MICROSOFT, the computer software giant which employs 1,200 people at its European headquarters in Dublin said yesterday that its earnings jumped 54 per cent in the second quarter to $575 million (£364 million), beating Wall Street's estimates.

The earnings amounted to 90 cents a share, against Wall Street estimates of 84 cents a share. Revenues rose 48 per cent to $2.2 billion (£1.4 billion) in the last quarter of 1995.

The Windows 95 operating system went on sale amid unprecedented hoopla on August 24th last, so the fiscal second quarter earnings were the first to reflect a full quarter of sales of the product.

By most accounts the launch has been the most successful ever for any computer software, with an estimated 18 million units sold. Analysts nonetheless said sales of the retail upgrade version have been somewhat disappointing.