E-commerce activity boosted revenue of portal Walla Communications Ltd. (TASE: WALA) to NIS 42.4 million for the second quarter of 2010, 35.8% more than the NIS 31.2 million revenue for the corresponding quarter of 2009.
Walla's revenue from portal and content operations rose by 6.9% to NIS 26.2 million for the second quarter, which the company attributes to higher income from advertising products, mobile services, and new business. E-commerce revenue rose 141% to NIS 16.1 million, mostly from the sale of inventory and increased online purchases.
Walla's net profit fell 39% to NIS 2.7 million (NIS 0.06 per share) for the second quarter from NIS 4.4 million for the corresponding quarter. The company attributes the decline to ongoing organic and inorganic investments in the development of its growth products, including content products and online services, the purchase of programming, information systems, and advertising access, as well as investment in ad campaigns for the launch of JobCity, the portal's joint jobs site with classified ads site Yad2.
Walla CEO Ilan Yeshua said, "Despite globalization of the internet, and the presence of global players such as Google, YouTube, and Facebook, Walla continues to increase its traffic. The portal has kept is status as Israel's leading portal in the country's website rankings."
Walla's share price rose 0.1% to NIS 4.84, giving a market cap of NIS 220 million.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on August 2, 2010
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