Microsoft posts better than expected financial results as revenue grows 16% in a year

CEO says results vindicate focus on cloud products

A Microsoft logo is seen in Los Angeles, California (Reuters)

Microsoft reported steady growth in its latest round of financial results as the company's chief executive praised the performance of its cloud services.

The technology giant reported revenue of $26.8bn (£19.2bn), a 16 per cent increase on the same quarter last year.

The company's net income also rose 35 per cent to $7.4bn (£5.3bn).

Chief executive Satya Nadella, who has overseen a shift in the firm's focus away from hardware such as smartphones and towards its software and cloud products such as Office 365, said the results reflected industry faith in the move.

“Our results this quarter reflect the trust people and organisations are placing in the Microsoft Cloud,” he said.

“We are innovating across key growth categories of infrastructure, AI, productivity and business applications to deliver differentiated value to customers.”

The company's results showed 42 per cent commercial revenue growth for Office 365 - the subscription and cloud-based version of Microsoft Office that enables businesses to access their files from anywhere.

Consumer user numbers of Office 365 were also up, with subscribers increasing to 30.6 million.

Microsoft's chief financial officer Amy Hood said the company had beaten expectations for the quarter.

“With consistent investment and strong sales execution, this quarter we achieved better-than-expected performance across all segments,” she said.

“We delivered double-digit revenue and operating income growth driven by 58 per cent growth in our commercial cloud revenue.”

PA