Profits boost for eBay

eBay said tonight its fourth-quarter profits increased by 24% compared to the same period the year before, prompting executives to raise estimates for the current quarter.

Thanks to scorching holiday sales – particularly in eBay’s traditional strongholds of the United States, UK and Germany – the San Jose-based online auction company earned £177m for the three months ending December 31 2006.

It earned £142m in the same period the year before.

“It was a very strong quarter capping a very strong year,” eBay president Meg Whitman said after the results were released.

Fourth-quarter revenue totalled £0.87bn, up 29% on the year before.