Office and cloud boost Microsoft income and profits in first quarter
Microsoft has reported strong growth in its latest quarterly financial results thanks to continued cloud uptake in the commercial sector and an increase in people subscribing to its Office 365 products.
In the three months to the end of March, the computing giant saw a boost in revenue, operating income and net profit compared with the same period last year.
“Leading organisations of every size in every industry trust the Microsoft cloud,” said Microsoft chief executive Satya Nadella.
“We are accelerating our innovation across the cloud and edge so our customers can build the digital capability increasingly required to compete and grow.”
Revenue stood at 30.6 billion dollars (£23.7 billion) – a rise of 14% – while operating income jumped by 25% to 10.3 billion dollars (£8 billion) and net income climbed 18% to 8.8 billion dollars (£6.8 billion).
💻 Business Highlights: More Personal Computing 🎮Windows commercial products and cloud services revenue ⬆️ 18%Gaming revenue ⬆️ 5%Surface revenue ⬆️ 21%Search advertising revenue ⬆️ 12%
— Microsoft (@Microsoft) April 24, 2019
The company’s key online software suite Office and cloud led much of the positive results, with revenue up by 12% for the commercial side, driven by a 30% rise in revenue from Office 365 Commercial.
Its consumer Office products and cloud services painted a similar picture, increasing revenue by 8%, and counting 34.2 million subscribers to its Office 365 Consumer service.
Revenue from its Surface devices also increased 21%, while gaming grew 5%, with Xbox software and services revenue growing of 12%.
“Demand for our cloud offerings drove commercial cloud revenue to 9.6 billion dollar this quarter, up 41% year-over-year,” said Amy Hood, executive vice president and chief financial officer of Microsoft.
“We continue to drive growth in revenue and operating income with consistent execution from our sales teams and partners and targeted strategic investments.”
