China's leading social networking site Renren Inc reported a narrower net loss in the first quarter of this year as advertising income increased.

Renren's net loss dropped 78.5 percent from the same period last year to US$2.6 million, the company said in a statement yesterday.

"We expect strong growth in the social networking market will continue and we'll launch more innovative products and new services to appeal to evolving user preferences," Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Joseph Chen said.

Sales advanced 46.6 percent to US$20.6 million and advertising revenue doubled from a year earlier to US$8.1 million, it said in its first financial results after its IPO on the New York Stock Exchange at the end of last year.

Income from Internet value-added services, including online games and group-buying operations, jumped 25 percent on year to US$12.4 million.

Last month, the company teamed up with PopCap Games Inc in an exclusive deal to run an adaptation of the latter's popular game "Plants vs Zombies" on its website.

Renren's registered users increased to about 122 million by the end of May, rising from 91 million at the end of March 2010.

The stock has sunk nearly 60 percent in the past three months to below its IPO price of US$14. The shares closed at US$7.6 on Monday.

The company said that it expects revenue to rise to between US$29 million and US$30 million in the April-June period.