Amazon smashes quarterly profit expectations

Online retail giant Amazon turned in a massive profit on Thursday as improved margins offset slowing revenues.

Amazon reported earnings per share of $7.09, well and truly ahead of the $4.72 a share expected by analysts, while revenues for the three months ended 31 March came in bang on target at $59.7bn.

Revenue slowed down across the board, as total revenue grew 16.9%, marking Amazon's slowest expansion since 2015's first quarter.

North American revenues expanded just 17%, compared to the 46% increase seen a year earlier, while international growth fell to 9%, down from the 34% witnessed at the same point twelve months prior.

On the other hand, Amazon's cloud service continued its strong growth, turning a 41% sales increase. However, that figure was still shy of last year's 49% growth.

Looking forward, Amazon forecast revenues of $59.5bn to $63.5bn for the second quarter of its trading year, up from the $52.89bn seen a year ago.

As of 2135 BST, Amazon shares had picked up 1.27% in after-hours trading to $1,926.34 each.