Apple books $7.7 bn quarterly profit as India sales zoom 45%

Apple Inc, the maker of iPads and iPhones, has posted a net profit of $7.7 billion (or $1.28 per diluted share) on revenue of $37.4 billion in the three months ended 30 June 2014, an increase of 11.6 per cent from a year ago, on the back of booming sales in India.

These results compare with revenue of $35.3 billion and net profit of $6.9 billion, ($1.07 per diluted share), in the year-ago quarter.

California-based Apple said International sales accounted for 59 per cent of the quarter's revenue.

Gross margin was 39.4 per cent compared to 36.9 per cent in the year-ago quarter. Apple's board of directors has declared a cash dividend of $.47 per share of the company's common stock. The dividend is payable on 14 August 2014, to shareholders of record as of the close of business on 11 August 2014

Apple said it sold 35.2 million iPhones in the quarter of its financial year (April-June 2014-15), a rise of nearly 13 per cent from the same period a year earlier.

Although global sales of the popular iPad tablet saw a decline, sales in India rose by 45 per cent during the last quarter.

Overall iPad sales fell from 16.3 million units in the previous quarter (Q2) to 13.2 million in Q3, even as year-on-year figures showed a decline of about 1.5 million units. India, however, bucked the trend.

"Our record June quarter revenue was fueled by strong sales of iPhone and Mac and the continued growth of revenue from the Apple ecosystem, driving our highest (earnings per share) growth rate in seven quarters," Apple chief executive Tim Cook said in an earnings release.

''We are incredibly excited about the upcoming releases of iOS 8 and OS X Yosemite, as well as other new products and services that we can't wait to introduce,'' he added.

''We generated $10.3 billion in cash flow from operations and returned over $8 billion in cash to shareholders through dividends and share repurchases during the June quarter,'' said Luca Maestri, Apple's CFO. ''We have now taken action on over $74 billion of our $130 billion capital return program with six quarters remaining to its completion.''

Apple expects its fiscal 2014 fourth quarter revenue to be between $37 billion and $40 billion with gross margin of between 37 per cent and 38 per cent. Operating expenses are expected to be between $4.75 billion and $4.85 billion and taxes of 26.1 per cent. Other income/expense is likely to be around $250 million.

With no new products being launched, Apple's profit and revenue took a slump in this quarter. The company said the growth in iPhone sales was helped by demand from Brazil, Russia, India, and China, where iPhone sales rose 55 per cent. The revenue from iPhone rose by 9 per cent.

With Apple predicted to launch two new iPhones with a 4.7-inch and a 5.5-inch screen, the iPhone numbers could shoot up drastically, in the next two quarters.

Apple shares slipped less than a per cent to $94.38 in after-market trades that followed the release of the earnings figures.