Amazon reports profits rush

Online retailing giant Amazon has seen profits more than treble after booming North American and international sales.

The Seattle-based firm posted profits of $78m (€56.7m) for the three months to June, more than 250% ahead of the same period last year.

The retailer said overall sales had grown 35% to $2.89bn (€2.1bn) on lower prices and increased take-up of its membership scheme giving buyers free express shipping on more than one million items.

Amazon was also boosted by 2.2 million pre-orders for the final instalment of the Harry Potter saga, 'Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows' – Amazon’s largest ever product launch.

Potter fans in the UK accounted for 500,000 pre-orders, while the firm’s best-selling DVD at home was Catherine Tate’s Comic Relief special.

International sales were up 31% to $1.28bn (€932m) in the second quarter, helped to some extent by the current weakness of the dollar.

Amazon’s international sales also cashed in on the current popularity of BBC1 series Doctor Who, which accounted for the three top toys sold online in the UK.

The four Doctor Who toys in the top 10 – including the Cyberman action figure - outsold the rest of the chart combined, while the Arctic Monkeys’ latest album, 'Favourite Worst Nightmare', was the top-selling music CD.

Sales in North America, which include the US and Canada, were up by 38% to $1.6bn (€1.2bn).

Chief executive Jeff Bezos said revenues were helped by more subscribers signing up to its membership subscription service, Amazon Prime, where customers get unlimited express shipping on goods in return for a flat-rate annual fee.

Mr Bezos said: “More and more customers are taking advantage of Amazon Prime and we are pleased with the acceleration in subscriber growth in the second quarter.”

The firm is now expecting third-quarter revenues to grow by as much as 38% to $3.17bn (€2.3bn), compared with the same period last year.