Linktone Ltd. (LTON) Tuesday reported a higher profit for the third quarter.
For the third quarter, Beijing, China-based Linktone's net income rose to $4.6 million or $0.11 per ADS from $0.6 million or $0.02 per share in the year-ago period.
The net income included a $3.9 million gain from the open market sale of a pooled investment fund with a value of $3.4 million on the company's consolidated balance sheet. The original cost of this fund was $5 million and an impairment on the investment of approximately $1.6 million had been recognized in 2008.
Proceeds from the sales of these investments were used to purchase additional shares in PT Global Mediacom TBK. As of September 30, 2011, Linktone owned approximately 2.2 percent of the outstanding shares of Global Mediacom, compared with approximately 0.8 percent as of June 30, 2011.
Results for the quarter also included $0.9 million gain from the open market sale of $10 million of senior secured notes in Aerospace Satellite.
Both Aerospace Satellite and Global Mediacom are affiliates of PT Media Nusantara Citra Tbk, the majority shareholder of Linktone.
Non-GAAP net income for the quarter rose to $4.7 million or $0.11 per share from $0.7 million or $0.02 per share last year.
Hary Tanoesoedibjo, Group chief executive officer, said, "Our existing business in China remains stable...In Indonesia, another significant consumer market, we continue to leverage the broad portfolio of media platforms, rich content and advertising clientele of our parent group, MNC, to expand our suite of data and audio-related services for mobile consumers."
Net revenues for the quarter dropped to $16.3 million from $19.3 million in the year-ago quarter.
Linktone is a provider of media and entertainment content and services in key strategic markets in Asia.
For the fourth quarter ending December 31, 2011, Linktone anticipates gross revenues to be in the range of $13 million to $15 million as a result of seasonality in the company's VAS business in China, which typically sees a reduction in subscriber usage during the fourth quarter.
LTON is currently trading at $0.9701, up $0.1401 or 16.88%, on the Nasdaq. Over the past year, the stock traded in a range of $0.72 - $2.02.
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