22 April 2005

Google has announced that its fourth-quarter profits rocketed during the first three months of the year, from $64 million for the same period last year, to $369 million this year.

The sixfold increase exceeded all analysts' expectations and the phenomenal first-quarter financial report is likely to boost the company's share prices still higher.

Total revenue was $1.26 billion (£960m), almost double last year's $651.6 million.

Google floated on the hi-tech Nasdaq stock market in the US just eight months ago. Shares floated at $84 and on Thursday closed at $204.22 and rose to $214 a share after the closing bell.

The search engine benefited from a low effective tax rate of 19 per cent during the quarter and saw earnings from advertising 'click-throughs' soar.

"This was a very strong quarter for Google," said chief executive Eric Schmidt. "We continue to execute well and we have been able to take full advantage of the growth in online advertising."

Google processed 2.06 billion search requests in March, compared with 907 million for Yahoo, according to figures from Nielsen/NetRatings.