Cloud computing firm Rackspace has reported a 14.1% increase in its revenue to $480.2m in the first quarter of 2015, compared to $421m for the same period last year.

Net income increased to $28.4m, or 20 cents per share, from $25.4m, or 18 cents per share, in the year-ago period.

The company, which employed 5,964 people globally as of 31 March 2015, said shifts in currency exchange rates affected the results.

Adjusted EBITDA grew 15.5% to $161m, while cash flow from operating activities was $145m and capital expenditures were $90m.

Rackspace expects its second quarter revenue to be between $487m and $492m.

Rackspace president and CEO Taylor Rhodes said: "We delivered on our promises in the first quarter and are better positioning ourselves to benefit from the rapid growth of the managed cloud market.

"The execution of our strategy is driving profitable growth for Rackspace, including through a rising number of new, larger enterprise customers."

Rackspace has recently unveiled support for fully-managed Microsoft SQL Server 2014 solution, enabling customers in rapid migration and deployment.