Rising revenues but also increased losses are the mixed picture for ROK Entertainment Group as it announces its annual financial results for the fiscal year ended 31 March 2008.

ROK has developed a revenue-generating mobile product portfolio comprising over 40 applications, from mobile TV streamed live and on-demand over mass-market mobile networks, to the storage of copy-protected video content for play on the mobile devices, through mobile Voice over Internet Protocol (mVoIP) technologies, mobile social networks and mobile conference-calling services.

The financial year was described as ‘transitional' by ROK who despite rising losses believes that it will transformation into a much stronger business with broader product lines, technical capabilities, global footprint and customer relationships as well as becoming publicly traded with quotation on the OTC Bulletin Board.

Even as it announced revenues of $14.6m for FY2007 ended 31 March 2008, an increase of 247% on the previous year, the company posted a net loss of $36.6m for FY2007, almost treble the figure from 2006.

The increase in core losses was attributed to due to investment in expanded operational capacity, infrastructure and research and development. Share Based Payments attributed $15.1m of the $36.6m losses, in the form of paper payments associated with the reverse merger into Cyberfund in November 2007 and q number of acquisitions.

The latter comprised the purchase of Blubox Software; Fun Little Movies, a company specialising in the development, production and distribution of original mobile-oriented comedy for global distribution; a strategic stake in Matchday Entertainment, a China-based subsidiary of Asia Poker Limited, to deploy the first 3D online poker service in China; the acquisition of mobile and web applications developer Geniem and the buy-out of IPTV company Jalipo, which offers live streaming of TV content over the Internet.

Bullishly, ROK expects to increase its spending significantly as it continues to expand its infrastructure and its sales and marketing efforts, and continues research and development.

It claims that as a result of the solid foundations laid during FY2007 and further major milestones achieved post year-end, the firm says that it is a now a leading provider of innovative multimedia content solutions, based on patented and patent-pending technologies, to mobile operators, handset manufacturers and users worldwide.

In FY2007, ROK made a number of moves into mobile TV including the launch of a mobile TV service with Vodafone-Turkey; a cooperation agreement with Beijing Fone Net Information & Technology to provide mobile TV content to China Mobile customers; the launch of a software compression application for digital images through its Blubox subsidiary; Cadbury Creme Egg, Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment ‘24' and Codemasters becoming the first advertisers to be broadcast on ROK's free mobile TV service, FreeBe TV; the broadcasting of the Chinese ‘Spring Festival Gala'; and the grant of two patents for the technology regarding Multimedia Memory Cards that will enhance the provision of content for mobile phones.