Apple ships two million iPods in fourth quarter

Company reports highest Q4 revenue in nine years

Apple has unveiled the results for the fourth quarter of its 2004 financial year, revealing that it shipped over two million iPods during the period.

The company shipped 836,000 Macintosh units and 2,016,000 iPods during the quarter, a six per cent increase in CPU units and a 500 per cent increase in iPods over the same quarter a year ago.

Steve Jobs, Apple chief executive, said in a statement: "We are thrilled to report our highest fourth-quarter revenue in nine years.

"We shipped over two million iPods, our retail store revenue grew 95 per cent year-over-year, and the new iMac G5 has received phenomenal reviews and is off to a great start."

The company posted a net profit of $106m for the quarter, compared to $44m in the same quarter last year. Revenue for the quarter stood at $2.35bn, up 37 per cent from the year-ago quarter.

Gross margin was 27 per cent, up from 26.6 per cent a year ago, and international sales accounted for 37 per cent of the quarter's revenue.

Apple stated that the quarter's results include an after-tax restructuring charge of $4m. Excluding this charge, net profit for the quarter would have been $110m.

Chief financial officer Peter Oppenheimer said in a statement: "Looking ahead to the first quarter of fiscal 2005, we expect revenue of between $2.8bn and $2.9bn, operating margin above seven per cent and earnings per diluted share of $0.39 to $0.42."

For the year, the company reported net income of $276m on revenue of $8.28bn compared to net income of $69m on revenue of $6.21bn in 2003.