Windows sales bonanza boosts Microsoft revenue

Overall net profit slid by four per cent despite Windows sales jumping by a quarter

Microsoft has posted record revenue in its second quarter, helped along by a 24 per cent sales boost from its Windows division, despite overall net profits declining four per cent year on year.

For the three months to 31 December, the vendor's net income slumped four per cent to $6.38bn (£4.05bn) on sales that rose three per cent to $21.5bn. Its Windows division enjoyed a year-on-year revenue boost of almost a quarter to $5.88bn.

Microsoft boasted sales of 60 million Windows 8 licences to date during its webcast, but did not reveal how many Surface tablets it has shifted so far.

Revenue for its business division dropped by 10 per cent year on year to $5.7bn, with the division's operating income falling 13 per cent to $3.6bn.

However, Microsoft's chief financial officer Peter Klein said the enterprise space continued to provide "solid demand" for business products.

"In the enterprise, we continue to see solid demand for our business products and services with particularly strong growth in multi-year licensing. Multi-year licensing revenue benefited from healthy renewals of enterprise agreements as customers continue to make long-term commitments to the Microsoft platform," he added.

"In the datacentre, recent releases of Windows Server 2012 and System Centre 2012 are driving customer wins and strong renewals."

Revenue for the vendor's entertainment and devices division dropped by 11 per cent year on year to $3.8bn, while its operating income grew 15 per cent over the same period to $596m.

Microsoft chief executive Steve Ballmer claimed excitement about its series of launches in 2012 is set to continue this year.

"Our big, bold ambition to reimagine Windows as well as launch Surface and Windows Phone 8 has sparked growing enthusiasm with our customers and unprecedented opportunity and creativity with our partners and developers," he said.

"With new Windows devices, including Surface Pro, and the new Office on the horizon, we will continue to drive excitement for the Windows ecosystem and deliver our software through devices and services people love and businesses need."

No general availability date has been set for Office yet. The Surface Pro is set to launch in the US and Canada on 9 February, but no UK date has been released.