Microsoft posted another quarter of respectable results on Monday, matching analysts’ earnings estimates and slightly outperforming on revenue, but its strong showing couldn’t disguise the continuing shakiness in its core software business.

The software giant reported total revenues of $26.47bn for the second quarter of its fiscal 2015, which ended on December 31 – a modest 8 per cent increase over the same period a year ago.

Net income, on the other hand, was down 10.6 per cent, to $5.86bn. Still, Microsoft managed to earn $0.71 per diluted share, which was in line with what Wall Street was expecting to see.

More troubling was the continued fall-off in Redmond’s traditional software businesses, including sales of Windows and Office.

Revenues for the Devices and Consumer Licensing division, which covers sales of Microsoft’s cash cows to consumers, were just $4.17bn for the second quarter, a 25 per cent decline from the year-ago period.

Sales of consumer Windows licenses slumped across the board, with revenues from OEMs down 13 per cent for both Pro and non-Pro (formerly known as RT) versions of the OS. But sales of Office were particularly hard-hit, with revenues down 25 per cent compared to Q2 of 2014.

SOURCE: theregister.co.uk