Microsoft profits beat forecasts on business demand However, the weakness in that business was compensated for as companies showed little sign of easing up their technology spend. "All our macro indicators for corporate spending on IT look good," said Peter Klein, Microsoft's chief financial officer. That demand translated into a better showing from Microsoft's business division, where revenues climbed 2.8pc to $6.28bn. Revenues at its server and tools software division rose 11pc to $4.77bn. "We expected the PC market to be weak and the Windows business was down because of it," said Sunit Gogia, an analyst at MorningStar. But the server and tools business is growing well. Mr Klein said that spending by IT departments held up well across the world, though markets such as India and China were especially strong. The willingness of companies to invest in software also helped IBM to post fourth-quarter profits that beat expectations. The technology company's profits rose to $5.49bn for the final three months of the year from $5.26bn a year earlier, as revenues edged up 1.6pc to $29.5bn. Virginia Rometty, who took over as IBM's chief executive from Sam Palmisano at the start of the year, has pledged to generate half of IBM's revenues from software within five years.