FRANKFURT: German business software maker SAP on Tuesday reported a 15 percent rise in operating profit helped by a cheap euro, even as rising sales of cloud-based software dampened profit margins relative to its classic licensed software business.

Europe's largest software company said on Tuesday first-quarter operating profit, excluding special items, rose to 1.06 billion euros, in line with the average expectation of 1.06 billion euros in a Reuters poll.

SAP stuck to its outlook for the full 2015 year for non-IFRS operating profit of between 5.6 billion euros and 5.9 billion euros at constant currencies, which represents flat growth to a rise of as much as 5 percent from 5.6 billion euros last year.

Including the effect of the weaker euro, which makes the multinational software maker's products and services more competitive outside Europe, operating profit is expected to grow as much as 18 percent, the company said.

Last month, SAP had predicted that rise could be as much as 19 percent.

Copyright Reuters, 2015