Microsoft officials have posted slightly better than expected figures for the company’s first quarter results. Unusually sales were boosted from outside of the company’s core business, in particular servers and MSN. For the period ended September 30 sales rose 6% from the same period last year to $8.22 billion. Excluding employee stock-based compensation, which have only been reported this quarter, the company earned 30 cents a share – one cent higher than analysts had expected. Net income also increased to $2.61 billion, up from $2.04 billion last year.
Importantly the company saw a 20% revenue growth in its home and entertainment unit, which includes the Xbox, with $581 million in revenue generated. Nevertheless shares in the company still fell once the figures were announced, due to news that fewer large corporate contracts for software had been agreed than expected. This fall in contracts is largely due to a number of high-profile security scares involving Microsoft products.