Apple Computer last night reported a sharp rise in first quarter net earnings to $152 million (#130 million) from $47 million in the same period of 1998.

It was the fifth consecutive quarterly profit and was achieved on the back of the success of its iMac product.

Earnings per share in the first quarter of the company's 1999 fiscal year, which ended December 26th last, jumped to 95 cents from 33 cents and easily beat market expectations of 69 cents.

Excluding a once-off gain from the sale of Apple's shares in ARM Holdings, the group's earnings per share were 78 cents.

Revenues in the quarter were $1.7 billion (#1 billion), an 8 per cent gain over first-quarter 1998. International sales accounted for 47 per cent of quarterly sales.

The company said sales of 519,000 iMac computers in the quarter accounted for unit growth of 49 per cent year-on-year.

While much of Apple's bottom line recovery had been linked to cost-cutting while the computer manufacturer continued to shrink in sales terms, this quarter marked the first year-on-year growth in revenue terms in three years.

Looking forward, Apple chief financial officer, Mr Fred Anderson, said the company's sales would show a significant rise in the second quarter over the same period a year ago but that they would not match the level of the quarter just passed.

He said the March quarter was traditionally a weak one for the company and that the most recent quarterly figures had benefited from strong buying over the Christmas holidays.