Apple reports 20% increase in quarterly revenue

San Francisco  :  Apple on Thursday announced a 20 per cent increase in quarterly sales revenue, which hit $62.9 billion, media reported.

The financial results for Apple's fiscal 2018 fourth quarter that ended September 29 showed its quarterly earnings per diluted share were $2.91, up 41 per cent from the previous corresponding period, and its international sales contributed 61 per cent to the fourth quarter revenue.

Apple said it generated $19.5 billion in operating cash flow and returned over 23 billion to shareholders in dividends and share repurchases in the quarter, bringing total capital returned in fiscal 2018 to almost $90 billion, reports Xinhua.

"We're thrilled to report another record-breaking quarter that caps a tremendous fiscal 2018, the year in which we shipped our 2 billionth iOS device, celebrated the 10th anniversary of the App Store and achieved the strongest revenue and earnings in Apple's history," said Apple CEO Tim Cook.

He said the Cupertino, California-based company had delivered new versions of iPhone, Apple Watch, iPad and Mac over the past two months, which offers the "strongest" lineup of products and services for the upcoming holiday season covering a period from Christmas to New Year's Day celebrations.

Apple is projecting total revenue for the 2019 first quarter in the range between $89 billion and $93 billion. Its operating expenses are expected to be between $8.7 billion and 8.8 billion, with other income of $300 million.

However, Apple's shares tumbled more than 7 per cent on Thursday, briefly falling below its $1 trillion market cap, a historic record it made in August to become the first US public company that crossed the $1 trillion threshold.