UPDATE 2-Perfect World lifts Q2 revenue forecast, shares jump
June 22, 2009 – 2:03 amPosted by: lazzo
* Sees Q2 revenue up 15 pct-20 pct sequentially
* Shares rise 12 pct (Adds analyst’s comments, details, updates share movement)
By Manasi Phadke
BANGALORE, (Reuters) – Chinese online game developer Perfect World Co Ltd (PWRD.O) raised its second-quarter revenue outlook on better-than-expected performance of a newly launched game, driving its shares up as much as 12 percent to a new 52-week high.
The company said it has seen a strong ramp-up of ‘Battle of the Immortals’ — a 2.5D massively multiplayer online role-playing game that is one of the company’s major titles for 2009 — in the past month.
‘Immortals’ is Perfect World’s first attempt at penetrating the 2.5D market, ThinkEquity analyst Atul Bagga said.
“This game is very strong and it will continue to generate revenue and profitability for the company,” Bagga said.
For the second quarter, the analyst expects ‘Immortals’ to contribute about $8 million to $10 million in revenue, but he expects that to grow.
“Going forward, it’s more like $12 million to $13 million per quarter from the third quarter onwards,” he said.
Perfect World, which has a tie-up with Chinese magician Lu Chen for the game, recently agreed to license ‘Immortals’ to a unit of Taiwan’s Soft-World International Corp (5478.TWO).
Analysts expect Perfect World, with its attractive pipeline of games, to continue its strong performance into 2010 as it rides the phenomenal market growth of Chinese online gaming companies.
The Chinese online gaming industry is expected to grow more than three-fold to $10 billion in 2010 from $3 billion in 2008, according to Beijing-based iResearch.
Perfect World, which plans to launch ‘XAJH,’ ‘Torchlight’ and ‘Meteor Online’ in 2010, also has opportunities to expand in the U.S. market, Bagga said.
‘XAJH’ is written by Louis Cha, on whose novel the blockbuster game ‘TLBB’ is based, while ‘Torchlight’ has been licensed from Runic Games Inc, he said.
The company — whose self-developed portfolio includes its namesake game and ‘Legend of Martial Arts’ — said second-quarter revenue has also been boosted by the launch of expansion packs for some of its existing games like ‘Zhu Xian’.
For the second quarter, Beijing-based Perfect World forecast sequential revenue growth of 15 percent to 20 percent, compared with its earlier forecast of a 2 percent decline to 2 percent rise.
From: http://www.reuters.com/article/rbssConsumerGoodsAndRetailNews/idUSBNG47543020090619
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