Google and Microsoft profits miss forecasts

Quarterly profit figures from technology giants Google and Microsoft have fallen short of Wall Street expectations.

Despite widening losses from Google’s Motorola mobile phone business, along with weakening prices for its internet ads, the search engine firm reported net second-quarter income of $3.2 billion (£2.1bn), up from $2.8bn for the same period last year.

However, the earnings per share figure of $9.56 fell short of the $10.78 expected by Wall Street analysts.

Meanwhile, Microsoft took a $900m charge related to weak sales of its Surface RT tablet computer, taking the shine off a 10 per cent rise in fourth-quarter revenues to $19.9bn.

Earnings per share at the maker of Windows software came in at 59 cents, well below forecasts of 75 cents.

Ishaq Siddiqi, market strategist at ETX Capital, said: “The technology sector appears to be suffering from a mix of problems such as faltering demand in end markets and a shift away from PC to mobile and tablet.”