Close Menu
TechCentralTechCentral

    Subscribe to the newsletter

    Get the best South African technology news and analysis delivered to your e-mail inbox every morning.

    Facebook X (Twitter) YouTube LinkedIn
    WhatsApp Facebook X (Twitter) LinkedIn YouTube
    TechCentralTechCentral
    • News

      MultiChoice is working on a wholesale overhaul of DStv

      10 July 2025

      Spam call epidemic: operators say their hands are tied

      10 July 2025

      Britehouse unit breaks free from NTT Data

      10 July 2025

      Samsung’s bet on folding phones faces major test

      10 July 2025

      OpenAI to launch web browser in direct challenge to Google Chrome

      10 July 2025
    • World

      Grok 4 arrives with bold claims and fresh controversy

      10 July 2025

      Bitcoin pushes higher into record territory

      10 July 2025

      Cupertino vs Brussels: Apple challenges Big Tech crackdown

      7 July 2025

      Grammarly acquires e-mail start-up Superhuman

      1 July 2025

      Apple considers ditching its own AI in Siri overhaul

      1 July 2025
    • In-depth

      Siemens is battling Big Tech for AI supremacy in factories

      24 June 2025

      The algorithm will sing now: why musicians should be worried about AI

      20 June 2025

      Meta bets $72-billion on AI – and investors love it

      17 June 2025

      MultiChoice may unbundle SuperSport from DStv

      12 June 2025

      Grok promised bias-free chat. Then came the edits

      2 June 2025
    • TCS

      TCS | Connecting Saffas – Renier Lombard on The Lekker Network

      7 July 2025

      TechCentral Nexus S0E4: Takealot’s big Post Office jobs plan

      4 July 2025

      TCS | Tech, townships and tenacity: Spar’s plan to win with Spar2U

      3 July 2025

      TCS+ | First Distribution on the latest and greatest cloud technologies

      27 June 2025

      TCS+ | First Distribution on data governance in hybrid cloud environments

      27 June 2025
    • Opinion

      In defence of equity alternatives for BEE

      30 June 2025

      E-commerce in ICT distribution: enabler or disruptor?

      30 June 2025

      South Africa pioneered drone laws a decade ago – now it must catch up

      17 June 2025

      AI and the future of ICT distribution

      16 June 2025

      Singapore soared – why can’t we? Lessons South Africa refuses to learn

      13 June 2025
    • Company Hubs
      • Africa Data Centres
      • AfriGIS
      • Altron Digital Business
      • Altron Document Solutions
      • Altron Group
      • Arctic Wolf
      • AvertITD
      • Braintree
      • CallMiner
      • CambriLearn
      • CYBER1 Solutions
      • Digicloud Africa
      • Digimune
      • Domains.co.za
      • ESET
      • Euphoria Telecom
      • Incredible Business
      • iONLINE
      • Iris Network Systems
      • LSD Open
      • NEC XON
      • Network Platforms
      • Next DLP
      • Ovations
      • Paracon
      • Paratus
      • Q-KON
      • SevenC
      • SkyWire
      • Solid8 Technologies
      • Telit Cinterion
      • Tenable
      • Vertiv
      • Videri Digital
      • Wipro
      • Workday
    • Sections
      • AI and machine learning
      • Banking
      • Broadcasting and Media
      • Cloud services
      • Contact centres and CX
      • Cryptocurrencies
      • Education and skills
      • Electronics and hardware
      • Energy and sustainability
      • Enterprise software
      • Fintech
      • Information security
      • Internet and connectivity
      • Internet of Things
      • Investment
      • IT services
      • Lifestyle
      • Motoring
      • Public sector
      • Retail and e-commerce
      • Science
      • SMEs and start-ups
      • Social media
      • Talent and leadership
      • Telecoms
    • Events
    • Advertise
    TechCentralTechCentral
    Home » News » Naspers’s Tencent smashes profit forecasts

    Naspers’s Tencent smashes profit forecasts

    By Agency Staff17 May 2017
    Twitter LinkedIn Facebook WhatsApp Email Telegram Copy Link
    News Alerts
    WhatsApp
    Mobile game Honour of Kings has proved to be a smash hit for Tencent

    Tencent Holdings, in which South Africa’s Naspers holds a one-third stake, posted quarterly sales and profit that topped all analyst estimates as blockbuster titles including Honour of Kings drove a billion-plus users on WeChat and QQ to spend on game items.

    Revenue climbed to 49,6bn yuan (US$7,2bn) in the three months ended March, the Shenzhen-based company said on Wednesday, surpassing the 46,4bn yuan analysts projected on average. Net income climbed to a record 14,5bn yuan, compared to the 13bn yuan projected.

    China’s Internet titans are defying a slowdown in the world’s second largest economy. Chairman Pony Ma is now bolstering a $300bn empire that encompasses everything from online gaming and social media to film and TV production. Tencent’s adapting a plethora of hit novels and anime into mobile games, distributed via messaging services WeChat and QQ, with an eye toward safeguarding its dominance of domestic media.

    “It was a strong set of results,” said Li Yujie, an analyst at RHB Research Institute in Hong Kong. “Tencent’s mobile gaming business was the main contributor, especially Honour of Kings, which is probably generating 2-3bn yuan of revenue a month.”

    Shares of Tencent inched 0,4% higher before earnings were announced. The stock has gained 37% this year, compared to a 41% rise for New York-listed rival Alibaba Group. Naspers was up 2,2% in early trade in Johannesburg.

    WeChat had 937,8m monthly active users and the mobile version of QQ had 678m users at the end of the quarter. Revenue from value-added services, which includes online games and messaging, soared 41% to 35,1bn yuan. Of that total, online game revenue grew 34% to 22,8bn yuan.

    Tencent rode a strong showing from Honour of Kings. Developed in-house, the hit title is a mobile battle game in the same vein as the world’s most popular desktop title League of Legends — also owned by Tencent. It topped both revenue and downloads in Apple’s iOS store in March, according to App Annie. Monthly active users reached 167,7m in the quarter, Alan Hellawell, an analyst at Deutsche Bank, estimates.

    The Chinese company’s pipeline looked full for this quarter as well. It unveiled another 19 mobile titles in April including the much anticipated JX Online III, according to JPMorgan Chase & Co analyst Alex Yao. A majority of those were adapted from hit novels, shows or anime in hopes of appealing to an established fan base.

    “Honour of Kings specifically drove Tencent mobile games in March,” Hellawell wrote before the earnings. He expects “Tencent to further maintain its leading position in the gaming sector in the long run”.

    While Tencent remains largely reliant on in-game spending, it’s been growing an online ad business on the back of China’s largest pool of social media users. Revenue from that business increased 47% to 6,9bn yuan in the first quarter.

    The company’s also delving deeper into entertainment, backing Twitch-like streaming sites including Wuhan Douyu Network Technology Co and accelerating a foray into Hollywood films, helping finance the upcoming summer tent-pole Wonder Woman.

    From January, WeChat’s “mini programs” began letting users access third-party services such as bike-sharing without the need to download full versions of individual apps. While nascent, that platform has the potential to side-step Apple or Android app stores and signals Tencent’s longer-term ambition to keep users within its own mobile environment.

    WeChat could eventually integrate mini-programs into a fuller-fledged app store that sits on top of native operating systems such as iOS or Android, according to Morgan Stanley analyst Grace Chen.

    “We see strong ambition from Tencent in building a closed-loop ecosystem on WeChat,” Chen said in a March report, adding that the mini programs could help Tencent in app distribution, mobile payments and data-driven user profiling.  — (c) 2017 Bloomberg LP



    Subscribe to TechCentral Subscribe to TechCentral
    Share. Facebook Twitter LinkedIn WhatsApp Telegram Email Copy Link
    Previous ArticleWhy software updates make us WannaCry
    Next Article MTN hit by regulatory fine in Rwanda

    Related Posts

    MultiChoice is working on a wholesale overhaul of DStv

    10 July 2025

    Spam call epidemic: operators say their hands are tied

    10 July 2025

    Britehouse unit breaks free from NTT Data

    10 July 2025
    Company News

    AI in project management: a new era of efficiency and transformation

    10 July 2025

    Samsung unfolds the future with thinnest, lightest Galaxy Z Fold yet

    9 July 2025

    Huawei supercharges South African SMEs with over 20 new eKit products

    9 July 2025
    Opinion

    In defence of equity alternatives for BEE

    30 June 2025

    E-commerce in ICT distribution: enabler or disruptor?

    30 June 2025

    South Africa pioneered drone laws a decade ago – now it must catch up

    17 June 2025

    Subscribe to Updates

    Get the best South African technology news and analysis delivered to your e-mail inbox every morning.

    © 2009 - 2025 NewsCentral Media

    Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.