Microsoft reported revenues that beat estimates for Q1 of fiscal 2015, boosted by strong growth in cloud and mobility. But its solid-looking numbers belied ongoing softness in its traditional core markets.

Total revenues for the three months ending on September 30 were $23.20bn, a 25 per cent year-on-year increase but flat from the previous sequential quarter. Earnings were $0.54 per diluted share.

Net income, on the other hand, was $4.54bn, down 13 per cent from the year-ago period. But that shortfall was mainly due to $1.14bn in expenses related to Microsoft’s restructuring plan – including CEO Satya Nadella’s promised 18,000 layoffs – and the ongoing integration of Nokia’s devices and services business. Without those costs, net income would have been up 8 per cent.

About those revenues, though. Microsoft crowed that revenues from its Consumer divisions were up 47 per cent, year-over-year, to $10.96 billion. But $2.61bn of those were from the Phone Hardware subdivision, which didn’t exist in the year-ago quarter. Ignoring those ex-Nokia sales, Consumer revenues were only up 12 per cent.

SOURCE: theregister.co.uk