Amazon brimful of confidence on 30% surge to £72m

"We're seeing no sign of consumer weakness in the UK, and as a group we are feeling confident," Brian McBride, UK boss of online retailer Amazon.com, said today.

He was speaking as the US-based group announced a 30% rise in first-quarter profits to $143 million (£71.9 million) on sales ahead by 37% to $4.13 billion. Amazon said that margins would be slightly down as it launched more new ranges, but upgraded its forecasts for the full-year outcome.

McBride said that a full music download service would launch in the UK later this year, and added that sales had been boosted by the launch of the Prime delivery service, where customers pay a single fee of £49 a year for all their postage.

International sales again grew faster than the US. They were up by 44% to $2.01 billion against a 31% rise in North America to $2.13 billion. That makes it likely that 2008 will be the first year in which international revenues - from the UK, Germany, France and Japan - overtake domestic US ones.