(Reuters) – Tencent Holdings Ltd, China's second-biggest Internet company by market value, reported a lower-than-expected 13.6 percent rise in third-quarter net profit, marking the slowest growth in more than four years, hurt by slowing growth in its legacy games and lower margins due to increased investments.
Tencent said on Wednesday that third-quarter net profit rose to 2.45 billion yuan missing analysts' forecast of 2.63 billion yuan.
The company's two hot games -- Crossfire and DNF -- showed signs of player fatigue as growth slowed in the quarter despite summer school holidays.
Net margin fell to 32.6 percent, from 34.8 percent in the previous quarter, due to investments in e-commerce and online video.
"Our margins declined in the third quarter as we invested further in our strategic initiatives, including our open platform, Tencent Microblog, e-commerce, search, online videos and online security services, to help position us for long-term growth," Tencent said in a statement.
Last month, the company invested in Chinese social-networking-site Kaixin001 and launched a "super" e-commerce platform to better compete with Taobao Mall, China's largest online business platform.
This year alone, Tencent has invested in eLong, an online travel agency, Kingsoft Corp Ltd, an antivirus firm, and U.S. games publisher Riot Games.
Tencent faces stiff competition from online game operators such as Shanda Games Ltd and Netease.com Inc, as well as social games players such as Renren Inc.
The company said the investments were essential for growth, but analysts do not see meaningful revenue from these ventures in the near to medium term.
Internet value-added services, including online games, formed 80.1 percent of revenue at 6.0 billion yuan.
Total revenue was 7.5 billion yuan, up 43.4 percent from a year earlier and beating forecasts of 7.12 billion yuan.
Shares in Tencent, which is more than 30 percent owned by Naspers Ltd, South Africa's biggest media group, ended 0.97 percent higher on Wednesday, versus the Hang Seng Index's 1.71 percent gain.
(Reporting by Melanie Lee in SHANGHAI and Lee Chyen Yee in HONG KONG; Editing by Vinu Pilakkott)
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