Tencent shares jump over 4 per cent in early Hong Kong trading after better-than-expected earnings

Social advertising and investment gains helped to offset gaming uncertainties due to government regulation issues

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Tencent Holdings Chairman and CEO Pony Ma speaks at the opening ceremony of the fifth World Internet Conference (WIC) in Wuzhen, Zhejiang province, China, November 7, 2018. Photo: Reuters

Published: 10:15am, 15 Nov 2018Updated: 11:36am, 15 Nov 2018

Tencent Holdings increased 4.3 per cent to open at HK$284 on Thursday in Hong Kong trading, after China’s internet giant posted better-than-expected third quarter profits overnight.

Tencent, the operator of China’s biggest social media and gaming businesses, posted a 30 per cent jump in third-quarter profit to US$3.4 billion as social advertising and investment gains helped to offset gaming uncertainties due to government regulation.

Tencent president Martin Lau struck a note of caution in an earnings call on Wednesday, saying that challenges lie ahead, including the pace of state approvals necessary to push ahead with the release of new game titles.

“We’re still waiting for the government to start the approval process for games, and when that is announced we’ll have an update for the market,” Lau said.

The Hong Kong-listed company reported net income of 23.33 billion yuan (US$3.4 billion) in the quarter ended September 30 compared to the 18.39 billion yuan average estimate of 12 analysts polled by Bloomberg. Profit increased 30 per cent year on year mainly due to higher gains generated from investment-related items, Tencent said.

Tencent posted 8.8 billion yuan in other net gains for the third quarter, mainly from increases in valuations of certain investments, including Meituan Dianping, the online food delivery-to-ticketing services platform, which listed in Hong Kong in September.