Amazon Shares Up As Quarterly Profits Climb

Amazon shares surged by nearly 13% in after-hours trading after it posted a better-than-expected profit of $513m (£350m) for the first quarter and offered a bright outlook for the current period.

The figure compares to a $57m (£39m) loss in the same period in 2015 and is the fourth successive quarter in which the e-commerce giant has been in the black.

Amazon has expanded rapidly but until recently has struggled to turn a profit.

Revenues for the quarter climbed 28% to $29.1bn (£19.9bn) – the biggest revenue growth since 2012 – while the company pencilled in revenues of between $28bn (£19.1bn) and $30.5bn (£20.8bn), against analysts' expectations of $28.1bn (£19.2bn).

Chief executive Jeff Bezos said Amazon had seen strong sales of its own devices such as the Fire TV streaming stick and the Echo smart speaker.

Amazon also said it had seen strong growth in subscribers to its Prime loyalty programme, which offers one-hour delivery, original TV programming and access to music and video products, for an annual $99 fee in the US, or £79 in the UK.

The results drew a sharp contrast with disappointing fourth quarter results in January which renewed worries about thin profit margin

They follow disappointing results elsewhere among tech and internet companies such as Apple (LSE: 0R2V.L - news) and Microsoft (Euronext: MSF.NX - news) .