Amazon figures lifted by North American sales
AMAZON.COM reported higher-than-expected revenue in the first quarter as sales jumped in North America, the e-commerce giant’s biggest market.
Revenue rose 15 per cent to $22.7bn (£15.08bn), the company said yesterday. Analysts had, on average, expected revenue of $22.39bn.
Sales from North America climbed 24 per cent to $13.4bn in the first quarter ended 31 March.
Amazon also reported strong results for its cloud computing unit, Amazon Web Services, with revenue for the division soaring almost 50 per cent.
Yesterday’s announcement marked the first time Amazon released figures for the cloud computing unit, which provides relatively inexpensive cloud computer services for businesses.
The company said Amazon Web Services accounted for about seven per cent of the company’s total revenue in the first quarter.
Amazon projected overall net sales to grow seven to 18 per cent in the current quarter to between $20.6bn and $22.8bn.
However, the company reported a loss of $57m, or 12 cents per share, for the first quarter compared with a profit of $108m, or 23 cents per share, a year earlier.
Losses were broadly in line with analyst consensus.
The company forecast an operating loss of $500m to an operating income of $50m for the current quarter.
The company’s shares rose significantly after the market close yesterday, trading at $412.17.