Holiday sales were glum for most retailers but online giant Amazon managed to buck the trend.<\/p>\n
The Seattle-based company on Thursday reported that net profits grew by nine percent in the fourth quarter over a year ago to $225 million, or 52 cents per share, well above the 31 cents per share forecast by Wall Street.<\/p>\n
It said revenue grew 18% in the quarter which ended on December 31 to $6.70 billion and would have been 24% if not for the unfavorable impact in foreign exchange rates.<\/p>\n
For the year, Amazon reported a 36% rise in net profit to $645 million, or $1.49 per share, again significantly better than the $1.37 per share expected by analysts.<\/p>\n
Amazon gained 12% to $56 in electronic after-hours trading after the fourth quarter results were announced.<\/p>\n
In a statement, Amazon said it expected net sales to grow by nine percent to 19% to between $4.5 billion and $4.9 billion in the first quarter of the year.<\/p>\n
"We remain relentlessly focused on serving customers with low prices, great selection and free shipping offers," Amazon founder and chief executive Jeff Bezos said in a statement.<\/p>\n
Amazon did not release figures but Bezos said demand for the Kindle electronic book readers was "unusually strong" in the fourth quarter.<\/p>\n
Amazon, which is expected to issue a new version of the Kindle in New York next month, said it now offers 230,000 titles for the Kindle including 103 of the 112 current New York Times bestsellers.<\/p>\n
Amazon said North America sales rose by 18% to $3.63 billion in the fourth quarter and accounted for 54 percent of total sales.<\/p>\n
International sales rose by 19% to $3.07 billion and would have been higher, 31%, if not for the unfavorable impact of foreign exchange rates.<\/p>\n
Amazon said sales of electronics and other general merchandise grew by 31% to $2.89 billion in the fourth quarter.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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