(Photo credits: – L. Grassin)
(AOF) – Apple yesterday showed profits that were even bigger than expected despite supply problems. The apple firm generated in the first quarter, ended at the end of December, a net profit of 34.63 billion dollars, or 2.10 dollars per share, against respectively 28.76 billion dollars and 1.68 per share, a year earlier. Earnings per share beat the Reuters consensus by 20 cents. Revenue for its part jumped 11% to reach a record level of 123.9 billion dollars.
It is also higher than market expectations: 119.1 billion dollars.
Revenues from its flagship product, the iPhone, exceeded expectations despite supply difficulties. It saw its sales rise 9.2% to $71.63 billion while analysts were targeting $67.7 billion. According to Jefferies, 86.1 million copies were sold, up 5%. The market anticipated only 82.7 million.
In total, supply constraints cut the group’s revenues by more than $6 billion as expected.
Mac revenue rose 25% to $10.85 billion and iPad revenue fell 14% to $7.25 billion.
For their part, the services, which include in particular the App Store, iCloud and iTunes, saw their sales jump 23.8% to reach 19.52 billion dollars.
Wearables (essentially smartwatches) saw revenue growth of 13.3% to $14.7 billion.
In the current quarter, Apple has said it is aiming for a gross margin of between 42.5% and 13.5%, Chief Financial Officer Luca Maestri said during the press conference with analysts. Tim Cook said the impact of supply difficulties would be lower, without providing more specific information.
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The Middle East ESC
Still relatively unknown compared to the Consumer Electronics Show (CES), the Gitex (Gulf Information Technology Exhibition) in Dubai has existed since 1981 and attracts around 100,000 visitors a year. Even if it wants to compete with the CES in Las Vegas, and the region is a very tech-savvy market, the Gitex remains, despite its internationalization, still a regional hub for technology. The CES makes it possible to cover the United States, North America and Europe at the same time, while the Gitex rather covers the Middle East, Africa and South Asia. In 2021 this event took place at the same time as the Universal Exhibition in Dubai. France was the second most represented country, behind Italy.