The Chinese technology major Tencent reported a profit boost on Wednesday, helped by the growing popularity of its mobile games.
Net profit for 2016 was up 43 percent year on year from 28.81 billion yuan (Dh15.36bn) to 41.09bn yuan.
Revenues from online games increased by 25 per cent to 70.84bn yuan, mainly driven by successful smartphone offerings such as Honour of Kings.
Tencent expanded its presence in the gaming sector last year, when it paid US$8.6bn for a majority stake in Supercell – the maker of online game Clash of Clans.
Overall revenue was up 48 per cent at 151.94bn yuan, driven by smartphone games, advertising, digital content sales, and payment related services, the company said.
Tencent operates China’s biggest messaging service WeChat through which a variety of businesses including gaming, advertising and social networking have flourished in recent years.
The firm has also sought to make its instant messaging platform QQ more interactive, adding facial beautifying tools, painting-style photos, and animated video stickers, it said on Wednesday.
Looking ahead, the company said it wanted to expand the popularity of its major smartphone games, as well as adding new “genre-driven” PC games in 2017.
It would also develop its capabilities in emerging technology, including cloud services, it said.
* AFP
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Three-day coronation
Royal purification
The entire coronation ceremony extends over three days from May 4-6, but Saturday is the one to watch. At the time of 10:09am the royal purification ceremony begins. Wearing a white robe, the king will enter a pavilion at the Grand Palace, where he will be doused in sacred water from five rivers and four ponds in Thailand. In the distant past water was collected from specific rivers in India, reflecting the influential blend of Hindu and Buddhist cosmology on the coronation. Hindu Brahmins and the country's most senior Buddhist monks will be present. Coronation practices can be traced back thousands of years to ancient India.
The crown
Not long after royal purification rites, the king proceeds to the Baisal Daksin Throne Hall where he receives sacred water from eight directions. Symbolically that means he has received legitimacy from all directions of the kingdom. He ascends the Bhadrapitha Throne, where in regal robes he sits under a Nine-Tiered Umbrella of State. Brahmins will hand the monarch the royal regalia, including a wooden sceptre inlaid with gold, a precious stone-encrusted sword believed to have been found in a lake in northern Cambodia, slippers, and a whisk made from yak's hair.
The Great Crown of Victory is the centrepiece. Tiered, gold and weighing 7.3 kilograms, it has a diamond from India at the top. Vajiralongkorn will personally place the crown on his own head and then issues his first royal command.
The audience
On Saturday afternoon, the newly-crowned king is set to grant a "grand audience" to members of the royal family, the privy council, the cabinet and senior officials. Two hours later the king will visit the Temple of the Emerald Buddha, the most sacred space in Thailand, which on normal days is thronged with tourists. He then symbolically moves into the Royal Residence.
The procession
The main element of Sunday's ceremonies, streets across Bangkok's historic heart have been blocked off in preparation for this moment. The king will sit on a royal palanquin carried by soldiers dressed in colourful traditional garb. A 21-gun salute will start the procession. Some 200,000 people are expected to line the seven-kilometre route around the city.
Meet the people
On the last day of the ceremony Rama X will appear on the balcony of Suddhaisavarya Prasad Hall in the Grand Palace at 4:30pm "to receive the good wishes of the people". An hour later, diplomats will be given an audience at the Grand Palace. This is the only time during the ceremony that representatives of foreign governments will greet the king.
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