Tencent Profits Rise 65% Led By Gaming

Chinese tech major Tencent beat estimates after it reported a rise of 65% in Q1 profits buoyed by a growth in its gaming and fintech units. The company reported a profit of CNY 47.8bn ($7.4bn), ~40% higher than expectations. Revenues rose 25% to CNY 135bn ($21bn). The value-added services (VAS) including gaming and social networks represented 54% of the total revenues, online advertisements 16% and fintech and business services 29%. The company gained from increased online trends among its users as the gaming business expanded 17% YoY with the extended stay-at-home model. While the VAS revenue was up 14% YoY, the music subscriptions expanded 43% to 61mn users. The company had also reported 2.75x YoY profits in Q4 in March earlier this year. The news of the strong performance comes at a time when the tech giant is being probed by Chinese antitrust regulators. The company was recently fined by the State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR) for failing to disclose M&A deals to the state.

Tencent’s 1.81% 2026s and  3.68% 2041s were up 0.22 and 0.48 respectively to trade at 101.53 and 101.56 on the secondary markets.