Microsoft has reported a 6% rise in three month profits.

微软第三季度利润增长6%。

The technology company said net income for the three months to the end of September came in at $5.74bn (£3.63bn) compared with $5.41bn in the same period last year.

The results were helped by strong sales of its Office software package and a small increase in sales of Windows operating systems.

Microsoft reported record quarterly revenue of $17.4bn.

"To be able to beat on the revenue（收益） line is impressive, because we all know it's a weak consumer PC environment out there," said Colin Gillis at BGC Financial.

"In a difficult PC growth environment, the company is doing great."

However, Microsoft shares fell 0.5% to $26.87 in after-hours trading as the profit figures failed to impress investors¹.

"I wouldn't call this quarter a disaster but it does underscore（强调） a company in transition," said Michael Yoshikami, chief executive of YCMNet.

"They realize they are in transition and they are trying their best to move into gaming and tablets and move into the cloud [computing]."