San Francisco - Amazon.com's second-quarter earnings more than doubled to 158 million dollars thanks to strong sales around the world and strong demand for toys and electronics. The pioneer of online retail stores said its sales rose 41 per cent to 4.06 billion dollars compared to 2.89 billion dollars in the year-ago quarter. The profit of 158 million dollars, or 37 cents a share, was up from 78 million dollars, or 19 cents a share. International sales rose by 47 per cent helped by the dollar's decline against other currencies.
The company also revised its annual forecasts, saying that full- year sales may rise to as much as 20.1 billion dollars, higher than an earlier forecast of as much as 20 billion dollars, Amazon.com said. The retailer predicted full-year operating income of 745 million dollars to 920 million dollars, compared to an April estimate of 740 million dollars to 940 million dollars.
Sales of electronics, jewelry, apparel and other general merchandise climbed 58 per cent to 1.53 billion dollars, while second-quarter sales of books, DVDs and other media increased 31 per cent to 2.41 billion dollars.
Sales in the US and Canada rose 35 per cent to 2.17 billion dollars, while revenue at Amazon.com's British, German, Japanese, French and Chinese websites surged to 1.9 billion, up 34 per cent excluding currency changes. Overseas sales now account for 47 per cent of global revenue, up from 45 per cent a year earlier, the company said.
