Twitter losses more than treble despite sales jump

Twitter has seen its second-quarter losses widen sharply despite revenues more than doubling as it tapped into the popularity of the recent World Cup.

The social network also reported a 24 per cent increase in its number of average monthly active users to 271 million during the three months to the end of June.

Revenues surged 124 per cent to $312m (£184.1m), beating Wall Street expectations of $283.1m.

Chief executive Dick Costolo said: “Our strong financial and operating results for the second quarter show the continued momentum of our business.

“We remain focused on driving increased user growth and engagement, and by developing new product experiences, like the one we built around the World Cup, we believe we can extend Twitter’s appeal to an even broader audience.”

However, the jump in sales – driven by a 129 per cent increase in advertising revenues to $277m – could not prevent net losses widening to $144.6m, more than treble the $42.2m figure reported a year ago.

Mobile advertising revenue accounted for 81 per cent of total advertising sales during the second quarter.

Twitter is forecasting total revenues of between $330m and $340m for the third quarter, and a full-year figure of up to $1.33 billion.