Chinese gaming and social media giant Tencent on Wednesday posted an 11% rise in revenue, beating analyst expectations.

The revenue for the first quarter, ending March 31, amounted to 149.98 billion yuan ($21.43 billion), exceeding the 146.09 billion yuan forecast by Refinitiv.

The first quarter results present a significant improvement, especially when compared to the fourth quarter of 2022, which only saw a marginal year-over-year increase of 0.5%, totaling revenues of 145.0 billion yuan.

However, net profit came in at 25.83 billion yuan, showing an 11% rise, fell short of the anticipated 29.61 billion yuan.

Domestic gaming revenue rose by 6%, amounting to 35.1 billion yuan, whereas international gaming revenue saw a significant 25% increase, reaching 13.2 billion yuan.

Tencent's Chief Strategy Officer, James Mitchell, noted a "broad base recovery" in the company's games business during a call with analysts. He highlighted that 12 of their top 15 games experienced year-on-year growth. He further commented that whether this was due to pent-up demand or underlying demand would be determined in due course.

The company also saw growth in other sectors. Online advertising revenue grew by 17%, resulting in 21 billion yuan, while revenue from fintech and business services saw a 14% increase, reaching 48.7 billion yuan.

Chinese tech companies are bouncing back as the Covid-19 lockdown is lifted and regulations on the tech industry eased.

Search engine giant Baidu beat first-quarter revenue and profit estimates on Tuesday as businesses spent more on advertising; JD.com, China's third-largest e-commerce platform by market value, said first-quarter revenue rose 1.4% from a year earlier to 243 billion yuan ($35 billion), beating analysts' average estimate of 239.42 billion yuan.