Covering the three months to December 29, the apple posted record revenue and pre-tax profits in its fiscal 2013 first quarters results. But, the company’s shares continued declining in value in after-hours trading falling by a further ten percent as sales failed to meet expectations amid concerns over rising production costs and squeeze profit margins.
Quarterly sales rose to $54.5bn up 18percent from $46.3bn achieved in the same quarter a year earlier. The net profits increased only fractionally to $13.1bn due to higher production costs, not to mention lower margins on the iPad mini which sold well in the run-up to Christmas.
Tim Cook a CEO stated that the company could not build enough iPad minis to meet demand, likewise the iPhone4s. Although Tim Cook did not comment on sales of the new iPhone 5 which reports suggest have been lacklustre. The company sold 47.8 million ipads and four million Mac PCs. While both iPhone and iPad lines increased in sales by 29 percent and 48 percent respectively unit sales of Macs declined by 21.9% far in excess of the decline in the broader PC market, partly due to production problems with the latest iMac model launched in October 2012.
The other metrcis highlighted in the report presentation include $2.1 billion in iTunes sales, two billion downloads in December alone from the iOS app store, exceeding more than 250 million iClous accounts and $6.4 billion in sales generated via the company’s bricks and mortar Apple stores. The company ended the quarter with the $138.1 billion of cash in hand up by $16 billion compared to the prior quarter.
REFERENCES:
http://www.computing.co.uk/ctg/news/2238635/apple-posts-record-quarterly-revenues-driven-by-iphone-and-ipad-mini