(Yicai Global) June 19 -- Shares of Yuanlong Yato Cultural Dissemination rose after the Chinese marketing services provider said it had secured the rights to develop, design, make, and sell digital cultural and creative goods for the FISU World University Games in Chengdu.

After surging by as much as 7.6 percent earlier today, Yuanlong's stock [SHE: 002878] closed 3 percent higher at CNY21.30 (USD2.98). The broader Shenzhen market ended up 0.3 percent.

Yuanlong was granted the rights to produce merchandise with the Chengdu Universiade official logo, the Beijing-based firm said in a statement late yesterday. The rights are valid from the day the deal was penned until three months after the event ends, it added.

The student games, twice delayed from 2021 due to the pandemic, will be held from July 28 through Aug. 8. Yuanlong also has the rights to make and retail physical goods for the games. 

This will be the first large sporting event in China to launch licensed digital cultural and creative products, marking the shift to digital from physical, according to Yuanlong. A new development space of cultural and creative products has been opened, it noted.

Yuanlong held the rights to make and sell various merch for the 2022 Winter Olympic Games and Winter Paralympics in Beijing, including those for the game's mascot Bing Dwen Dwen. 

The firm's net profit skyrocketed 226 percent to CNY92.4 million (USD12.9 million) in the first quarter of last year from a year earlier, thanks to the boost in sales from the Beijing games. Revenue surged 120 percent to CNY979 million (USD136.8 million).

Editor: Martin Kadiev