Microsoft has posted a $3.65bn (£2.1bn) profit on sales
of $11.83bn for its second quarter, to 31 December.
The performance marks an improvement on the same quarter last
year, when the company saw a $3.46bn profit on sales of
$10.82bn.
This year’s second quarter was helped by a tax credit, although
the performance could have been even better if Microsoft hadn’t run
out of Xbox 360 games consoles.
Component shortages were blamed for not getting enough consoles
to market.
Microsoft said it saw “strong demand” in the quarter for its PC
software.
The company said server products saw stronger than expected
demand, and sales of the Windows client and Office business suite
lines were in line with expectations.
One significant plus for the company was that the Microsoft
Business Solutions and the Mobile and Embedded divisions were in
the black for the first time.
The business solutions unit sells business applications for the
mid-sized market. Microsoft has been revamping these products over
the past year.