Apple reports 36% earnings drop on $10bn tax and expects single-digit growth ahead

Boosted by the launch of the iPhone 16 series, the company's premier product surged 6% in the last quarter

An Apple store in Walnut Creek, California. Bloomberg

Apple reported a 35.8 per cent annual decline in its fiscal fourth-quarter 2024 earnings, driven by a one-time charge of more than $10 billion related to a European tax ruling, while forecasting single-digit sales growth for the current quarter.

According to a regulatory filing, Apple paid a $10.2 billion income tax charge last month to settle a long-standing case, dating to 2016, concerning its tax practices in Ireland. The European Commission launched an investigation in 2014 into Apple’s tax payments in Ireland, where the tech giant’s EU headquarters is located.

Apple has been the subject of numerous lawsuits and has been involved in anti-trust investigations in Japan, South Korea and Europe.

Last month, the EU also told Apple to allow access to its tightly controlled iPhone and iPad operating systems to rival companies and third-party developers or face anti-trust fines.

The California-based company’s net profit in the previous quarter, which ended on September 28, dropped to more than $14.7 billion.

Revenue during the July-September period jumped 6 per cent on a yearly basis to $94.9 billion, beating analysts’ average estimates of $94.5 billion.

It was the company's record for sales in the September quarter.

After the earnings announcement, Apple stock dropped 2.08 per cent to trade at $221.20 a share in after-hours trading on Thursday.

It closed 1.82 per cent down at $225.91, giving the company a market value of $3.43 trillion. Its stock has jumped almost 22 per cent since the start of the year.

“This was one of the fastest-moving quarters for Apple in a long time, with several product roll-outs and updates making accountability more volatile than usual for the giant,” Thomas Monteiro, senior analyst at Investing.com, told The National.

During a call with analysts, Apple predicted “low to mid-single digit” sales growth during the December quarter.

Last month, Apple launched the iPhone 16 line-up, Apple Watch series 10, AirPods 4, and features for hearing health and sleep apnoea detection.

This week, the company released its first set of features for Apple Intelligence, “which sets a new standard for privacy in AI and supercharges our line-up heading into the holiday season”, Apple chief executive Tim Cook said.

iPhone sales returned to profit

Boosted by the launch of the latest iPhone 16 series, the company's premier product surged 5.5 per cent in the last quarter.

Net sales from iPhones stood at more than $46.2 billion, exceeded analysts’ estimates of $45.4 billion.

They accounted for nearly 48.6 per cent of the company's total revenue in the last quarter. Apple’s latest devices were released on September 20, providing about a week of new product sales in the quarter.

But iPhone sales dropped almost 1 per cent to nearly $39.3 billion in the June quarter.

The company’s total revenue from its services division grew nearly 12 per cent annually to almost $24.9 billion, while revenue from wearables, and home and accessories products dropped 3 per cent annually to more than $9 billion. It was a revenue record in the company’s services division.

“Despite slightly below general consensus, the 12 per cent growth in services revenue is also an overall positive long-term catalyst, as the division stands to benefit the most from the long-term AI adoption cycle that we expect to gain traction in the quarters ahead,” Mr Monteiro said.

Revenue from iPads and computers increased 4.5 per cent to pass $14.6 billion.

Stiff competition in China

The company’s overall sales, which include revenue from products and services, in the Greater China market (China, Hong Kong and Taiwan) remained flat on annual basis at $15 billion. However, it jumped 2 per cent on a quarterly basis driven by the launch of new iPhones and Apple watch last month.

Apple faced stiff competition in China from local brands such as Huawei, Vivo and Xiaomi.

The Americas region led Apple’s sales. It accounted for nearly 44 per cent of the company's total fourth-quarter revenue, with more than $41.6 billion.

It was followed by Europe, which added $24.9 billion – up almost 11 per cent annually – to the company’s revenue.

Japan and the rest of the Asia Pacific market added more than $13.3 billion to Apple’s fourth-quarter sales, an annual jump of 12.4 per cent.

Apple said its board of directors had declared a cash dividend, payable on November 14, of $0.25 for each share of the company’s common stock.

“Our record business performance during the September quarter drove nearly $27 billion in operating cash flow, allowing us to return over $29 billion to our shareholders,” said Luca Maestri, Apple’s chief financial officer.

He said, without disclosing the exact number, that Apple’s active installed base of devices reached a new all-time high across all products and all geographic segments in the last quarter.