Giant Interactive 2Q profit rises

For the quarter that ended June 30, Giant earned 350.6 million RMB ($51.1 million), or 1.40 RMB (20 cents) per American Depositary Share. This compares to 264.2 million RMB, or 1.32 RMB per share, in the year-ago quarter.

Excluding share-based compensation, Giant earned 362.5 million RMB ($52.8 million), or 1.45 RMB (21 cents) per share, compared with 268.7 million RMB, or 1.34 RMB per share.

The company used a greater number of shares to calculate its per-share earnings in the more recent quarter.

Giant's revenue rose to 504.8 million RMB ($73.6 million) from 370.2 million RMB, almost all of which came from online gaming revenue. Online gaming sales grew 36.6 percent to 503.3 million RMB ($73.4 million).

Analysts polled by Thomson Financial expected a profit of 20 cents per share on $72.2 million in revenue.

Giant said active paying accounts for online games rose 41 percent year over year to 1.8 million--growth the company attributed to marketing efforts. Average revenue per user, however, fell 3.2 percent to 285.9 RMB.

The company said that it will not give third-quarter guidance due to changes it made in July to the revenue model for the game "ZT Online," which it expects will impact revenue in the near term but help add players and active paying accounts over time.

Giant American Depositary Shares fell 29 cents, or 3 percent, in after-hours trading, after finishing regular trading up 10 cents at $9.65.