Amazon and Apple this week both reported profits in the latest quarter of their financial years.
Amazon, which is the UK’s leading online retailer and an Elite member of the <a href="http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=97664&p=irol-reportsother, reported net sales of $23.18bn (£14.97bn) in its second quarter, to June 30, 20% more than the $19.34bn (£12.49bn) taken at the same time last year. Operating income was £464m, compared with a net loss of $15m at the same time last year.
The company is now predicting sales growth of between 13% and 24% for its current, third quarter, with operating income of between -$480m and $70m, a period in which it held its first worldwide Prime Day shopping event and launched its one-hour delivery scheme, Prime Now, in London.
The focus on the subscription scheme, which offers free delivery, free access to online entertainment and now a day of exclusive discounts, has underpinned recent fast expansion. London was the first non-US city to see the launch of Amazon Prime Now, the members-only delivery service that is now available in nine cities, while the company has also expanded free same-delivery for members of the scheme to 14 US metropolitan areas, from where it can serve more than 500 cities an towns.
The company has also expanded its services as far afield as India, where Sunday delivery is now available, and Mexico, where it has launched a new site, Amazon.com.mx, and says agreements with wind farms mean it will beat its 2016 goal of sourcing 40% of its energy from renewable sources.
“The teams at Amazon have been working hard for customers,” said Jeff Bezos, founder and CEO of Amazon.com.
“We unveiled Amazon Business, opened Amazon Mexico, launched Prime free same-day, rolled out our ninth Prime Now city, broke our Black Friday record with the first-ever Prime Day, received 11 Emmy nominations for Transparent, debuted six new kids pilots, brought Echo to general availability, introduced the Alexa Skills Kit and Alexa Voice Service, opened FBA Small and Light, continued to double down on our fastest growing geography — India, launched 350 significant AWS features and services so far this year (ahead of last year’s pace), introduced AWS Educate, and entered into agreements for new solar and wind farms — enough to exceed our 2016 goal of 40% renewable energy.”
Meanwhile, Apple reported revenue of $49.6bn (£32.04bn), 33% up on the same time last year, and net profit of $10.7bn (£6.9bn) in its third quarter, to June 27. The company said its growth was driven by the iPhone, with sales of the device up by 59% in value compared to the same time last year, while sales of the iPad were down by 23%, by value. Mac sales rose by 9%, while services, which include the app store, were 12% ahead on last time. Sales of ‘other’ products, thought to include the Apple Watch, grew by 49% in value.
“We had an amazing quarter, with iPhone revenue up 59 percent over last year, strong sales of Mac, all-time record revenue from services, driven by the App Store, and a great start for Apple Watch,” said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO.
