Amazon posts better-than-expected revenue despite incurring $57 mn loss

The firm revealed that sales of its web services offering increased by 49% from a year earlier

Despite incurring a loss of 57 million dollars in Q1, Amazon has reported a better-than-expected increase in revenue at $22.7 billion by recording a 15 percent increase, thanks to a strong demand for cloud computing services.

The firm said that the revenue from sales of Amazon web services (AWS) for the first three months of 2015 was $1.57 billion, reported the BBC.

A statement released by founder Jeff Bezos said that the AWS was a five billion dollar business and still growing fast.

The firm also revealed that sales of its web services offering increased by 49 percent from a year earlier.

Amazon's shares rose almost by five percent in after hours trading.