Microsoft exceeds expectations - strong growth in sales and profits

Microsoft continues to grow rapidly thanks to the boom in cloud offerings and artificial intelligence (AI) products.

The company announced in Redmond, Washington, on Thursday that turnover had risen by 17% to just under $62 billion in the third financial quarter which ended at the end of March, compared to the same period of the previous year.

The bottom line profit climbed by a fifth to almost $22 billion. Both figures exceeded experts' expectations. The shares of the world's most valuable company, with a market capitalization of around $3 trillion, rose significantly in after-hours trading.