Microsoft celebrates 'record' Q4 results

Software giant boosted by Xbox developments and continuing takeup of Windows 7

Celebrating: The software behemoth has claimed a 'record' fourth quarter

Microsoft has attributed the 22 per cent jump in fourth quarter turnover to its strong product pipeline.

The software giant posted turnover of $16.04bn (£10.48bn) for the quarter ended 30 June 2010. Net profit for the quarter stood at $3.52bn, a 48 per cent leap on the same quarter in 2009.

Drivers for the growth were "continuing product momentum" during the quarter, according to the vendor, which hailed the launch of Office 2010 and a strong performance from its existing products including Windows 7, Windows Server, Xbox and Bing, which the firm said had seen its 13th consecutive month of growth.

Kevin Turner, chief operating officer, said: "We saw strong sales execution across all of our businesses, particularly in the enterprise with Windows 7 and Office 2010. Our transition to cloud services is well underway with offerings such as Windows Azure and our Business Productivity Online Services, and we look forward to continuing our product momentum this autumn with the upcoming launches of Windows Phone 7 and Xbox Kinect."

For the full financial year ended 30 June 2010, the vendor reported a seven per cent increase on the previous year, with turnover standing at $62.48bn. Net income for the year was $18.76bn, an increase of 29 per cent.