NQ Mobile shares rallied 36.96% to $4.15 in early trading Thursday after the company announced two deals that would help strengthen its cash position. The troubled Chinese mobile security firm said it was selling its online game publishing unit FL Mobile to Tsinghua Holdings Co’s investment arm. The deal is valued at a minimum 4 billion yuan or at least $626 million.
FL Mobile was the key driver of NQ’s gaming revenue
However, the final sale price will be decided by an independent valuer, said NQ Mobile. The Beijing-based company had previously negotiated a deal to sell FL Mobile to Tack Fiori International for between $570 million and $630 million. NQ Mobile said Wednesday that it was now exploring “other strategic opportunities” to cooperate with Tack Fiori.
Tsinghua Holdings is the R&D and investment arm of the prestigious Tsinghua University. It is the same company that recently made a $23 billion bid to buy Micron Technology of the United States. The company has close ties with the top government officials in China. NQ Mobile had purchased 33% stake in FL Mobile in 2010, and increased its ownership to 100% in 2012. FL Mobile has been the main driver of NQ Mobile’s gaming revenue in recent quarters.
NQ Mobile reports Q2 results
What’s more, NQ has signed a deal to sell Beijing NationSky Network Technology to NationSky founder Hou Shuli for $80 million. NQ also released its fiscal second-quarter results on Wednesday. The company’s Q2 losses narrowed to $1.6 million or 2 cents a share from $16.8 million or 22 cents per share in the same quarter a year ago. Excluding one-time charges, NQ Mobile reported earnings of 8 cents per share, beating the consensus estimates of 5 cents in EPS.
NQ Mobile’s revenue increased 25% YoY to $102.1 million. The company had 188.2 million monthly active users at the end of June quarter. For the full year, the company forecasts revenue of $455 million to $460 million, slightly higher than the Wall Street estimate of $449.7 million.
NQ Mobile shares have declined more than 85% from the October 2013 peak of $25 after short seller Muddy Waters accused the company of substantial accounting fraud.
