STOCKHOLM, Oct 13 (Reuters) - German business software group SAP raised its full-year outlook for a third time on the back of a strong showing in the third quarter as more customers shift their IT operations to the cloud.

SAP now expects cloud revenue to grow by 16%-19% in the year as a whole, helping its overall cloud and software revenue to gain by 2%-4%, it said in a statement late on Tuesday.

Operating profit is expected to be flat to down 2% for the year, an improvement from its earlier forecast of unchanged to down 4%. (Reporting by Supantha Mukherjee; editing by Richard Pullin)