[ 2015-04-28 ]

Apple to give its investors a $70 billion golden payday
The world’s most valuable public company
delighted investors last night — and became
worth even more in the process — with a 27 per
cent jump in second-quarter revenue to $58 billion
and a promise to return another $70 billion to
shareholders.
Apple far exceeded Wall Street forecasts with a
quarterly net profit of $13.6 billion, fuelled by
record sales of the iPhone and Mac and a record
performance from its App Store in the three months
to the end of March.
In late-night trading in New York, the shares rose
1.4 per cent to $134.49, valuing the company at
$759 billion. That jump came after a rise of
almost 2 per cent during opening hours on Wall
Street.
In the first three months of the calendar year,
the technology giant based in Cupertino sold 61.1
million iPhones, 12.6 million iPads and 4.5
million Macs.
International sales accounted for 69 per cent of
the quarter’s revenues, driven by strong sales
of the new iPhone 6 and the larger iPhone 6 Plus
in China during the lunar new year in February.
Revenue in Apple’s greater China region, which
includes Hong Kong and Taiwan, soared by 71 per
cent, surpassing Europe for the first time to be
Apple’s second-largest market.
Although the latest earnings from Apple easily
topped analysts’ expectations, the numbers paled
in comparison with the final quarter of 2014, when
Apple sold a record 74.5 million iPhones. For the
current third quarter the company has provided
guidance that revenue will be between $46 billion
and $48 billion.
Apple also rewarded investors by expanding its
dividends and share buyback scheme to return a
total of $200 billion, up from the $130 billion
programme of a year ago. This includes an 11 per
cent dividend increase and a further $50 billion
in share repurchases. It is the kind of move
designed to appeal to the likes of Carl Icahn, the
billionaire investor who is Apple’s
seventh-largest shareholder, who made about $236
million on his Apple investment in regular and
after-hours trading yesterday.
Despite the share repurchases already made,
Apple’s cash pile grew to $193.5 billion from
$178 billion at the end of December.
“We are thrilled by the continued strength of
iPhone, Mac and the App Store, which drove our
best March quarter results ever,” Tim Cook, the
chief executive, said. “We’re seeing a higher
rate of people switching to iPhone than we’ve
experienced in previous cycles and we’re off to
an exciting start to the June quarter with the
launch of Apple Watch.”
Luca Maestri, Apple’s chief financial officer,
said: “We feel very, very good about the state
of the business.”
Apple-watchers keen to find out how well the Apple
Watch, which went on sale this month, is doing may
be in for a long wait. The company has already
said that it does not intend to report sales
number in the short term.

Source - The Times(UK)

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