Taiwan’s two leading game publishers saw their shares soar yesterday amid strong sales and high proposed cash dividend payouts.
Gamania Digital Entertainment Co (遊戲橘子) closed 6 percent higher at NT$44 on the Taiwan Stock Exchange, while Chinese Gamer International Corp (中華網龍) rose 6.75 percent to NT$174.
Gamania on Tuesday posted record consolidated sales of NT$693 million (US$23.6 million) last month, as more teenagers tuned to games during the Lunar New Year holidays and winter break.
Last month — the first time it saw sales topping the NT$600 million mark — was the third straight month its sales hit record highs, according to a company statement.
Consolidated revenue rose 18.6 percent from NT$584.5 million in January and 29 percent from the same month last year, it added.
Its two subsidiaries — Gameastor Digital Entertainment Co (東遊玩子) and its Hong Kong affiliate — reported revenue that also hit record levels.
Revenue from Gameastor soared 80 percent year-on-year last month and those of its Hong Kong subsidiary climbed 30 percent, said the statement, which didn’t offer a breakdown.
Two games — Elsword, which was developed by South Korea’s KOG Studio, as well as Forsaken World, a 3D game launched in January — drove up Gameastor’s sales, according to the statement.
Gamania said it expected growing business momentum in the months to come, buoyed by its slew of mainstream titles as well as a new Japanese title scheduled for closed beta testing in Taiwan today.
Meanwhile, Chinese Gamer said on Tuesday its board approved a plan to distribute NT$9.30 in cash dividends per share. This translates into a dividend yield of 5.7 percent, based on its closing price of NT$163 on Tuesday.
Chinese Gamer is gearing up launch five titles this year. It has already released the first one, with two more scheduled for the second quarter, one in the third and the last one in the fourth.
“These various games will help us boost sales and earnings to a record high this year,” its statement said.
The company has set its sights on branching out from the PC platform into the mobile platform. It has been aggressively engaged in the research and development of mobile games to ride on the uptake of tablet PCs and smartphones, it said.
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