Tencent posts weak revenue growth

HONG KONG, Mar 20 (Reuters): China's Tencent Holdings posted a weaker-than-expected 7 per cent rise in fourth-quarter revenue on Wednesday as its gaming revenue shrank, and said it was expecting to at least double its share buybacks this year.

The world's largest video game company and operator of the WeChat messaging platform reported revenue of 155.19 billion yuan ($21.56 billion) for the three months ended Dec. 31.

That compared with the 157.2 billion yuan average of 23 analyst estimates compiled by LSEG.

Tencent's core gaming business suffered a notable slowdown in the fourth quarter. Gaming revenue in China declined 3 per cent to 27 billion yuan, while international gaming revenue increased only 1 per cent to 13.9 billion yuan, or declined by 1 per cent when excluding currency fluctuations.