South Korea’s largest mobile messenger app operator Kakao Corp. saw a 46 percent on-quarter surge in operating income for the April-June period as it reaped profits from its broadened contents and platform business.

Kakao in its regulatory filing on Thursday said its consolidated operating profit in the quarter ended June reached 40.5 billion won ($33.3 million), up 46.3 percent from a quarter ago and 46.6 percent from a year earlier. Net profit jumped 76.5 percent on quarter and 37.8 percent on year to 31 billion won, while sales added 3.8 percent and 24.5 percent to 733 billion won over the same period.

Kakao shares on Thursday rose 2.83 percent to close at 127,000 won in Seoul.

For the first six months, Kakao’s operating profit soared to 68.1 billion won after gaining 79.3 percent from the previous year. Net profit rose 30.7 percent to 48.6 billion won, and sales 25.8 percent to 1.44 trillion won.

The latest stellar performance was largely driven by expanded profit from its messenger Kakao Talk service, upbeat sales from new businesses and efficient cost management, Kakao said.

Revenue from the platform business amounted to 326.8 billion won in the second quarter, up 4 percent on quarter and 30 percent on year. Among them, revenue form Kakao Talk business grew 9 percent on quarter and 42 percent on year to 138.9 billion won thanks to robust demand for advertising and commerce services on the messenger platform. Portal business sales were up 7 percent on year to 136.9 billion won, and sales from new businesses including mobility and Kakao Pay surged 103 percent to 51 billion won during the period.

The content business delivered 406.2 billion won in revenue, up 3 percent from three months ago and 20 percent from the previous year. Revenue from game content business added 5 percent on quarter but lost 12 percent on year to 98.4 billion won, while music content sales rose 5 percent and 11 percent to 144.6 billion won on the back of steady growth in demand for music streaming service Melon. The paid content business saw its revenue up 9 percent on quarter and 60 percent on year to reach 81.5 billion won on increased transactions on its mobile content platform Kakao Page.

Other businesses including intellectual property rights raked in 81.7 billion won in revenue, down 6 percent on quarter but up 82 percent on year with brisk sales of its character licensing arm Kakao IX and expanded profit sources from entertainment affiliate Kakao M.

By Oh Dae-seok and Lee Ha-yeon

[ⓒ Pulse by Maeil Business Newspaper & mk.co.kr, All rights reserved]