Microsoft reported a strong set of a results for its fiscal first quarter to September. Revenue increased 12 percent year-on-year to USD 24.5 billion, operating profit rose 15 percent to USD 7.7 billion, and net profit was up 16 percent to USD 6.6 billion.
CEO Satya Nadella attributed the growth to the commercial cloud business, where the company passed USD 20 billion in revenues on an annualised basis, a target first set two years ago. Quarterly commercial cloud revenues reached USD 5.0 billion, up from USD 3.2 billion a year ago, and the business generated a gross margin of 57 percent, versus 49 percent a year earlier.
Azure was again the top performer, with revenue growth of 90 percent, while Office 365 commercial revenue also rose 42 percent from year ago, and Dynamics 365 revenues was up 69 percent. Microsoft said LinkedIn contributed USD 1.1 billion in revenue, while still making an operating loss of USD 294 million.
The growth in the cloud helped offset flat revenues from the main Personal Computing division, which Microsoft attributed mainly to its withdrawal from the mobile phone market. Windows OEM revenue rose 4 percent, better than the overall PC market, the company said, while Surface revenue was up 12 percent, Search revenues grew 15 percent, and gaming revenue increased 1 percent.
