SAN FRANCISCO: Oracle Corp moved to reassure investors that its business management software unit is healthy, even after sales dropped sharply in its most-recent quarter, telling investors it will catch up with bigger rival SAP AG.

"We expect to catch them since we are growing so much faster than they are," Oracle president Safra Catz said at a financial analyst meeting in San Francisco.

Oracle, the world's third-largest software maker, last week reported that sales of business management software dropped 12 per cent to $331 million in its fiscal first quarter ended August 31. The company and some analysts downplayed the decline, noting that they had risen 36 per cent in the fourth quarter.

Business management software, or applications programs, helps companies manage tasks such as accounting, sales activities, inventory control, manufacturing and human resources.

SAP has long been the world's biggest maker of such programs, but Oracle has been boosting its share of the market through a string of acquisitions, including its purchases of PeopleSoft and Siebel.