if any, in euro. As a result, any exchange rate fluctuations will also affect the dollar amounts received by the holders of ADRs on the conversion into dollars of cash dividends paid in euro on the ordinary shares represented by the ADRs. Deutsche Bank Trust Company Americas is the depositary (the Depositary) for SAP SE’s ADR program. The deposit agreement with respect to the ADRs requires the Depositary to convert any dividend payments from euro into dollars as promptly as practicable upon receipt. For additional information on the Depositary and the fees associated with SAP’s ADR program see “Item 12 Description of Securities Other Than Equity Securities – American Depositary Shares.”

A significant portion of our revenue and expense is denominated in currencies other than the euro. Therefore, fluctuations in the exchange rate between the euro and the respective currencies in which we conduct business could materially affect our business, financial position, income or cash flows. See “Item 5. Operating and Financial Review and Prospects – Foreign Currency Exchange Rate Exposure” for details on the impact of these exchange rate fluctuations.

The following table sets forth (i) the average, high and low Noon Buying Rates for the euro expressed as U.S. dollars per €1.00 for the past five years on an annual basis and (ii) the high and low Noon Buying Rates on a monthly basis from July 2014 through and including March 6, 2015.

The Noon Buying Rate on March 6, 2015 was US$1.0855 per €1.00.

DIVIDENDS

Dividend Distribution Policy

Dividends are jointly proposed by SAP SE’s Supervisory Board (Aufsichtsrat) and Executive Board (Vorstand) based on SAP SE’s year-end stand-alone statutory financial statements, subject to approval by the Annual General Meeting of Shareholders. Dividends are officially declared for the prior year at SAP SE’s Annual General Meeting of Shareholders. SAP SE’s Annual General Meeting of Shareholders usually convenes during the second quarter of each year. Dividends are usually remitted to the custodian bank on behalf of the shareholder within one business day following the Annual General Meeting of Shareholders. Record holders of the ADRs on the dividend record date will be entitled to receive payment of the dividend declared in respect of the year for which it is declared. Cash dividends payable to such holders will be paid to the Depositary in euro and, subject to certain exceptions, will be converted by the Depositary into U.S. dollars.

Dividends paid to holders of the ADRs may be subject to German withholding tax. See “Item 8. Financial Information – Other Financial Information – Dividend Policy” and “Item 10. Additional Information – Taxation,” for further information.

Annual Dividends Paid and Proposed

The following table sets forth in euro the annual dividends paid or proposed to be paid per ordinary share in respect of each of the years indicated. One SAP ADR currently represents one SAP SE ordinary share. Accordingly, the final dividend per ADR is equal to the dividend for one SAP SE ordinary share and is dependent on the euro/U.S. dollar exchange rate. The table does not reflect tax credits that may be available to German taxpayers who receive dividend payments. If you own our ordinary shares or ADRs and if you are a U.S. resident, refer to “Item 10. Additional Information – Taxation,” for further information.

The amount of dividends paid on the ordinary shares depends on the amount of profits to be distributed by SAP SE, which depends in part upon our performance. In addition, the amount of dividends received by holders of ADRs may be affected by fluctuations in exchange rates (see “Item 3. Key Information – Exchange Rates”). The timing and amount of future dividend payments will depend upon our future earnings, capital needs and other relevant factors, in each case as proposed by the Executive Board and the Supervisory Board of SAP SE and approved by the Annual General Meeting of Shareholders.

RISK FACTORS

Economic, Political, Social, and Regulatory Risk

Uncertainty in the global economy, financial markets, or political conditions could have a negative impact on our business, financial position, profit, and cash flows, and put pressure on our operating profit.

Our business is influenced by multiple risk factors that are both difficult to predict and beyond our influence and control. These factors include global economic and business conditions and fluctuations in national currencies. Other examples are political developments and general regulations, as well as budgetary constraints or shifts in spending priorities of national governments.

Macroeconomic developments, such as a global economic crisis, chronic fiscal imbalances and slowing economic conditions in emerging markets, might decrease the ability and willingness of our customers to invest in our solutions or might lead to delays in purchasing. In addition, changes in the euro rates for particular currencies might have an adverse effect on business activities with local customers and partners. Furthermore, political instabilities in regions such as the Middle East and Africa, crisis situations (such as in Ukraine), natural disasters, and pandemic diseases (such as Ebola) contribute to economic and political uncertainty.

These events could reduce the demand for SAP software and services, and lead to:

Any one or more of these might reduce our ability to sell and deliver our software and services which could have an adverse effect on our business, financial position, profit, and cash flows.

Our international business activities expose us to numerous and sometimes even conflicting regulatory requirements, and to risks that could harm our business, financial position, profit, and cash flows.

We are a global company and currently market our products and services in more than 180 countries and territories in the Americas (including Latin America and North America); Asia Pacific Japan (APJ); China, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Macau (Greater China); Europe, Middle East, and Africa (EMEA); and Middle and Eastern Europe (MEE) regions. Our business in these countries is subject to numerous risks inherent in international business operations. Among others, these risks include:

As we expand further into new countries and markets, these risks could intensify. The

application of these laws and regulations to our business is sometimes unclear, subject to change over time, and sometimes may conflict between different jurisdictions. Additionally these laws and governments’ approach to enforcement, as well as our products and services, are continuing to change and evolve. Compliance with these types of regulation may involve significant costs or require changes in products or business practices. Non-compliance could result in penalties being imposed on us or orders that we stop the alleged noncompliant activity. One or more of these factors could have an adverse effect on our operations globally or in one or more countries or regions, which could have an adverse effect on our business, financial position, profit, and cash flows.

Social and political instability caused by state-based conflicts, terrorist attacks, civil unrest, war, or international hostilities, as well as pandemic disease outbreaks or natural disasters, may disrupt SAP’s business operations.

Terrorist attacks and other acts of violence or war, civil and political unrest (such as in the Middle East, in Ukraine, Israel, Syria, Libya, and in other parts of Africa), natural disasters (such as hurricanes, flooding, or similar events) or pandemic diseases (such as Ebola) could have a significant adverse effect on the related economy or beyond. Such an event could lead, for example, to the loss of a significant number of our employees, or to the disruption or disablement of operations at our locations, and could affect our ability to provide business services and maintain effective business operations. Furthermore, this could have a significant adverse effect on our partners as well as our customers and their investment decisions, which could have an adverse effect on our reputation, business, financial position, profit, and cash flows.

Market Risks

Our established customers might not buy additional software solutions, subscribe to our cloud offerings, renew maintenance agreements, purchase additional professional services, or they might switch to other products or service offerings (including competitive products).

In 2014, we offered a wide range of support services including SAP MaxAttention, SAP Enterprise Support, and SAP Product Support for

Large Enterprises. We continue to depend materially on the success of our support portfolio and on our ability to deliver high-quality services. Traditionally, our large installed customer base generates additional new software, maintenance, consulting, and training revenue. Despite the high quality and service level of our transformed and expanded service offering in the area of premium engagements, we may be unable to meet customer expectations. Existing customers might cancel or not renew their maintenance contracts, decide not to buy additional products and services, not subscribe to our cloud offerings, or accept alternative offerings from other vendors. In addition, the increasing volume in our cloud business as well as the conversion of traditional on-premise licenses to cloud subscription licenses could have a potential negative impact on our software and maintenance revenue streams. This could have an adverse effect on our on-premise software and maintenance business, financial position, profit, and cash flows.

The success of our cloud computing strategy depends on market perception and an increasing market adoption of our cloud solutions and managed cloud services. Insufficient adoption of our solutions and services could lead to a loss of SAP’s position as a leading cloud company.

The market for cloud computing is increasing and shows strong growth relative to the market for our on-premise solutions. To offer a broad cloud service portfolio and generate the associated business value for our customers, we have acquired cloud computing companies such as SuccessFactors, Ariba, Fieldglass and Concur. Due to ongoing contracts and previous substantial investments to integrate traditional on-premise enterprise software into their businesses, customers and partners might be reluctant or unwilling to migrate to the cloud.

Other factors that could affect the market acceptance of cloud solutions include:

If organizations do not perceive the benefits of cloud computing, the market for cloud business might not develop further, or it may develop more slowly than we expect, either of which could have an adverse effect on our business, financial position, profit, reputation and cash flows.

Our market share and profit could decline due to increased competition, market consolidation and technological innovation, and new business models in the software industry.

The software industry continues to evolve rapidly and is currently undergoing a significant shift due to innovations in the areas of mobile, Big Data, connectivity, the Internet of Things, digital, cloud computing, and social media. While smaller innovative companies tend to create new markets continuously, large traditional IT vendors tend to enter such markets mostly through acquisitions. SAP faces increased competition in its business environment from traditional as well as new competitors. This could result in increased price pressure, cost increases, and loss of market share, which could have an adverse effect on our business, financial position, profit, and cash flows.

Additionally, customers could change their buying behavior by accelerating their acceptance of cloud solutions to reduce their investments which might have a temporary adverse effect on our operating results. Furthermore, the trend in the market to invest more in cloud solutions might lead to an increased risk of the potential loss of existing on-premise customers. It may also have a temporary adverse effect on our revenue due to an increased number of conversions from on-premise licenses to cloud subscriptions from existing SAP customers in our installed base.

Business Strategy Risks

Demand for our new solutions may not develop as planned and our strategy on new business models and flexible consumption models may not be successful.

Our software business consists of new software licenses, software license updates, and support and maintenance fees, as well as of cloud subscriptions. Our customers are looking to take advantage of technological breakthroughs from SAP without compromising their previous IT investments. However, the introduction of new SAP solutions, technologies, and business models as well as delivery and consumption models is subject to uncertainties as to whether customers will be able to perceive the additional value and realize the expected benefits. There is an increased risk that such uncertainties may lead customers to wait for reference customers first, which might result in a lower level of adoption of our new solutions, technologies, business models and flexible consumption models, or no adoption at all. This could have an adverse effect on our business, financial position, profit, and cash flows.

We recognize cloud subscription and support revenue over the term of the respective service periods, and our business depends substantially on customers renewing their agreements and purchasing additional modules or user licenses from us. Although any downturns or upturns in cloud sales may not be immediately reflected in our operating results, any decline in our customer renewals would harm the future operating results of the cloud business.

We recognize cloud subscription and support revenue over the respective service provision, which typically range from one to three years with some up to five years. As a result, most of the respective revenue recognized in a given period originates from agreements entered into in earlier periods. Consequently, a shortfall in demand for our cloud portfolio in any period may not significantly impact our cloud subscription and support revenue for that quarter, but could have an adverse effect on targeted cloud subscription and support revenue in future periods.

To maintain or improve our operating results in the cloud business, it is important that our

customers renew their agreements with us when the initial contract term expires and purchase additional modules or additional users. Our customers have no obligation to renew their subscriptions after the initial subscription period, and we cannot assure that customers will renew subscriptions at the same or at a higher level of service, or at all.

Our customers’ renewal rates may decline or fluctuate as a result of a number of factors, including their satisfaction or dissatisfaction with our cloud solution and services portfolio, the integration capabilities of our cloud solutions into their existing solution environment (including hybrid solutions combining both cloud and on-premise solutions), our customer support, concerns on stable, efficient and secure cloud operations and in compliance with legal and regulatory requirements, our pricing, the prices of competing products or services, mergers and acquisitions affecting our customer base, the effects of global economic conditions, or reductions in our customers’ spending levels.

If our customers do not renew their subscriptions, renew on less favorable terms, or fail to purchase additional modules or users, our revenue and billings may decline, and we may not realize significantly improved operating results from our customer base. This could have an adverse effect on our business, financial position, profit, and cash flows.

If we are unable to scale and enhance an effective partner ecosystem, increased revenue already included in our forecast might be endangered.

An open and vibrant partner ecosystem is a fundamental pillar of our success and growth strategy. We have entered into partnership agreements that drive co-innovation on our platforms, profitably expand all our routes-to-market to optimize market coverage, and provide high-quality services capacity in all market segments. Partners play a key role in driving market adoption of our entire solutions portfolio, by co-innovating on our platforms, embedding our technology, and reselling and/or implementing our software.

If partners consider our products or services model less strategic and/or financially less attractive compared to our competition or if SAP fails to establish a network of qualified partners that meet our quality requirements and the

requirements of our customers, then, among other things, partners might not:

If one or more of these risks materialize, this may have an adverse effect on the demand for our products and services. As a result we may not be able to scale our business to compete successfully with other software vendors, which could have an adverse effect on our reputation, business, financial position, profit, and cash flows.

Human Capital Risks

If we do not effectively manage our geographically dispersed workforce, we may not be able to run our business efficiently and successfully.

Our success is dependent on appropriate alignment of our internal and external workforce planning processes and our location strategy with our general strategy. It is critical that we manage our internationally dispersed workforce effectively, taking short and long-term workforce and skill requirements into consideration. This applies to the management of our internal as well as our external workforce. Changes in headcount and infrastructure needs could result in a mismatch

between our expenses and revenue. Failure to manage our geographically dispersed workforce effectively could hinder our ability to run our business efficiently and successfully and could have an adverse effect on our business, financial position, profit, and cash flows.

If we are unable to attract, develop, and retain leaders and employees with specialized knowledge and technology skills, or are unable to achieve internal diversity and inclusion objectives, we might not be able to manage our operations effectively and successfully, or develop successful new solutions and services.

Our highly qualified workforce is the foundation for our continued success. In certain regions and specific technology and solution areas, we continue to set very high growth targets, specifically in countries and regions such as Africa, China, and Latin America. In the execution of SAP’s strategic priorities, we depend on highly skilled and specialized personnel and leaders, both male and female. Successful maintenance and expansion of our highly skilled and specialized workforce in the area of cloud is a key success factor for our transition to become the leading cloud company. The availability of such personnel is limited and as a result competition in our industry is intense and could expose us to claims by other companies seeking to prevent their employees from working for a competitor. If we are unable to identify, attract, develop, motivate, adequately compensate, and retain well-qualified and engaged personnel, or if existing highly skilled and specialized personnel leave SAP and ready successors or adequate replacements are not available, we may not be able to manage our operations effectively, which could have an adverse effect on our reputation, business, financial position, profit, and cash flows. Furthermore, we may not be able to develop, sell, or implement successful new solutions and services as planned. This is particularly true as we continue to introduce new and innovative technology offerings and expand our business in emerging markets. The lack of appropriate or inadequately executed benefit and compensation programs could limit SAP’s ability to attract or retain qualified employees and lead to financial losses. In addition, we might not be able to achieve our internal gender diversity objectives to increase the number of women in management from 18% in 2010 to 25% by 2017.

Organizational and Governance-Related Risks

Laws and regulatory requirements in Germany, the United States, and elsewhere have become much more stringent.

As a European company domiciled in Germany with securities listed in Germany and the United States, we are subject to European, German, U.S., and other governance-related regulatory requirements. Changes in laws and regulations and related interpretations, including changes in accounting standards and taxation requirements, and increased enforcement actions and penalties may alter the business environment in which we operate. Regulatory requirements have become significantly more stringent in recent years, and some legislation, such as the anticorruption legislation in Germany, the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, the UK Bribery Act, and other local laws prohibiting corrupt payments by employees, vendors, distributors, or agents, is being applied more rigorously. Emerging markets are a significant focus of our international growth strategy. The nature of these markets presents a number of inherent risks. A failure by us to comply with applicable laws and regulations, or any related allegations of wrongdoing against us, whether merited or not, could have an adverse effect on our business, financial position, profit, cash flows and reputation.

Non-compliance with applicable data protection and privacy laws or failure to adequately meet the requirements of SAP’s customers with respect to our products and services could lead to civil liabilities and fines, as well as loss of customers and damage to SAP’s reputation.

As a global software and service provider, SAP is required to comply with the laws in the locations where SAP does business. SAP and its subsidiaries are facing a surge of data protection and privacy laws and regulations around the world, with further changes to be expected in the future, for example, by the European Data Protection Regulation proposed by the European Commission. These laws and regulations amend and supplement existing requirements regarding the processing of personal data that SAP and SAP customers must fulfill and which we must consequently address with our products and

services, including cloud delivery. Failure to comply with applicable laws or to adequately address privacy concerns of customers, even if unfounded, could lead to investigations by supervisory authorities, civil liability, fines, (in the future, potentially calculated based on the Company’s annual revenue), loss of customers, damage to our reputation, and could have an adverse effect on our business, financial position, profit, and cash flows.

Failure to respond to meet customer, partner, or other stakeholder expectations or generally accepted standards on climate change, energy constraints, and our social investment strategy could negatively impact SAP’s business, results of operations, and reputation.

Energy and emissions management are an integral component of our holistic management of social, environmental, and economic risks and opportunities. We have identified risks in these major areas:

Because our customers, employees, and investors expect a reliable energy and carbon strategy, we have reemphasized our previously communicated targets, especially our 2020 target for greenhouse gas emissions. In addition, our customers might no longer recognize SAP for its environmental leadership and might buy other vendors’ products and services. Consequently, we could fail to achieve our revenue target. If we do not meet stakeholder expectations in the areas identified, our rating in sustainable investment indices might decrease, which could have an adverse effect on our reputation, business, financial position, profit, and cash flows.

Unethical behavior and non-compliance with our integrity standards due to intentional and fraudulent behavior of employees could seriously harm our business, financial position, profit, and reputation.

SAP’s leadership position in the global market is founded on the long-term and sustainable trust of

our stakeholders worldwide. Our heritage is one of corporate transparency, open communication with financial markets, and adherence to recognized standards of business integrity. The SAP Code of Business Conduct, adopted by the Executive Board on January 29, 2003, put into words the already existing guidelines and expectations for the business behavior practiced at SAP.

However, we may encounter unethical behavior and non-compliance with our integrity standards due to intentional and fraudulent behavior of individual employees, possibly in collusion with external third parties. In addition to intentional behavior, problems could also arise due to negligence in the adherence to rules and regulations. Unethical behavior and misconduct attributable to SAP could not only lead to criminal charges, fines, and claims by injured parties, but also to financial loss, and severe reputational damage. This could have an adverse effect on our business, financial position, profit, and cash flows.

Principal shareholders may be able to exert control over our future direction and operations.

If SAP SE’s principal shareholders and the holdings of entities controlled by them vote in the same manner, this could delay, prevent or facilitate a change in control of SAP or other significant changes to SAP SE or its capital structure. See “Item 7. Major Shareholders and Related-Party Transactions – Major Shareholders” for further information.

U.S. judgments may be difficult or impossible to enforce against us or our Board members.

Currently, except for Bill McDermott and Robert Enslin, all members of SAP SE’s Executive Board and all members of the Supervisory Board are non-residents of the United States. A substantial portion of the assets of SAP and our Board members are located outside the United States. As a result, it may not be possible to effect service of process within the United States upon non-U.S. resident persons or SAP or to enforce against non-U.S. resident persons judgments obtained in U.S. courts predicated upon the civil liability provisions of the securities laws of the United States. In addition, awards of punitive damages in actions brought in the United States or elsewhere might be unenforceable in Germany.

Communication and Information Risks

Our controls and efforts to prevent the unauthorized disclosure of confidential information might not always be effective.

Confidential or strictly confidential information and internal information that is related to topics such as our strategy, new technologies, mergers and acquisitions, unpublished financial results, or personal data, could be prematurely or inadvertently disclosed and subsequently lead to misperception in the market. This could require us to notify multiple regulatory agencies and, where appropriate, the data owner, which could result in a loss of reputation for SAP. For example, leaked information during a merger or acquisition deal could cause the loss of our deal target, or our share price could decline in case of prematurely published financial results. This could have an adverse effect on our market position and lead to fines and penalties. In addition, this could have an adverse effect on our business, financial position, profit, and cash flows.

Financial Risks

Our sales are subject to quarterly fluctuations and our sales forecasts may not be accurate.

Our revenue and operating results can vary and have varied in the past, sometimes substantially, from quarter to quarter. Our revenue in general, and in particular our software revenue, is difficult to forecast for a number of reasons, including:

Since many of our customers make their IT purchasing decisions near the end of calendar quarters, and with a significant percentage of those decisions being made during our fourth quarter, even a small delay in purchasing decisions for our on-premise software could have an adverse effect on our revenue results for a given year. Our dependence on large transactions has decreased in recent years with a trend towards an increased number of transactions coupled with a decrease in deal size. However, the loss or delay of one or a few large opportunities, which are still characteristic of the large enterprise segment, could have an adverse effect on our business, financial position, profit, and cash flows.

External factors could impact our liquidity and increase the default risk associated with, and the valuation of, our financial assets.

Macroeconomic factors such as an economic downturn could have an adverse effect on our future liquidity. We use a globally centralized financial management to control financial risk, such as liquidity, exchange rate, interest rate, counterparty, and equity price risks. The primary aim is to maintain liquidity in the SAP Group at a level that is adequate to meet our obligations at any time. Our total Group liquidity is supported by our strong operating cash flows, of which a large

part is recurring, and by credit facilities on which we can draw if necessary. However, adverse macroeconomic factors could increase the default risk associated with the investment of our total Group liquidity including possible liquidity shortages limiting SAP’s ability to repay financial debt. This could have an impact on the value of our financial assets, which could have an adverse effect on our business, financial position, profit, and cash flows.

Management’s use of estimates could negatively affect our business, financial position, profit, and cash flows.

To comply with IFRS, management is required to make numerous judgments, estimates, and assumptions (among others for our major patent disputes) that affect the reported financial figures. The facts and circumstances, as well as assumptions on which management bases these estimates and judgments and management’s judgment regarding the facts and circumstances, may change from time to time and this could result in significant changes in the estimates and judgments and consequently in the reported financials. Such changes could have an adverse effect on our business, financial position, profit and cash flows.

Current and future accounting pronouncements and other financial reporting standards, especially but not only concerning revenue recognition, may negatively impact the financial results we present.

We regularly monitor our compliance with applicable financial reporting standards and review new pronouncements and drafts thereof that are relevant to us. As a result of new standards, changes to existing standards (including the new IFRS 15 on revenue from contracts with customers that we will likely need to adopt in 2017), and changes in their interpretation, we might be required to change our accounting policies, particularly concerning revenue recognition, to alter our operational policies so that they reflect new or amended financial reporting standards, or to restate our published financial statements. Such changes may have an adverse effect on our reputation, business, financial position, and profit, or cause an adverse deviation from our revenue and operating profit target.

Because we conduct operations throughout the world, our business, financial position, profit, and cash flows may be affected by currency and interest rate fluctuations.

Our SAP Group-wide management reporting and our external financial reporting are both in euros. Nevertheless, a significant portion of our business is conducted in currencies other than the euro. Approximately 71% of our revenue in 2014 was attributable to operations outside the euro area and was translated into euros. Consequently, period-over-period changes in the euro rates for particular currencies can significantly affect our reported revenue and income. In general, appreciation of the euro relative to another currency has an adverse effect while depreciation of the euro relative to another currency has a positive effect. Variable interest balance-sheet items are also subject to changes in interest rates. Such changes may have an adverse effect on our business, financial position, profit and cash flows or cause an adverse deviation from our revenue and operating profit target.

The cost of using derivative instruments to hedge share-based payments may exceed the benefits of hedging them.

We use derivative instruments to reduce the impact of our share-based payments on our income statement and to limit future expense associated with those plans. We decide on a case-by-case basis whether and to what extent we should hedge this risk. The expense of hedging the share-based payments could exceed the benefit achieved by hedging them. On the other hand, a decision to leave the plans materially unhedged could prove disadvantageous. This could have an adverse effect on our business, financial position, profit and cash flows or cause an adverse deviation from our revenue and operating profit target.

The market price for our ADRs and ordinary shares may be volatile.

The market prices of our ADRs and ordinary shares have experienced and may continue to experience significant volatility in response to various factors including, but not limited to:

Many of these factors are beyond our control. In the past, companies that have experienced volatility in the market price of their stock have been subject to shareholder lawsuits, including securities class action litigation. Any such lawsuits against us, with or without merit, could result in substantial costs and the diversion of management’s attention and resources, resulting in a decline in our results of operations and our stock price.

Project Risks

Implementation of SAP software often involves a significant commitment of resources by our customers and is subject to a number of significant risks over which we often have no control.

A core element of our business is the successful implementation of software solutions to enable

our customers to make their business a best-run business. The implementation of SAP software is led by SAP, by partners, by customers, or by a combination thereof. Depending on various factors, such as the complexity of solutions, the customer’s implementation, integration and migration needs, or the resources required, SAP faces a number of different risks. For example, functional requirement changes, delays in timeline, or deviation from recommended best practices may occur during the course of a project. These scenarios have a direct impact on the project resource model and on securing adequate internal personnel or consultants in a timely manner and could therefore prove challenging.

As a result of these and other risks, SAP and/or some of our customers have incurred significant implementation costs in connection with the purchase and installation of SAP software products. Some customers’ implementations have taken longer than planned. We cannot guarantee that we can reduce or eliminate protracted installation or significant third-party consulting costs, that trained consultants will be readily available, that our costs will not exceed the fees agreed in fixed-price contracts, or that customers will be satisfied with the implementation of our software and solutions. Unsuccessful, lengthy, or costly customer implementation and integration projects could result in claims from customers, harm SAP’s reputation, and could have an adverse effect on our business, financial position, profit, and cash flows.

Product and Technology Risks

Undetected security vulnerabilities shipped and deployed within our software products might cause damage to SAP and our customers, and partners.

Customer systems or systems operated by SAP itself to provide services could potentially be compromised by vulnerabilities if they are exploited by hackers. This could lead to theft, destruction, or abuse of data, or systems could be rendered unusable (for example, due to distributed denial of service attacks). The detection of security vulnerabilities in our software, our customers’ systems, or SAP systems used in the provision of services, especially in case of exploitation, could prevent us from meeting our contractual obligations and subsequently might lead to customer claims and

reputational damage, which might have an adverse effect on our business, financial position, profit, and cash flows.

Undetected defects in the introduction of new products and product enhancements could increase our costs, and reduce customer demand.

To achieve market acceptance and high customer satisfaction, our new products and product enhancements often require long development and testing periods. Development work and market introduction are subject to risks. For example, products might not completely meet our stringent high-quality standards, including security standards, might not fulfill market needs or customer expectations, or might not comply with local standards and requirements. Furthermore, this risk also exists with respect to acquired companies’ technologies and products where we might not be able to manage these as quickly and successfully as expected. Therefore, market launches, entering new markets, or the introduction of new innovations could be delayed or not be successful.

In addition, new products, including third-party technologies we have licensed and open source software components we use in those products, could contain undetected defects or they might not be mature enough from the customer’s point of view for business-critical solutions. The detection and correction of any defects especially after shipment could be expensive and time-consuming and we might not be able to meet the expectations of customers regarding time and quality in the defect resolution process. In some circumstances, we might not be in a position to rectify such defects or entirely meet the expectations of customers, specifically as we are expanding our product portfolio into additional markets. As a result, we might be faced with customer claims for cash refunds, damages, replacement software, or other concessions. The risk of defects and their adverse consequences could increase as we seek to introduce a variety of new software products simultaneously at a higher innovation rate. Significant undetected defects or delays in introducing new products or product enhancements could affect market acceptance of SAP software products and could have an adverse effect on our reputation, business, financial position, profit, and cash flows.

The use of existing SAP software products by customers in business-critical solutions and

processes and the relative complexity and technical interdependency of our software products create a risk that customers or third parties may pursue warranty, performance, or other claims against us for actual or alleged defects in SAP software products, in our provision of services, or in our application hosting services. We have in the past been, and may in the future be, subject to warranty, performance, or other similar claims.

Although our contracts generally contain provisions designed to limit our exposure due to actual or alleged defects in SAP software products or in our provision of services, these provisions may not cover every eventuality or be effective under the applicable law. Regardless of its merits, any claim could entail substantial expense and require the devotion of significant time and attention by key management personnel. Publicity surrounding such claims could affect our reputation and the demand for our software.

Changes in our rights to use software and technologies we license from third parties, which are an integral part of SAP’s products, could slow down time to market and influence our license pricing and therefore the competitiveness with other software vendors. Furthermore, it could diminish our software’s functional capabilities and therefore could jeopardize the stability of our solution portfolio offering.

The numerous third-party technologies we have licensed and certain open source software components we use have become an integral part of our product portfolio. We depend on those technologies for the functionality of our software or cloud services. Changes to, or the loss of, third-party licenses as well as open source licenses being construed could significantly increase the cost of these licenses and significantly reduce software functionality and/or usability of SAP’s software products. As a result, we might incur additional development or license costs to ensure the continued functionality of our products, which could have an adverse effect on our business, financial position, profit, and cash flows. This risk increases with each acquisition of a company or a company’s intellectual property assets that had been subject to third-party technology licensing, open source software, and product standards less rigorous than our own.

If we are unable to keep up with rapid technological innovations, new business models, and changing market expectations, we might not be able to compete effectively.

Our future success depends upon our ability to keep pace with technological and process innovations and new business models, as well as our ability to develop new products and services, enhance and expand our existing products and services portfolio, and integrate products and services we obtain through acquisitions. To be successful, we are required to shift our products and our go-to-market approach to a cloud-based delivery model to satisfy changing customer demand.

We might not be successful in bringing new business models, solutions, solution enhancements, and/or services to market before our competitors. We may also face increasing competition from open source software initiatives in which competitors may provide software and intellectual property free and/or under terms and conditions unfavorable for SAP. In addition, we might not be able to generate enough revenue to offset the significant research and development costs we incur to deliver technological innovations or to offset the required infrastructure costs to deliver our solutions and services as part of our new business models. Moreover, we might not anticipate and develop technological improvements or succeed in adapting our products, services, processes, and business models to technological change, changing regulatory requirements, emerging industry standards, and changing requirements of our customers and partners. Finally, we might not succeed in producing high-quality products, enhancements, and releases in a timely and cost-effective manner to compete with products, solutions, and other technologies offered by our competitors, which could have an adverse effect on our reputation, business, financial position, profit, and cash flows.

Our technology and/or product strategy may not be successful or our customers and partners might not adopt our technology platforms and other innovations accordingly.

We offer customers a broad portfolio of products, solutions, and services. Our technology strategy

centers on SAP HANA as a real-time in-memory computing platform for analytics and applications. The success of our technology strategy depends on the convergence of SAP HANA with our mobile, cloud, and SAP NetWeaver platform. It also depends on the delivery of SAP solutions based on the SAP HANA platform as well as the success of our new framework to meet changing customer expectations regarding end-to-end user experience. Our technology strategy also relies on our ability to maintain a dynamic network of partner organizations developing their own business applications using our technology platforms.

We might not be successful in integrating our platforms, enabling the complete product portfolio, harmonizing our user interface design and technology, integrating acquired technologies, or bringing new solutions based on the SAP HANA platform to the market as fast as expected. In addition, we may not be able to compete effectively in the area of managed cloud services. As a result, our partner organizations and customers might not adopt the SAP HANA platform or our managed cloud services quickly enough or they might consider competitive solutions. This could have an adverse effect on our reputation, business, financial position, profit, and cash flows.

Our cloud offerings might be subject to a security attack, become unavailable, or fail to perform properly.

The software used in our cloud portfolio is inherently complex and any defects in product functionality, system stability, or data center operations that cause interruptions in the availability of our application portfolio could result in the following:

The costs incurred in correcting any defects or errors might be substantial and could have an adverse effect on our reputation, business, financial position, profit, and cash flows. Because of the large amount of data that we collect and manage, it is possible that hardware failures, defects in our software, or errors in our systems could result in data loss or corruption, or cause the information that we collect to be incomplete or contain inaccuracies that our customers regard as significant. Furthermore, the availability of our cloud applications could be interrupted by a number of factors, including customers’ inability to access the Internet, the failure of our network or software systems due to human or other error, security breaches, or variability in user traffic for our cloud applications. Additionally, any loss of the right to use hardware purchased or leased from third parties could result in delays in our ability to provide our cloud applications until equivalent technology is either developed by us or, if available, identified. Furthermore, our cooperation with partners in the area of cloud includes the co-location of data centers that might expose SAP to additional risks in the area of security and data protection, as well as the potential for breached service-level agreements by partners.

We have administrative, technical, and physical security measures in place as well as contracts that require third-party data centers to have appropriate security and data protection and privacy measures in place. In this context, customers might demand to only use specific and/or local data centers. However, if these security measures are breached as a result of third-party action, employee error or malfeasance, or otherwise, and if, as a result, someone obtains unauthorized access to our customers’ data, which may include personally identifiable information regarding users, our reputation could be damaged, our business may suffer, local data protection and privacy laws or regulations might be breached, and we could incur significant liability.

In addition, our insurance coverage might not cover claims against us for loss or security breach of data or other indirect or consequential damages. Moreover, defending a suit, regardless of its merit, could be costly and time-consuming. In addition to potential liability, if we experience interruptions in the availability of our cloud applications, our reputation could be harmed and we could lose customers.

Operational Risks

Third parties have claimed, and might claim in the future, that we infringe their intellectual property rights, which could lead to damages being awarded against us and limit our ability to use certain technologies in the future.

We believe that we will increasingly be subject to intellectual property infringement claims as the number of products in our industry segment grows, as we acquire companies with increased use of third-party code including open source code, as we expand into new industry segments with our products, resulting in greater overlap in the functional scope of products, and as non-practicing entities that do not design, manufacture, or distribute products increasingly assert intellectual property infringement claims.

Any claims, with or without merit, and negotiations or litigation relating to such claims, could preclude us from utilizing certain technologies in our products, be time-consuming, result in costly litigation, and require us to pay damages to third parties, stop selling or reconfigure our products and, under certain circumstances, pay fines and indemnify our customers, which could have an adverse effect on our business, financial profile, profit, cash flows, and reputation. They could also require us to enter into royalty and licensing arrangements on terms that are not favorable to us, cause product shipment delays, subject our products to injunctions, require a complete or partial redesign of products, result in delays to our customers’ investment decisions, and damage our reputation.

Software includes many components or modules that provide different features and perform different functions. Some of these features or functions may be subject to third-party intellectual property rights. The rights of another party could encompass technical aspects that are similar to one or more technologies in one or more of our products. Intellectual property rights of third parties could preclude us from using certain technologies in our products or require us to enter into royalty and licensing arrangements on unfavorable or expensive terms.

The software industry is making increasing use of open source software in its development work on solutions. We also integrate certain open source software components from third parties into our software. Open source licenses may require that

the software code in those components or the software into which they are integrated be freely accessible under open source terms. Third-party claims may require us to make freely accessible under open source terms one of our products or non-SAP software upon which we depend.

Claims and lawsuits against us could have an adverse effect on our business, financial position, profit, cash flows, and reputation.

Claims and lawsuits are brought against us, including claims and lawsuits involving businesses we have acquired. Adverse outcomes to some or all of the claims and lawsuits pending against us might result in the award of significant damages or injunctive relief against us that could hinder our ability to conduct our business and could have an adverse effect on our reputation, business, financial position, profit, and cash flows.

The outcome of litigation and other claims or lawsuits is intrinsically uncertain. Management’s view of the litigation may also change in the future. Actual outcomes of litigation and other claims or lawsuits could differ from the assessments made by management in prior periods which are the basis for the lawsuit-related provisions we set up according to the IFRS.

We might not acquire and integrate companies effectively or successfully and our strategic alliances might not be successful.

To expand our business, we have in the past made acquisitions of businesses, products, and technologies. Such acquisitions have increased in size and in strategic importance for SAP, and we expect to continue to make acquisitions in the future. Management’s negotiation of potential acquisitions and alliances and integration of acquired businesses, products, or technologies demands time, focus, and resources of management and of the workforce. Acquisitions of companies, businesses, and technology expose us to unpredictable operational difficulties, expenditures, and increased risks. These risks include, among others:

In addition, acquired businesses might not perform as anticipated, resulting in charges for the impairment of goodwill and other intangible assets on our statements of financial position. Such charges may have an adverse effect on our business, financial position, profit, and cash flows. We have entered into, and expect to continue to enter into, alliance arrangements for a variety of purposes, including the development of new products and services. There can be no assurance that any such products or services will be successfully developed or that we will not incur significant unanticipated liabilities in connection with such arrangements. We may not be successful in overcoming these risks and we may therefore not benefit as anticipated from acquisitions or alliances.

We may not be able to obtain adequate title to, or licenses in, or to enforce, intellectual property.

Protecting and defending our intellectual property is crucial to our success. We use a variety of means to identify and monitor potential risks and to protect our intellectual property. These include applying for patents, registering trademarks and other marks and copyrights, implementing measures to stop copyright and trademark infringement, entering into licensing, confidentiality, and non-disclosure agreements, and deploying protection technology. Despite our efforts, we might not be able to prevent third parties from obtaining, using, or selling without authorization what we regard as our proprietary technology and information. All of these measures afford only limited protection, and our proprietary rights could be challenged, invalidated, held unenforceable, or otherwise affected. Some intellectual property might be vulnerable to disclosure or misappropriation by employees, partners, or other third parties. Third parties might independently develop technologies that are substantially equivalent or superior to our technology. Finally, third parties might reverse-engineer or otherwise obtain and use technology and information that we regard as proprietary. Accordingly, we might not be able to protect our proprietary rights against unauthorized third-party copying or utilization, which could have an adverse effect on our competitive and financial positions, and result in reduced sales. Any legal action we bring to enforce our proprietary rights could also involve enforcement against a partner or other third party, which may have an adverse effect on our ability, and our customers’ ability, to

use that partner’s or other third parties’ products. In addition, the laws and courts of certain countries may not offer effective means to enforce our intellectual property rights. This could have an adverse effect on our reputation, business, financial position, profit, and cash flows.

SAP’s business strategy focuses on certain business models that are highly dependent on a working cyberspace. A cybersecurity breach could have an adverse effect on our customers, our reputation, and our business.

The key cybersecurity risks currently applicable to SAP include state-driven economic espionage as well as competitor-driven industrial espionage, and criminal activities including, but not limited to, cyber-attacks and “ mega breaches” against on-premise software, hosted, and cloud services. This might result in, for example, leakage of confidential information and intellectual property, defective products, production downtimes, supply shortages, and compromised data (including personal data). A failure of our cybersecurity measures could expose our business operations and service delivery to the described risks, for example, virtual attack, disruption, damage, and/or unauthorized access. Additionally, we could be subject to recovery costs, for example, as well as significant contractual and legal claims by customers, partners, authorities, and third-party service providers for damages against us, which could have an adverse effect on our reputation, business, financial position, profit, and cash flows.

We may not be able to protect our critical information and assets or to safeguard our business operations against disruption.

SAP is highly dependent on the exchange of a wide range of information across our global operations and on the availability of our infrastructure. With regard to our physical environment, we face several key security risks such as industrial and/or economic espionage, serious and organized crime, and other illegal activities, as well as violent extremism and terrorism. We might be endangered by threats including, but not limited to, social engineering, misuse, or theft of information or assets, or damage to assets by trespassers in our facilities or by people who have gained unauthorized physical access to our facilities, systems, or information. These could have an adverse effect on our business, financial profile, profit, and cash flows.

Our insurance coverage might not be sufficient and uninsured losses may occur.

We maintain insurance coverage to protect us against a broad range of risks, at levels we believe are appropriate and consistent with current industry practice. Our objective is to exclude or minimize risk of financial loss at reasonable cost. However, we may incur losses that may be beyond the limits, or outside the scope, of coverage of our insurance and that may limit or prevent indemnification under our insurance policies. In addition, we might not be able to maintain adequate insurance coverage on commercially reasonable terms in the future. Further, certain categories of risks are currently not insurable at reasonable cost, which could have an adverse effect on our business, financial position, profit, and cash flows. Finally, there can be no assurance of the financial ability of the insurance companies to meet their claim payment obligations.

We could incur significant losses in connection with venture capital investments.

Through Sapphire Ventures (formerly SAP Ventures), our consolidated venture investment funds, we plan to continue investing in new and promising technology businesses. Many such investments initially generate net losses and require additional expenditures from their investors. Changes to planned business operations have, in the past affected, and may in the future affect, the performance of companies in which Sapphire Ventures holds investments, and that could have an adverse effect on the value of our investments in Sapphire Ventures, which could have an adverse effect on our business, financial position, profit, and cash flows. Furthermore, tax deductibility of capital losses and impairment in connection with equity securities are often restricted and could therefore have an adverse effect on our effective tax rate.

ITEM 4. INFORMATION ABOUT SAP

Our legal corporate name is SAP SE. SAP SE is translated in English to SAP European Company (Societas Europaea, or “SE”). SAP SE changed its legal form from a German stock corporation (Aktiengesellschaft) to a European Company (SE), and its name from “SAP AG” to “SAP SE”, with effect from July 7, 2014. Where the context requires in the discussion below, SAP SE also