Sohu.com Inc reported double-digit growth in both revenues and profits in its second quarter thanks mainly to its online advertising business, but the firm's short messaging service (SMS) continued to decline.

The NASDAQ-listed Chinese firm said yesterday that its revenues rose by 41% year-on-year in the quarter to US$27.3 million, beating its prediction of US$26.1 to 27.1 million. Its quarterly profits also rose to US$9.9 million, or 25 US cents per share. The price of Sohu's American depository receipt rose 4.84% to US$17.75 on the NASDAQ and gained almost another 1% in after-hours trading.

Sohu's rival Sina Corp reported on Wednesday that its revenues grew year-on-year by almost 90 per cent to US$49.20 million. Online advertising was Sohu's biggest growth engine. The advertising revenues reached US$13.4 million, almost doubling the figure in the same period of last year.

Sohu, which already witnessed a decline in its SMS business, said its wireless value-added service business, including SMS, multimedia messaging service (MMS), wireless application protocol, fell about 8% over the first quarter to US$11.30 million.