IBM's revenue rises for the first time in nearly six years

(Reuters) - International Business Machines Corp's quarterly revenue rose for the first time in nearly six years, largely due to growth in its focus areas such as cloud and security services.

IBM's revenue rose 3.6 percent to $22.54 billion in the fourth quarter ended Dec. 31, increasing for the first time in 23 quarters.

However, the company posted a net loss of $1.05 billion, or $1.14 per share, compared with a profit of $4.50 billion, or $4.72 per share, due to a $5.5 billion charge related to the recently enacted U.S. tax reform.

(Reporting by Pushkala Aripaka in Bengaluru; Editing by Maju Samuel)