Microsoft profits beat forecasts

The firm made a $4.37bn profit during the first three months of its financial year, up from $4.29bn a year ago, while turnover rose 9% to $15.06bn.

However, the company also warned that during the next three months it was unlikely to meet the estimates of Wall Street analysts because of the economic slowdown.

The company said this growth was sustained through growth in the client, business and server and tools divisions.

Thanks to corporate customers that renewed licenses for servers and other business programs, Microsoft’s earnings rose to $4.37 billion, or 48 cents per share, from $4.29 billion, or 45 cents per share during the same period last year.

Sales too showed an improved 9 percent to $15.1 billion.

 In fact, Microsoft said its annuity sales, which are built mostly on multi-year software maintenance contracts, grew by more than 20%.

A Thomson Reuters survey indicates that analysts, on an average, had predicted that the Redmond, Washington-based company would earn 47 cents per share on $14.8 billion in sales.

Microsoft Chief Financial Officer, Chris Liddell, said in an interview: “We, like most companies, saw a slowdown at the tail end of the quarter in particular. We’re now taking a more conservative stance on the balance of the year.”

Like many technology firms, Microsoft has seen its share price plummet in recent months - down more than 40% this year.