Microsoft's second-quarter results exceed analyst estimates

Redmond (America): US software and technology empire Microsoft Corp. Tuesday evening announced strong results for the second quarter of the current fiscal year, with revenues and profits above analysts' expectations. On the other hand, the company's share declined by 5% on Tuesday due to the slow pace of growth in the company's cloud computing sector.

Microsoft's net profit during the second quarter of this fiscal year amounted to $18.77 billion, or $2.48 per share, compared to $15.46 billion, or $2.03 per share, during the same period last year. Analysts had expected earnings of $2.31 per share.

Microsoft said its revenue during the second quarter increased 20% to $51.73 billion, compared to $43.08 billion during the same period last fiscal year. Analysts had expected revenue of only $50.88 billion.

The cloud computing sector was one of the main factors in the strong results, with the increase in global reliance on working from home as a result of the Corona virus pandemic, which led to an increase in Microsoft's sales of cloud computing services.

Revenues for smart cloud computing services at Microsoft during the second quarter of the current fiscal year recorded an annual growth rate of 26% to $ 18.3 billion, thanks to a 46% growth in revenue from the Azure cloud computing service and other similar services. At the same time, the growth rate was lower than the sector's revenue growth rate during the first quarter of the current fiscal year, which was 50%.(dpa)

Apple retains top spot as most valuable brands

ANKARA: The American “Apple” company maintained the lead of the most valuable brands for the year 2022, with 355 billion dollars.

This came in the annual report of the "Brand Finance" Corporation regarding the first 500 brands around the world for the year 2022.

Apple achieved a growth rate of 35% compared to 2021, registering 355 billion dollars, while it amounted to 263.4 billion dollars last year.

Amazon came in second with $350 billion, then Google with $263 billion, and Microsoft with $184.2 billion.

At the level of countries, American companies came first in the classification of the first 500 brands, with 199 companies, then China with 77, Japan with 31, France with 28, Germany with 25, and Britain with 23 companies.

The head of the Brand Finance Corporation in Turkey, Muhtar Elgoner, said that the technology sector came in the lead, registering more than one trillion dollars, followed by the retail sector.(Anatolia)