WALLDORF (dpa-AFX) - Europe's largest software maker SAP plans to buy back shares for up to five billion euros following the announced sale of its U.S. market research subsidiary Qualtrics. The program should start in the second half of this year and be completed by the end of 2025, the Walldorf-based company said Tuesday. The program is conditional on the expected completion of the sale of Qualtrics in the second half of the year. The stock was up about one percent in after-hours trading compared with the Xetra close.

With the most recent two share buybacks, SAP had bought back paper for 1.5 billion euros in 2020, last year also at this level. From the share sale of the majority in Qualtrics, SAP expects a sales lot of 7.7 billion US dollars (7.1 billion euros), according to earlier information./men/jha/