Microsoft issues bleak outlook despite profit rise

Software giant Microsoft has said that it does not expect to see a rebound in IT spending in the coming year.

The warning came as the company announced details of its Q3 earnings.

Microsoft saw a 1 cent rise in earnings per share, beating analysts’ expectations.

Net earnings for the period were 26 cents per share, $2.79bn (€2.57bn) compared to 25 cents per share year-on-year $2.74bn (€2.53bn) and analysts’ expectations of 24 cents per share.

Revenues came in at $7.84bn (€6.91bn), up by 8.1 percent from $7.25bn (€6.69bn) a year earlier.

According to the company, the remarkable increase in revenue was as a result of a 21 percent increase in sales of computer software. Microsoft said it expects a profit of between 23 cents and 24 cents a share on revenue of $7.8bn (€6.9bn) or $7.9bn (€7bn) in Q4.

Commenting on the company’s outlook for the coming year, CFO John Connors had this to say. "At this point we do not see a big recovery on the horizon, we are hopeful it happens, but our forecast doesn't assume that."