Tencent Holdings Ltd, China’s largest Internet company by revenue, missed analysts’ estimates with a 18.4 percent rise in second-quarter profit as higher marketing costs for its WeChat social messaging service hit earnings.<\/p>\n
Second-quarter net profit rose to 3.7 billion yuan ($604 million) from 3.1 billion yuan a year earlier, Tencent said in a filing to the Hong Kong stock exchange on Wednesday. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters were expecting on average a 4.14 billion yuan profit.<\/p>\n
Increased marketing costs, which rose to 9 percent of revenues from 6 percent year-on-year, for WeChat came as the company continues its drive to market and then monetise the app through games, emoticons, like stickers and a mobile payment system.<\/p>\n
Shares in Tencent, which is more than 30 percent owned by South African media group Naspers Ltd, have risen around 48 percent so far this year, making the company the best performer on the Hang Seng Index.<\/p>\n
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