Acquiring big stakes in two rivals helped China's major online travel agent, Ctrip, increase its net income more than 900 percent to 2.5 billion yuan (385 million U.S. dollars) in 2015, according to annual results revealed by the company on Thursday.
Ctrip said its net revenues rose 48 percent year on year to 10.9 billion yuan.
It spent 3.1 billion yuan, 39 percent more than 2014, on sales and marketing.
In the fourth quarter, the company's net income was 76 million yuan, compared to a net loss of 224 million yuan in the same period of 2014. Net revenues rose 50 percent year on year to 2.9 billion yuan.
"We expect Ctrip's investment in other industry players last year to help improve services and products to better serve Chinese travelers and build a healthy ecosystem for the overall travel industry," said James Liang, chairman and CEO of Ctrip.
In May 2015, Ctrip acquired a 37.6-percent stake in trip-booking website Elong. In October, it completed a share exchange transaction with Baidu that gave it a 45-percent stake in Qunar, another major online travel service provider.
In January 2016, Ctrip invested 180 million U.S. dollars in MakeMyTrip Ltd., India's largest online travel company.
The company expects its first-quarter net revenue to be up 75 to 80 percent year on year, reflecting the consolidation of Qunar's financial results.
