Share the news to friends and circles of friends with wechat scanning QR code < / P > < p > on January 25. On Monday, US local time, software and service company IBM released the fourth quarter financial report of 2021. According to the financial report, the revenue of IMB in the fourth quarter was US $16.7 billion, a year-on-year increase of 6.5%; The net profit was US $2.33 billion, a year-on-year increase of 72%; Earnings per share was $2.72, a year-on-year increase of 70%. IBM shares rose nearly 5% in after hours trading thanks to the fourth quarter results exceeding analysts' expectations < p > the following are the key points of IBM's fourth quarter financial report: < / P > < p > -- IMB's fourth quarter revenue was US $16.7 billion, an increase of 6.5% compared with us $15.7 billion in the same period last year, higher than the US $16.09 billion generally expected by analysts < p > -- net profit of US $2.33 billion, an increase of 72% compared with us $1.36 billion in the same period last year, and gross profit margin narrowed from 58.9% to 56.9%: < / P > < p > -- earnings per share of US $2.72, an increase of 70% compared with us $1.51 in the same period last year < p > by department < / P > < p > -- the revenue of software business (including hybrid platforms, solutions and transaction processing)) was US $7.27 billion, an increase of 8% compared with us $6.7 billion in the same period of last year. Among them, the business revenue of hybrid platforms and solutions increased by 7%, red hat increased by 19%, automation increased by 13%, data & AI increased by 1%, security business revenue decreased by 2%, transaction processing volume increased by 11%, and the mixed cloud revenue of software department increased by 22% < p > -- the revenue of consulting business (including business transformation, technical consulting and application operation) was US $4.75 billion, an increase of 13% compared with us $4.2 billion in the same period of last year. Among them, business transformation increased by 18%, technology consulting companies increased by 14%, application operation increased by 6%, and mixed cloud revenue of consulting department increased by 31% < p > -- income from infrastructure (including mixed infrastructure and infrastructure support) was US $4.4 billion, the same as that of the same period of last year; Among them, the revenue of hybrid infrastructure business was flat, IBM Z decreased by 6%, distributed infrastructure increased by 5%, infrastructure support decreased by 1%, and the hybrid cloud revenue of infrastructure department decreased by 12% < p > -- the revenue of hybrid cloud in the fourth quarter was US $6.2 billion, a year-on-year increase of 16%; The annual total reached US $20.2 billion, a year-on-year increase of 20% < p > -- income from financing business (including customer and commercial financing) was US $200 million, down 29.4% < p > Arvind Krishna, chairman and CEO of IBM, said: "our revenue increased in the fourth quarter due to the growth of software and consulting business driven by the adoption of hybrid cloud technology. Such performance makes us believe that we have the ability to achieve sustained median revenue growth and strong free cash flow in 2022." < p > by the end of 2021, IBM had $7.6 billion in cash (including securities) on hand, a decrease of $6.7 billion compared with the end of 2020, of which $3.3 billion was used for acquisition and debt repayment. Total debt, including $13.9 billion in financing debt, was $51.7 billion, a decrease of $9.6 billion since the end of 2020 and more than $21 billion since the completion of the acquisition of red hat. The company returned $5.9 billion to shareholders in the form of dividends < p > as more and more enterprises turn to this it giant for digital operation, cloud computing and consulting business drove IBM's revenue growth in the fourth quarter. IBM's consulting business revenue, which competes with Accenture and sap, has increased by 13%, and the company has increased its investment in high-growth software and consulting businesses to boost stagnant revenue < p > in IBM's new business model, software and consulting business account for about 70% of total revenue. With the proliferation of cloud computing applications worldwide, the company has shifted its focus to the so-called "hybrid cloud", that is, enterprises use a combination of their own data centers and rented computing resources to store and process data < p > after years of growth and margin pressure, IBM spun off its former managed infrastructure business kyndryl last November. IBM said in a statement that the company's continuous operating revenue increased by 6% over the same period last year. IBM executives have been telling investors recently that they want to achieve median revenue growth. In the last quarter, IBM's revenue from continuing operations increased by 2% < p > in addition to completing the divestiture of kyndryl, IBM also announced the acquisition of sxiq, an Australian cloud consulting company, and the consulting department dealing with Adobe's business. The company also jointly released the vertical semiconductor transistor structure with Samsung < p > as of Monday's close, IBM's share price fell 3% from the beginning of the year, down 15.61% from the 52 week high of $152.84 set on June 10, 2021. However, the stock still outperformed the S & P 500, which fell 8% over the same period. As of this release, IBM's share price has risen nearly 5% in after hours trading. (small) < / P > < p >