Online dating platform operator Sunfun Info Co (尚凡資訊) on Thursday reported that its profitability further improved last quarter, after posting 11 consecutive quarters of losses until the third quarter of last year.
Sunfun — one of six companies that from Monday will be listed under the Taipei Exchange’s new “e-commerce” category — said that net profit reached NT$15.09 million (US$515,017) in the final quarter of last year, compared with NT$4.29 million in the third quarter.
Earnings per share (EPS) expanded to NT$1.09 from NT$0.31 during the same period, company data showed.
However, Sunfun still ended in the red for the full year. Due to foreign-exchange losses of NT$10.84 million, it posted a net loss of NT$8.8 million, or NT$0.64 per share.
Shares of Sunfun yesterday surged by the 10 percent daily limit, closing at NT$52.80. The stock has risen 22.08 percent since the beginning of the year, outpacing the over-the-counter market’s 1.46 percent rise.
The company, which operates i-part.com (愛情公寓), is the nation’s largest dating platform, with 9.22 million members, according to information on its Web site.
Established in 2002 by four high-school classmates, the company in 2015 transformed its PC-based dating platform to focus on the mobile dating market, a shift in business strategy that required higher investment in research and development (R&D), but also led to a greater financial burden.
Sunfun has introduced various kinds of dating products, including iPair, a romantic dating app, and SweetRing, a marriage-oriented matchmaking app, as well as the popular social app weTouch.
The launch of the iPair app combined with a livestreaming service in the second quarter of last year has largely driven its revenue increase.
For the whole of last year, Sunfun reported revenue of NT$487 million, up 47 percent from 2016.
Marketing and R&D expenses for this year would be flat compared with the previous two years, the Chinese-language Liberty Times (the sister newspaper of the Taipei Times) quoted chairman Chang Chia-ming (張家銘) as saying. Sunfun spent about NT$160 million in marketing and about NT$350 million in R&D last year, he said.
With streaming revenue from the iPair app increasing, steady growth in monthly fees from members of SweetRing and weTouch, the company should be able to swing into profit this year, he added.
Effective yesterday, Chang also assumed the post of president, as former president Jamy Lin (林志銘) stepped down to head a new Sunfun subsidiary focusing on e-commerce and online-to-offline-related business.
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