MICROSOFT HAS ANNOUNCED that higher sales of Windows and Office software is the reason for a 51 per cent rise in the company’s first-quarter profit.

The company’s net profit for the first quarter came in at $5.4bn (€3.9bn), reports the BBC. The company’s revenues increased by 25 per cent – a record for Microsoft in the first quarter.

However, Microsoft explained that in the first quarter of 2009, it had deferred some revenue from Windows sales. If it had not done so, the increase on the first quarter of 2010 would have been a more modest 16 per cent.

Windows sales rose 66 per cent on last year to $4.8bn (€3.47bn), while Office and other business software brought in $5.1bn (€3.7bn), a 14 per cent increase on 2009.

Peter Klein, chief financial officer at Microsoft said:

This was an exceptional quarter, combining solid enterprise growth and continued strong consumer demand for Office 2010, Windows 7, and Xbox 360 consoles and games.

Microsoft shares rose 2.8 per cent in after-hours trading.

Toan Tran, an analyst at Morningstar said:

Microsoft had a very good quarter. Windows is still doing well, Office is doing well, and servers and tools are doing well. The big three businesses are firing on all cylinders as the PC upgrade cycle continues.