Sales at Microsoft for the second quarter were up by six per cent but overall profit was down by nearly $1 billion (£500 million), the software giant has revealed.
The X-Box maker reported sales of $12.5 billion (£6.5 billion) during the period but announced a profit of $2.63 billion (£1.3 billion), down from $3.65 billion (£1.8 billion) from the previous year.
The profit translated to 26 cents per share, down from 34 cents per share the previous year.
However, profit announcements were still higher than market expectations, which had tipped earnings of 23 cents per share. Microsoft's shares closed at $31 in extended trading on the Nasdaq.
The results also reflect a deferral of $1.64 billion (£0.836 billion) in revenue and operating income due to the delayed launch of Microsoft Vista and Microsoft Office updates. The company is deferring the revenue to the third quarter to account for customers who are due to cash in vouchers for the new software when it goes live this quarter.
Microsoft Vista and Microsoft Office 2007 went on sale to business customers in November last year. The new software is expected to hit consumer shelves this quarter.
"Results this quarter exceeded our expectations across the board, with revenue growth at or above our high end guidance for all divisions," said Chris Liddell, chief financial officer at Microsoft.
"Healthy PC and server markets as well as broad-based business and consumer demand for Microsoft offerings fuelled revenue growth this quarter."
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