Baidu.com Inc, China's most-used Internet search engine, said sales in the first quarter may double from a year earlier as the company attracts more advertisers. The shares surged 12 percent.

 

Revenue will probably rise to between 125 million yuan (US$15.5 million) and 130 million yuan, an increase of between 174 percent and 185 percent from a year earlier, the company said in a statement. The company, which listed on the NASDAQ in August, didn't provide comparative figures.

 

Baidu.com and Internet companies such as Google Inc, the world's No 1 search engine, are expanding in China, where the number of online users rose 18 percent last year. The nation had 111 million Internet subscribers by the end of 2005 and is the world's second-largest Internet market after the United States.

 

"The online search market is growing at a rate much faster than the overall online advertising market in China," Robin Li, chairman and founder of Beijing-based Baidu.com said in a conference call yesterday. "We continue to see strong potential for China's search market."

 

Baidu.com reported net income in the fourth quarter rose almost fourfold to 24.5 million yuan, or 0.71 yuan per share, from 6.37 million yuan, or 0.22 yuan. Profit for the full year soared to 47.6 million yuan from 12 million yuan.

 

American depositary shares of Baidu.com rose to US$57.75 in extended trading after the results were reported. The stock gained US$1.63 to US$51.69 yesterday in NASDAQ Stock Market composite trading. The shares have lost 17.9 percent this year.

 

Sales in the fourth quarter rose to 114.9 million yuan from 42.9 million yuan, beating the company's October forecast of as much as 106 million yuan.

 

Like Google, Baidu.com sells space next to its Internet search results. Advertisers pay a fee when users click on the ads. By the end of December, Baidu.com had 63,000 active online marketing customers, or advertisers, a rise of 18.6 percent from the previous quarter. The company didn't provide comparative figures. Revenue per online marketing customer was 1,772.9 yuan, an increase of 9.7 percent from the previous quarter, it said.

 

(China Daily February 23, 2006)