EMC reports 23% surge in Q1 profit

EMC Corp, the world’s biggest maker of storage computers, says first-quarter profit rose 23% as companies housed increasing volumes of data and purchased more software from majority-owned VMware Inc.

Net income advanced to $586.8m (€717m), or 27 cents a share, from $477.1m, or 21 cents, a year earlier, the Hopkinton, Massachusetts-based company said.

Excluding some items, profit was 37 cents, compared with the 36-cent average of analysts’ estimates compiled by Bloomberg.