Strong Revenue and Operational Metrics Growth

HONG KONG, March 26, 2015 — (PRNewswire) — NetDragon Websoft Inc. ("NetDragon" or "the Company") (Hong Kong Stock Code: 0777), a leading developer and operator of online games and mobile internet platforms in China, today announced its financial results for the fourth quarter and fiscal year ended December 31, 2014. A conference call and webcast is scheduled at 8 p.m. Hong Kong Time on March 26, 2015 to discuss the results and recent business developments.

Fiscal Year 2014 Financial Highlights

• Revenue was RMB962.8 million, an increase of 8.9% from RMB 884.5 million last year.
• Operating profit was RMB252.0 million, an increase of 24.3% from RMB202.8 million last year.
• Profit from continuing operations attributable to owners of the Company was RMB176.7 million, an increase of 7.5% from RMB164.4 million last year.
• Basic and diluted earnings per share were RMB34.77 cents and RMB34.22 cents, respectively.

Fourth quarter 2014 Financial Highlights

• Revenue was RMB282.9 million, an increase of 21.6% quarter-over-quarter and 23.5% year-over-year.
• Gross profit was RMB246.5 million, an increase of 17.9% quarter-over-quarter and 19.7% year-over-year.
• Operating profit was RMB4.0 million, a decrease of 93.2% quarter-over-quarter and an increase from an operating loss of RMB1.7 million during the same period of 2013.
• Non-GAAP operating profit[1] was RMB13.5 million, a decrease of 79.7% quarter-over-quarter and an increase of 19.4% year-over-year.
• Loss attributable to owners of the Company was RMB19.4 million, compared to profit attributable to owners of the Company of RMB52.6 million during the previous quarter. Non-GAAP profit attributable to owners of the Company, which excludes several non-core operational items, was RMB6.8 million.
• Basic and diluted losses per share were RMB3.78 cents and RMB3.82 cents, respectively.
• The Board of Directors has proposed a final dividend of HK$0.20 per share subject to the approval by shareholders at the Annual General Meeting.

Fourth quarter 2014 Operational Highlights[2]

• Peak concurrent users ("PCU") for online games were 642,000.
• Average concurrent users ("ACU") for online games were 301,000.

"We experienced a healthy 8.9% increase in revenue to RMB962.8 million during the year as we further consolidated our market position in the gaming space and pushed forward with the development of our online education platform," commented Mr. Dejian Liu, Chairman and Executive Director of NetDragon. "Our online games business continues to gain strong growth momentum during the quarter with peak concurrent users reaching 642,000 as revenues increased 6.7% year-over-year to RMB221.5 million. One of our newest games, Calibur of Spirit, continues to gain strong user traction following its selection for the World Cyber Arena last fall. We signed an exclusive China licensing agreement with Tencent and officially launched the game in January 2015 where it achieved record-high MAU of 7 million that month and monthly gross revenue over RMB21.0 million in February 2015. With such a strong performance at the beginning of its lifespan, we are confident that this game will develop into a substantial long-term new revenue stream as large scale marketing campaigns get underway and new updates are launched throughout the year. We launched new expansion packs for our flagship games during the period including an English version for Conquer Online which generated an 11-year high monthly revenue in December 2014. We are also excited to beta-launch Tiger Knight later this year."

"We continued to incubate our mobile games business during the quarter and have seen encouraging progress from Eudemons Online Pocket Version which was officially launched in January 2015 and is expected to register over RMB10 million in monthly gross revenue in March 2015. The iOS and Android versions of Blade & Sword continue to make steady progress through the various stages of development while the Arabic version of The Pirate remains extremely popular across the Middle East and North Africa where it is expected to continue to grow as new updates are launched." 

"NetDragon's new strategic business focus continues to be its online education business which completed a round of series A preference shares funding of US$52.5 million in February 2015. The participation of globally renowned investors demonstrates the confidence they have in our unique position to leverage our proven world-class mobile internet and gaming expertise, large-scale technology resources and team infrastructure to build an online and mobile education ecosystem. We are making very solid progress in the design and development of our educational products, and remain on track to gradually roll them out as each development milestone is achieved. We expect to make exciting announcements in the coming months regarding our overall product strategy and the unique value proposition we can create for students, educators and parents." 

Mr. Ben Yam, Chief Financial Officer, added, "Non-GAAP profit for the quarter was RMB4.1 million which is a blended figure combining our highly profitable gaming business and our online education business which is currently in product development stage. During the quarter, our online games business achieved revenue growth of 6.7% year-over-year and 9.8% sequentially with a stable operating cost structure. We also continue to invest heavily in the development of educational products which requires significant investments in staff costs and has reduced the blended profitability in the short-term. These investments however, are the best use of our cash and demonstrate our commitment to building an online education business that will become another cornerstone for our long-term success."

Fourth quarter 2014 Unaudited Financial Results

Revenue

Revenue was RMB282.9 million, an increase of 21.6% from RMB232.7 million in the previous quarter and 23.5% from RMB229.0 million during the same quarter last year.

Revenue from online games and other business generated from China was RMB229.0 million, an increase of 16.9% from RMB195.9 million in the previous quarter and 11.6% from RMB205.2 million in the same quarter last year. The increase in revenue was mainly due to the strong performance of Eudemons Online and Calibur of Spirit.

Revenue from online games and other business generated from overseas markets was RMB53.9 million, an increase of 46.2% from RMB36.8 million in the previous quarter and 126.0% from RMB23.8 million in the same quarter last year due to the growth in the Company's mobile solutions and marketing business operated by its Hong Kong -based subsidiary Cherrypicks.