Tencent Q3 Net Profit Surges

Chinese company Tencent Holdings

reported a 46% gain in its third-quarter net profit. The company's quarterly net profit surged to 5.68 billion yuan (US$927 million), versus a year-ago profit of 3.87 billion yuan. Basic earnings per share came in at RMB0.612, while diluted earnings per share came in at RMB0.605. On a non-GAAP basis, profit attributable to equity holders of the company rose 47% to RMB6,433 million. Its revenue jumped to 19.8 billion yuan from 15.5 billion yuan. However, analysts were expecting a net profit of 6.14 billion yuan on revenue of 20.5 billion yuan. Finance costs climbed to 317 million yuan versus 22 million yuan. Gross margin widened to 64% from 55%. Mr. Ma Huateng, Chairman and CEO of Tencent, said, “We achieved another quarter of solid growth in our platforms, revenue and earnings. Our online advertising business expanded particularly swiftly, as we deployed targeted performance-based advertising on Mobile Qzone and Weixin Official Accounts. Given our traffic leadership and logged-in relationship with users, together with the proven scale of performance-based advertising services in China and overseas, we see ample scope for growth in our performance-based advertising business.” Tencent shares rose 1.57% to close at $16.45 yesterday.