Amazon profits up (but not enough for Wall Street)

Amazon made net income of £54m in the third quarter ended 30 September 2004 on net sales of $1.46bn. This compares with net income of $16m and net sales of $1.13bn for the same period last year.

But dealers on Wall Street were not impressed with the results and pushed Amazon shares down almost nine per cent in late trading.

Jeff Bezos, Amazon founder and CEO, said: "Our decision to put dollars into lower prices and free shipping instead of TV advertising continues to be embraced by customers. Customer adoption of free shipping hit another record high this quarter."

Sales in the US and Canada were $816m up 15 per cent on the third quarter of 2003. International sales, made up of China, France, Germany, Japan and the UK, accounted for $646m, an increase of 52 per cent.

Amazon's best selling DVD of the year was the Star Wars Trilogy - 85,000 copies were pre-ordered through the UK site.

For the fourth quarter Amazon forecast sales of $2.29bn and $2.54, an increase of 18 and 31 per cent. This would put Amazon full year sales between $6.67bn and £6.92bn giving operating income between $415m and $475m.

More detailed figures here. ®

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