Google Inc. on Thursday posted a double-digit increase of sales in the most recent quarter, which however was not as strong as some analysts had expected.

The company's shares fell nearly 5 percent in late trading after the results were announced.

Google reported revenues of US$6.67 billion for the last three months of 2009, up 17 percent compared to the same period a year earlier and also representing an increase of 12 percent over the previous quarter.

Net income was US$1.97 billion, compared to US$382 million in the year-ago quarter when the company took charges of US$1. 09 billion related to its investments.

"Google had a strong fourth quarter, with 17 percent year over year revenue growth," Eric Schmidt, chief executive officer of Google, said in a statement.

"Given that the global economy is still in the early days of recovery, this was an extraordinary end to the year," he added.

(Xinhua News Agency January 22, 2010)