Google's fortunes keep improving as profits double

LONDON - Google has more than doubled its profits and increased its revenue by 77%, according to latest figures from the internet search giant.

Second-quarter figures for put its net income at $721m (拢389m) for the three months to the end of June, a massive leap from the $342m recorded for the same period in 2005.

The results also show that during the period it recorded revenues of $2.46bn, compared with $1.38bn for the corresponding period the previous year. This figure also represents an increase of 9% on the first quarter of this year.

Eric Schmidt, Google chief executive officer, said the "impressive" growth, was due to the launch of new products across a number of markets.

He said: "We continue to deliver valuable new products and servers to users around the world through our partnerships and investments in our business.

"Our strong performance results from our clear focus on increasing the quality of user experience, particularly in search and ads."

Recent product innovations have included the announcement in April that it will launch search software aimed specifically at businesses to find information within their own databases.

Earlier this month, Google announced plans to launch its video sharing network across eight countries, including the UK, France and Germany.

These latest figures from Google come in stark contrast to key rival , which earlier this week postponed plans for an enhanced advertising function after reporting a second-quarter net profit fall of 78% to $164m.

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