Shares in online retailer Amazon surged 18.5% after it reported a surprise profit.
After-hours trading on Wall Street overnight pushed up the share price to $571.24, after losing 1.3% during the day.
The retail giant reported a $92 million profit in Q2, compared to a $126 million loss over the same period a year ago. Sales also rose 20% to $23.2 billion in the three months to June.
The strong Q2 is expected to carry into Q3, with Amazon forecasting that sales will grow between 13% and 24% on last year.
A big success for Amazon was ‘Prime Day’ on 15 July, where customers were offered special deals if they signed up to its fast delivery service that costs $99 a year. The special offer meant more new members signed up to the premium service than in any other day in the company’s history.
Brian Olsavsky, Amazon chief financial officer, said in a conference call: ‘Growth has been fuelled in large part by Prime growth and also item selection growth so it’s been a huge driver both in North America and international segments.’
Amazon also benefitted from increased sales in North America, which rose 25.5% to $13.8 billion in Q2, driven by purchases of electronic goods and general merchandise. It’s cloud computing division also saw sales increase 81%.
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