Tencent's total revenue last year was RMB 7.15 billion

Tencent Holdings (00700.HK) announced yesterday's 2008 earnings report showed that its total annual revenue was RMB 7.1545 billion ($1.0468 billion), an increase of 87.2% over the same period last year. Its Basic earnings per share was RMB 1.552, the profit per diluted share is RMB 1.514. The board recommends a dividend of HK $0.25 per share and a special dividend of HK $0.10 per share to celebrate the 10 th anniversary of the company.

In the revenue structure, the Internet value-added service revenue was 4.915 billion yuan ($0.7191 billion), an increase of 95.5% over the same period last year. The mobile and telecom value-added service revenue was 1.399 billion yuan ($0.2047 billion ), it increased by 73.2% over the same period last year; online advertising revenue was RMB 0.826 billion ($0.1209 billion), an increase of 67.5% over the same period last year.

Despite the impact of the economic crisis, Tencent's performance in the fourth quarter remained relatively higher than the previous month. It is worth noting that Tencent did not give clear expectations for the first quarter of 2009, but stressed that the decline in the economic situation will have a certain impact on the company's business. The company expects that during the winter vacation and Spring Festival holidays for students in first quarter of 2009, value-added Internet services, especially online games, will benefit from favorable seasonal factors. On the other hand, in an increasingly deteriorating economic environment, the company's online advertising business will be under great pressure as more and more advertising customers contract or delay advertising expenditures; in addition, the first quarter is the off-season advertising, and the advertising business will also decrease before and after the Lunar New Year holiday. In terms of advertising, Tencent believes that the advertising business will be significantly negative in 2009, and it is difficult to predict the time for economic recovery.