Google fails to impress despite profit surge

Google says it is “confident” about the future despite posting profit and revenue that fell short of analysts’ expectations.

The search giant reported net profit increased to $1.84bn (£1.2bn) in the three months to 30 June, up sharply from the $1.48bn reported a year earlier, while revenue was up to £6.82bn (£4.41bn).

Revenues from the UK increased to $770 million (£499m), the company says, representing 11% of Google’s total revenues in second quarter, down from 13% last year.

However, the gains failed to impress Wall Street, which had expected better. Some analysts expressed concern over the steep climb in operating expenses and shares in the company dropped in trading immediately after the results were announced.

Despite the gloom among investors, Eric Schmidt, CEO of Google, claims the search engine firm had a “strong” quarter.

“We saw strength in every major product area, as more and more traditional brand advertisers embraced search advertising and as large advertisers increasingly ran integrated campaigns across search, display, and mobile.

We feel confident about our future, and plan to continue to invest aggressively in our core areas of strategic focus,” he adds.