IBM reports US$20.8bn in Q2 sales, cloud revenues surge 70pc

21 Jul 2015

IBM says a fall in Q2 revenue was caused by the strength of the US dollar. It reported greater earnings per share than analysts predicted.

IBM has blamed the effects of a strong US dollar for revenue falling more than 13pc in the second quarter.

The company, known as Big Blue, posted earnings of US$3.84 per share on sales of US$20.8bn.

This is below the US$21bn that analysts had expected, but the earnings were greater than the US$3.78 per share tipped by analysts.

IBM reported an operating income of US$3.8bn, down 15pc on last year.

IBM reported cloud revenues surged 70pc during the second quarter and cloud delivered as a service achieved an annual run rate of US$4.5bn, compared to US$2.8bn last year.

Revenues from business analytics were up 20pc.

“Our results for the first half of 2015 demonstrate that we continue to transform our business to higher value and return value to shareholders,” said Ginni Rometty, IBM chairman, president and chief executive officer.

“We expanded margins, continued to innovate across our portfolio and delivered strong growth in our strategic imperatives of cloud, analytics and engagement, which are becoming a significant part of our business,” Rometty added.

IBM image via Shutterstock

John Kennedy is a journalist who served as editor of Silicon Republic for 17 years

editorial@siliconrepublic.com