Tencent Music’s Q1 revenue downbeat, shares rise amid hopes for regulatory easing

The brand of China’s Tencent Songs Amusement Team is viewed upcoming to an earphone in this illustration photo taken March 22, 2021. REUTERS/Florence Lo/Illustration

HONG KONG, May well 17 (Reuters) – China’s Tencent Audio Leisure (TME.N) posted a 15% slump in initially-quarter profits, matching anticipations, but saw its shares be a part of a sector-broad surge on Tuesday as hopes grew for a loosening of regulatory curbs on China’s tech giants.

As section of a wide clampdown on China’s internet corporations that started previous yr, regulators stripped Tencent New music of its distinctive contracts with massive new music labels, spurring competitors from rivals like Cloud Tunes and Bytedance-owned small online video sharing system Douyin.

Analysts mentioned the income fall experienced been effectively flagged by Tencent Tunes, and shares gained 3.4% in soon after-hours New York trading as Chinese condition media reported the country’s top political consultative system was web hosting a assembly on Tuesday with some corporations on how to encourage the digital financial system. The Hold Seng TECH Index in Hong Kong climbed 4.24%. [nL2N2X903A]

Tencent Music claimed revenue dropped to 6.64 billion yuan ($979 million) in the 1st quarter finished March 31, partly thanks to decrease advert income soon after a new bout of COVID-19 instances in China. Net revenue attributable to fairness holders of the enterprise fell by a 3rd to 609 million yuan.

The company, 49%-owned by tech big Tencent Holdings (0700.HK), documented its biggest income driver, social leisure expert services, noticed a 21% fall in quarterly income. Spending end users in the phase fell to 8.3 million from 9 million in the prior quarter.

Traders and analysts shrugged off the weak spot in the to start with-quarter overall performance.

“The business has offered analysts forward of time a quite low expectation. And the drop viewed in the social enjoyment section is also broadly predicted contemplating stress from macroeconomics and regulation,” explained Ivan Su, senior fairness analyst at Morningstar.

The business also verified its prepare to look for a secondary listing in Hong Kong is “in an active execution stage”, with out supplying further more particulars. study far more

“We will attempt to transfer issues ahead in an expedited manner and get the needed regulatory approvals in thanks course,” Cheuk Tung Yip, Tencent Music’s main system officer, claimed in a contact with analysts.

The firm claimed that online songs paying out people elevated by 4 million from the prior quarter, when it extra about 5 million paying users. Nevertheless, the average profits per paying out user slipped in the initial quarter, falling to 8.3 yuan from 9.3 yuan in the exact interval past calendar year.

Yip reported the company has deepened cooperation with Tencent Holdings in an work to boost earnings. A target for the coming quarters will be on advertising reside streaming and are living concert events on WeChat, Tencent’s flagship messaging system with a billion-plus person base.

($1 = 6.7822 Chinese yuan renminbi)

Reporting by Josh Ye in Hong Kong and Eva Mathews in Bengaluru Enhancing by Amy Caren Daniel and Kenneth Maxwell

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