Facebook revenues beat estimates as advertising sales improve

Facebook topped estimates on the Street for quarterly revenues on Wednesday, boosted by a solid performance from Instagram and rising advertising sales.

Revenues rose 26% to $15.08bn, beating analysts' average estimate of $14.98bn, as the social media giant saw ad sales jump 26% to $14.91bn for the first quarter, ahead of analysts' estimates of $14.77bn.

Monthly active users rose 8% to 2.38bn, also beating estimates of 2.37bn.

However, costs soared 80.5% year-on-year to $11.76bn as the firm increased spending to improve content and security across all of its platforms.

It also upped the top end of its loss provisions from $3bn to somewhere between $3bn and $5bn due to a potential penalty from Federal Trade Commission regarding privacy concerns stemming from its highly publicised links to now-defunct British political consulting firm Cambridge Analytica.

Excluding items, Facebook pulled in $1.89 per share, much better than the $1.63 expected by analysts.

Net income attributable to shareholders fell to $2.43bn, or $0.85 per share, in the three months ended 31 March, from the $1.69 per share recorded a year earlier.

As of 2155 BST, Facebook shares had shot up 6.12% in after-hours trading to $193.76 each.