Oct 14 - Germany's SAP , the world's biggest maker of business software, reported a jump in its third quarter sales and profits, sending its shares more than 3 percent higher on Friday.

SAP's pipeline remains very strong and companies continue to invest in IT, SAP said in a statement, Due to the ongoing uncertain macroeconomic environment, the company's outlook for the full year 2011 remains unchanged.

SAP said sales at its key software and software-related services business rose 16 percent from a year ago to 2.69 billion euros.

Underlying operating profit for the group jumped 23 percent from a year ago to 1.13 billion euros ($1.5 billion), with reported profit numbers growing even faster due to a one-off gain of 723 million euros from reduction of a litigation provision.

Shares in SAP were 3.2 percent higher at 41.855 euros by 0951 GMT.

The company will report full results on Oct 26. ($1 = 0.730 Euros)

(Reporting by Tarmo Virki, Frankfurt Newsroom; Editing by Hans-Juergen Peters)

Germany