China's top online game operator listed on the NASDAQ market said on Thursday both its revenues and net profits in the 2004 fiscal year had increased by more than 100 per cent year-on-year, as the domestic online gaming market continued to boom.

According to Shanda Interactive Entertainment Ltd's fiscal report without auditing, the company's revenues in the fiscal year ending on December 31 totalled 1.37 billion yuan (US$165 million) - up 115.8 per cent from the 633 million yuan (US$76.3 million) in 2003.

The Shanghai-based company reported a net profit of 610 million yuan (US$73.5 million), or 8.1 yuan (98 US cents) per American depositary share (ADS), for 2004, compared with 496 million yuan (US$59.8 million), or 4.14 yuan (50 US cents) per ADS, a year earlier.

Shanda's sources of revenues further diversified in 2004.

The revenues generated from its massive multi-player online role-playing games, or MMORPGs, entertainment games and other businesses accounted for 76.8 per cent, 16.6 per cent and 6.6 per cent of the total revenues last year, respectively.

The company also announced its un-audited fiscal report for the fourth quarter of last year.

It reported a net profit of 231 million yuan (US$28.0 million), or 3.12 yuan (38 US cents) per ADS, compared with 68.3 million yuan (US$8.3 million), or 1.06 yuan (13 US cents) per ADS, in the last quarter of 2003.

The revenue rose to 453 million yuan (US$54.7 million) during the quarter from 194 million yuan (US$23 million) a year earlier.

Its net revenue rose to a record-high of 430.9 million yuan (US$52.1 million), from 184.0 million yuan (US$22.2 million).

Chen Tianqiao, Shanda's chairman and chief executive officer, says the company will achieve continuous, robust growth in 2005, by enriching its service content and strengthening operating platforms.

Source: China Daily