HT Media Ltd. reported a 10 percent net profit rise in the quarter of October through December in 2007 from the same period the year before, due to better advertising revenue growth, the newspaper publisher announced Thursday.

The New Delhi-based publisher of English newspaper Hindustan Times reported a net profit of 369 million rupees on net sales of 3.2 billion rupees between October and December of last year, while sales rose 16 percent.

The media company's ad revenues grew 18 percent during the fourth quarter to 2.75 billion rupees, with events also contributing to the revenues, HT Media said, according to a report by Reuters.

“Our performance during the quarter has been encouraging with ad revenues growing well ahead of the industry,” Vice Chairperson Shobhana Bhartia said in a company statement, according to Reuters. “As our new initiatives start creating value, we will be able to deliver robust revenue and profit growth.”

Also in Q4 of 2007, HT Media launched in Bangalore its third edition of business daily Mint and bought social networking site Desimartini.com.