Microsoft Q1 profit, revenue soar

Software giant Microsoft Corp has reported a 51 per cent jump in net income to $5.41 billion for the July-September quarter of the year on the back of robust sales of windows and office software.

In the year-ago period, the company had a net income of $3.57 billion, Microsoft said in a statement.

The company has registered a record revenue of $16.20 billion for the first quarter ended September 30, 2010, a 25 per cent increase from the same period last year.

"This was an exceptional quarter, combining solid enterprise growth and continued strong consumer demand for Office 2010, Windows 7, and Xbox 360 consoles and games," Microsoft Chief Financial Officer Peter Klein said.

"Our ability to grow revenue while continuing to control costs allowed us to deliver another quarter of year-on-year margin expansion," he added.

During the quarter, Microsoft saw year-on-year growth across all business segments.

The company said it continued to see a healthy and sustaining in the business PC segment. Besides, Xbox 360 consoles saw a growth of 38 per cent from the year-ago period.

Looking ahead, the company reaffirms its operating expense guidance to be in the range of $26.9 billion to $27.3 billion for the full year ending June 30, 2011.