Microsoft rides high on B2B growth

Software titan feels the pinch in consumer market despite impressive Q4 figures

Strong B2B demand helped stave off a lull in consumer sales as Microsoft posted a robust set of fourth-quarter and full-year numbers.

The software giant's sales for the three months to 30 June rose eight per cent annually to $17.37bn (£10.7bn), while operating profit grew four per cent to $6.17bn. For the whole of FY11, turnover stood at $69.94bn, a 12 per cent spike on the previous year. Full-year operating income was up 13 per cent to $27.16bn.

During Q4, revenue from Microsoft's B2B unit was up seven per cent annually, while consumer sales shrank eight per cent. In a conference call with investors, transcribed by Seeking Alpha, the vendor's general manager of investor relations, Bill Koefoed, lamented "weakness in developed markets" in the PC arena.

Microsoft's fourth-quarter revenue from its servers and tools operations rose 12 per cent year on year, while revenue from online services was up 17 per cent. Revenue from Xbox and other gaming products grew 30 per cent on the corresponding period last year.

However, sales of Windows and Windows Live fell one per cent annually in Q4, and two per cent across the whole of FY11.

Microsoft chief operating officer Kevin Turner claimed his firm is set for another successful year in FY12, particularly in the cloud arena.

"A strong year of double-digit increases in revenue and earnings is a real credit to all our Microsoft employees and partners around the world," he said. "We continue to see strong business demand across all our products, from small businesses all the way up to the largest global enterprises."