Google searches for resilience in Q1

Schmidt: These results underline the resilience of our business model

Search engine giant Google enjoyed a year-on-year rise of six per cent in quarterly revenue and more than $1bn (£676m) of net profit during 2009's first three months.

Turnover for the three months to 31 March was $5.51bn, a six per cent rise on the first quarter 2008. Operating profit, based on generally accepted accounting principles, was about flat on the preceding quarter and stood at $1.88bn, just over a third of revenue.

Google-owned sites accounted for $3.7bn in revenue, a little more than two-thirds of the total figure. The search engine's UK revenue in Q1 stood at $733m, 13 per cent of the total, compared with 15 per cent during the same period last year.

Google's continued growth is in part fuelled by its rampant acquisition strategy, which has seen it gobble up more than 50 companies since 2001. Notable deals include buying video sharing site YouTube for $1.65bn in 2006 and snapping up email security vendor Postini for $635m during summer 2007.

Eric Schmidt, chief executive of Google, expressed satisfaction at his company's performance so far this year and claimed "strong query growth" had driven the year-on-year revenue spike.

"Google had a good quarter given the depth of the recession," he said. " These results underline both the resilience of our business model and the ongoing potential of the web as users and advertisers shift online. Going forward, our priority remains investing for the long term to drive future growth in our core and emerging businesses."