(Yicai Global) March 24 -- Tencent Holdings’s profit jumped 30 percent in the fourth quarter of last year from a year earlier thanks to swelling proceeds from online gaming, advertising, and fintech services.

Net profit was CNY33.2 billion (USD5.1 billion) in the three months ended Dec. 31 on a non-IFRS basis, the Shenzhen-based tech giant said in an earnings report released after the closing bell today. Revenue jumped 26 percent to CNY133.7 billion (USD20.5 billion).

Income from value-added services grew 28 percent to CNY67 billion. Titles such as Game for Peace, Honor of Kings and PUBG Mobile drove online gaming revenue 29 percent higher to CNY39.1 billion. Social networking revenue gained 27 percent to CNY27.9 billion due to the merger of Huya and Douyu's live-streaming services.

Meanwhile, advertising revenues increased 22 percent to CNY24.7 billion thanks to growing demand from education and e-commerce platforms and the fast-moving consumer goods sector. Income from Tencent’s fintech and business services division rose 29 percent to CNY38.5 billion.

“The strategic focus of the company's fintech business is to actively cooperate with regulatory agencies and work with industry partners to launch compliant and inclusive fintech products, while prioritizing risk management over scale,” the report added.

For the full year, net profit rose 30 percent to CNY122.7 billion on a 28 percent increase in revenue to CNY482 billion despite the coronavirus outbreak in the first half of 2020.

The report also showed that the combined monthly active users on WeChat and Wexin reached 1.225 billion, an increase of 5.2 percent, and the smart device MAU count for QQ was 595 million, an 8.1 percent drop.

“We extended our leading position in the consumer internet space with enriched content and innovations across our products, while making notable progress in international expansion, starting with games,” founder and Chairman Pony Ma said.

“We also further penetrated into industrial internet with our flagship SaaS products and upgraded cloud infrastructure. We will continue to implement Tech for Good,” he added.

Tencent’s shares [HKG: 0700] fell 0.8 percent today to close at HKD623.50 (USD80.26). The stock has gained 64 percent in value over the past 12 months.

Editor: Tom Litting