Google, which has its European headquarters in Dublin, said profits in the three months to the end of March were up to nearly $4 billion (€3bn). That’s a jump of 21% from a year ago.

Google said the increase was mainly due to more sales from its core web search business.

The company employs about 2,500 people here.

Microsoft, meanwhile, has also reported decent quarterly earnings following the launch of Windows 8.

Profits rose to just over $6bn dollars in the three months to the end of March, up about $1bn on the previous year.

Sales were very strong, coming in at $20.5bn, up from $17.4bn.

The results from Microsoft were unexpected as sales of PCs are falling at record rates.

But it’s a different problem for the Finnish mobile phone maker Nokia.

The once market leader is now fighting for survival after a 25% drop in sales of handsets to 62 million. It is rapidly losing ground to Apple, HTC and Samsung.

The one bright spot for Nokia was an increase in sale of its Lumnia smart phone did increase.