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Tencent Music is the music-streaming arm of Chinese language tech behemoth Tencent.
Michael Nagle/Bloomberg
The music-streaming arm of Chinese language expertise big
Tencent
recorded combined second-quarter outcomes Tuesday together with income that beat consensus.
Tencent Music Leisure Group,
which faces regulatory headwinds amid a wider crackdown throughout China’s tech sector, tumbled greater than 13% in New York . It outpaced declines seen by the U.S.-listed shares in China’s Large Tech teams
Alibaba,
JD.com,
and Tencent, which fell round 3% to five%.
The again story. Tencent’s music-streaming arm went public in 2018, and is tied to
Spotify
via a mutual possession stake—Spotify owns round 9% of Tencent Music. Not like its Swedish peer, which depends on a base of subscribers that pay for its premium service, most Tencent Music customers pay attention without spending a dime. Tencent additionally provides a wider array of merchandise, together with 4 vastly widespread Chinese language cell music apps, together with a high-margin karaoke app.
Whereas Tencent Music has been posting robust quarterly outcomes, the inventory has come below strain with the broader Chinese language tech sector amid current regulatory crackdowns. Over the previous month, intense authorities scrutiny on sectors together with tech, schooling, healthcare, and property has introduced vital declines to Chinese language shares, together with firms with U.S.-listed shares—like Tencent Music. Specifically, the most important headwind going through the music group features a ruling from July barring its dad or mum firm from holding unique music–licensing offers with world labels.
Tencent Music inventory has fallen greater than 60% to this point in 2021.
Additionally learn: China Tightens Grip on Its Tech Sector With New Guidelines. These Shares Are Down.
What’s new. The music-streaming group posted combined however robust outcomes for the second quarter of 2021 on Tuesday, reporting whole revenues of 8.01 billion Chinese language yuan ($1.23 billion), barely beneath Wall Road estimates of RMB 8.1 billion. Earnings per share of RMB 240,000 fell wanting the RMB 560,000 anticipated, however, general, internet revenue of RMB 871 million beat estimates of RMB 864 million.
On-line music-service gross sales grew practically 33% year-over-year, as music-subscription income soared greater than 36% to RMB 1.79 billion. Tencent Music reached 66.2 million on-line music-paying customers, marking practically 41% yearly progress.
“We want to reiterate that TME sincerely accepts the choice issued in July by the regulator pertaining to unique music-licensing preparations,” stated Cussion Pang, the chief chair of Tencent Music.
“Whereas we anticipate some affect to our enterprise operations on account of this choice, we stay steadfast in our ongoing targets of fostering innovation, fulfilling our social tasks, offering customers with higher companies and selling the long-term, wholesome growth of the digital music business,” Pang added.
Plus: Tencent Music Faces Chinese language Regulatory Scrutiny. What Traders Have to Know.
Wanting forward. Tencent Music’s outcomes have been robust, however the timing was out of tune. One other selloff hit the Chinese language tech sector Tuesday, because the nation’s market regulator issued draft guidelines aimed toward tightening controls round competitors and the dealing with of consumer knowledge. Shares in Tencent Music, which remains to be reeling from a ruling on copyright that can affect operations, took a beating on the added strain.
Analysts at Citi anticipate the group’s shares to stay “unexcitedly vary sure” because of numerous damaging outlook components, together with regulatory necessities. However the funding financial institution provides the inventory a purchase ranking, with a goal worth on the shares of $12. Buying and selling round $8 right this moment, it may very well be a shopping for alternative—but traders can be proper to train warning, because the regulatory image stays unsure in China.
Write to Jack Denton at jack.denton@dowjones.com.
