Apple NZ profit drops 22%; revenue drops 8.6%

Apple has released its New Zealand annual financial statements to the year ended 28 September 2019, with a 22% dip in profit year-over-year.

The company's profits after tax dropped from $27.7 million in 2018 to $21.6 million in 2019, while revenue also dropped 8.6% from $916.9 million to $838.2 million in the same period.

Revenue dropped the most in Apple's products division, dropping 9% from $892.5 million in 2018 to $812 million in 2019.

However, revenue from services increased slightly by 2.95% from $24.4 million in 2018 to $26.2 million in 2019.

Expenses include income tax ($11.3 million, down from $11.5 million in 2018), as well as employee benefits and salary expenses.

Salary and bonus expenses dropped 20.6% from $2.4 million in 2018 to 1.9 million in 2019; however share-based compensation to employees increased 158% from $318,000 to $822,000 year-over-year.

Apple also released its global first quarter 2020 results recently.

The Company posted quarterly revenue of USD$91.8 billion, an increase of 9% from the year-ago quarter, and quarterly earnings per diluted share of $4.99, up 19%.

International sales accounted for 61% of the quarter's revenue, with Greater China bringing in $13.5 billion, Japan bringing $6.2 billion, and the rest of Asia Pacific bringing in $7.4 billion.

"Our very strong business performance drove an all-time net income record of $22.2 billion and generated operating cash flow of $30.5 billion," says Apple CFO Luca Maestri.

"We also returned nearly $25 billion to shareholders during the quarter, including $20 billion in share repurchases and $3.5 billion in dividends and equivalents, as we maintain our target of reaching a net cash neutral position over time.

Apple is providing the following guidance for its fiscal 2020 second quarter:

• revenue between $63.0 billion and $67.0 billion
• gross margin between 38.0% and 39.0%
• operating expenses between $9.6 billion and $9.7 billion
• other income/(expense) of $250 million
• tax rate of approximately 16.5%

Apple CEO Tim Cook adds, "We are thrilled to report Apple's highest quarterly revenue ever, fuelled by strong demand for our iPhone 11 and iPhone 11 Pro models, and all-time records for services and wearables.

Most of Apple's sales came from its iPhone services, followed by wearables, home and accessories, the Mac, and the iPad.

"During the holiday quarter our active installed base of devices grew in each of our geographic segments and has now reached over 1.5 billion. We see this as a powerful testament to the satisfaction, engagement and loyalty of our customers — and a great driver of our growth across the board," Cook concludes.