UPDATE 2-Perfect World Q3 beats market view; sees Q4 rev growth

By Saqib Iqbal Ahmed BANGALORE, Nov 16 (Reuters) - Chinese online game developer Perfect World Co Ltd posted a better-than-expected quarterly profit, driven by strong film and television revenue, and forecast fourth-quarter revenue growth of 38 percent to 44 percent. Perfect World expects its massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) "Zhu Xian," and "Fantasy Zhu Xian," its first 2D turn-based MMORPG released in October, to be main revenue drivers for the fourth-quarter, it said on a conference call with analysts. "If I look at the online gaming business, I think we could probably see about 10 percent to 15 percent growth in their core gaming business in the fourth-quarter," ThinkEquity analyst Atul Bagga said. "Fantasy Zhu Xian" and the expansion pack on "Zhu Xian" could themselves account for about 20 percent year-over-year growth in 2010 and more incremental growth is to be expected from games in the pipeline, he said. Perfect World, whose self-developed portfolio includes its namesake game and "Legend of Martial Arts," currently has six games in the pipeline. The company would probably opt for releasing one game every quarter next year, Bagga said. STRONG THIRD QUARTER BUT ARPU CONCERNS For the third quarter ended Sept. 30, the company earned $42.2 million, or 81 cents per American depository share (ADS). Excluding special items, it earned 86 cents per ADS. Revenue rose to $86.4 million, up 55 percent from last year. Analysts on average were expecting earnings, excluding special items, of 75 cents an ADS, on revenue of $82.6 million, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S. Film and Television revenue of $6.6 million, entirely attributable to the company's first movie "Sophie's Revenge", released in August, was the main upside for the quarter. Online game operation revenue was $71.2 million, up about 50 percent from the prior year. The average revenue per active paying customer (ARPU) for games operated in mainland China was 266 yuan ($38.97), up from 196 yuan in the prior year. "What we are seeing is the ARPU is up and users were down, a trend we do not want to see, hopefully the company can reverse this going forward," Pali Capital analyst Tian Hou said. The company's shares were down about 2 percent at $45.45 in Monday morning trade on Nasdaq. ($1=6.826 Yuan) (Reporting by Saqib Iqbal Ahmed in Bangalore; Editing by Pradeep Kurup, Maju Samuel) Keywords: PERFECTWORLD/ ([e-mail]; within US [phone]; outside U.S [phone]; Reuters Messaging: [e-mail]) COPYRIGHT Copyright Thomson Reuters 2009. All rights reserved.

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