HONG KONG, May 17 (Reuters) - China's Tencent Holdings Ltd posted a 11% rise in first-quarter revenue on Wednesday, beating analyst expectations, as its core advertising and gaming businesses recovered from COVID-19-related disruptions a year earlier.
The world's largest video game company and operator of the WeChat messaging platform said revenue reached 149.98 billion yuan ($21.70 billion) for the three months ended March 31.
That compared with the 146.09 billion yuan average of 17 analyst estimates compiled by Refinitiv.
Net profit rose 11% to 25.83 billion yuan, versus a 29.67 billion yuan average analyst estimate.
Tencent posted its first annual revenue decline last year, hit hard by the country's now-abandoned zero-COVID policy as well as a months-long freeze on gaming licences by regulators that prevented it from releasing new games.
But it is likely heading for a rebound this year after the government resumed licence approvals late last year. The firm unveiled a long pipeline of games on Monday including seven titles ready to go online this summer.
Domestic gaming revenue gained 6% to 35.1 billion yuan while international gaming revenue rose 25% to 13.2 billion yuan.
Tencent also saw revenue from online ads rose 17% to 21 billion yuan.
Revenue from fintech and business services grew 14% to 48.7 billion yuan as the firm continued to expand in those areas.
($1 = 6.9121 Chinese yuan renminbi)
