Yahoo's quarterly net profit more than doubled but revenue growth was flat at the struggling Internet company and its forecast for the current quarter disappointing.
Yahoo said last night that its third-quarter net profit soared to £396.1m from £186m a year ago while revenue rose 2% to $1.6 billion.
Revenue was $1.12 billion after accounting for the money Yahoo pays to those that send visitors to its Internet pages - slightly less than the $1.13 billion anticipated by Wall Street analysts.
While the California-based Internet firm's net profit of 29 cents per share beat Wall Street expectations, the figure got a 13% boost from the sale of employment website HotJobs.
Yahoo said it expected revenue of $1.125 billion to $1.225 billion in the current quarter. Analysts expected an outlook of $1.26 billion and the weak forecast is likely to increase pressure on Yahoo chief executive Carol Bartz to revive the firm.
In an earnings conference call, Bartz sidestepped an inquiry about an unconfirmed report that equity firms were exploring the potential to buy Yahoo, saying she would not comment on rumour or speculation.
The CEO billed the results as proof Yahoo! is on course to regain lost glory. 'We delivered a solid quarter with good display advertising revenue growth, big gains in operating income, and margins that were double what they were last year,' Ms Bartz said.
'We've made substantial progress this year toward executing our strategies for enhancing profitability and resuming revenue growth,' Bartz said, noting an 18% climb in display advertising that is a key Yahoo money maker.
She added that the company continues to implement its search alliance with Microsoft on schedule. Microsoft and Yahoo reached a deal last year which calls for the US software giant to eventually power searches at all Yahoo websites.
Yahoo will continue, however, to present search results in its own fashion on its sites with only a discreet reference at the bottom of the page to them being 'Powered by Bing', Microsoft's new search engine.
Yahoo has also 'disposed of non-core assets' while making strategic acquisitions and cultivating partnerships with hot young Internet stars Facebook, Twitter, and Zynga, according to Bartz.
She brushed aside indications that Google and Facebook are gaining ground in the display advertising market. Yahoo is still the top display ad firm, but its share of the overall $8.6 billion US market will slip to 15.4% this year compared with the 16.5% in 2009.
