Profit soars for Microsoft fueled by cloud, biz services

Microsoft yesterday posted quarterly earnings that trounced expectations, citing growth in partnerships with companies on technology and cloud computing services. The US technology titan, shifting in recent years to business services from consumer tech, reported its net income rose 49 per cent to $13.2 billion on revenue that was up 12pc to $33.7 billion.

Microsoft’s profit in the fiscal fourth quarter that ended June 30 was helped by at $2.6 billion tax benefit, according to the company. The results showed the “strongest commercial quarter ever,” for Microsoft, said chief financial officer Amy Hood. Chief executive Satya Nadella said the results closed out a record fiscal year for the tech giant, which has the largest market value of any company at more than $1 trillion.

“It was a record fiscal year for Microsoft, a result of our deep partnerships with leading companies in every industry,” said Nadella. “Every day, we work alongside our customers to help them build their own digital capability...This commitment to our customers’ success is resulting in larger, multi-year commercial cloud agreements and growing momentum across every layer of our technology stack.”

Net income for the fiscal year more than doubled to $39.2 billion on revenue that was up 14pc to $125.8bn, according to the earnings report. Microsoft shares rose 1.4pc to $138.35 in after-market trading that followed release of the earnings figures. Microsoft reported growth across all it businesses except Xbox gaming unit where revenue declined 10pc.