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Mobile gaming boosts Tencent, Naspers

Beijing - Internet company Tencent Holdings, China's biggest listed tech firm and of which Naspers owns over a third, said its first-quarter net income climbed 60%.

Surging beyond analysts' estimates, it was helped by a strong performance in its mobile gaming business.

Net income for the quarter ended March grew to 6.46bn yuan ($1.04bn) from 4.04bn yuan a year earlier.

This is far above analysts' estimates of 4.93bn yuan.

Tencent's revenue leapt 36% to 18.4bn yuan ($2.95bn).

The division that includes the lucrative gaming business saw a 35% jump in revenue.

This division was boosted by success in sales of games for smartphones distributed over hugely popular mobile messaging app WeChat.

Global monthly active users of Tencent's WeChat, China's biggest mobile device application, rose 11.5% from the previous quarter to 396 million.

On March 14, shares in Naspers [JSE:NPN] headed toward their biggest one-day loss in 2½ years, hit by a sell-off in Tencent Holdings.

Investors then hammered Tencent after China's central bank ordered a halt to some mobile payment methods used by internet companies, amid concerns over the security of their verification procedures. The move was seen as hitting the mobile payment businesses of Tencent.

The company's explosive growth in recent years has helped make Naspers the most valuable company with a primary listing in Johannesburg.

By early afternoon trade on Wednesday, Naspers's share price was up 5.29% at R1 135.02.


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