eBay is very pleased with its latest results

Further aided by strong growth at recent acquisition, phone firm Skype, eBay made a net profit of $279.2m (�158m) in the last quarter of 2005.

This compared to $205.4m for the same fourth quarter period in 2004.

Revenue rose by 42% to $1.33bn, with eBay singling out particularly strong growth in its two largest marketplaces - the US and Germany.

'No weaknesses'

The auction house's results came in at the top end of market expectations, and it added that it was sticking to its earlier targets for 2006, including annual revenues growing to between $5.7bn and $5.9bn.

"In the fourth quarter - across the board - this business did extremely well," said eBay chief financial officer Rajiv Dutta.

"There were no weak points in this business.

"We had tremendous momentum and we are very bullish about 2006."

Analysts were, however, disappointed that eBay was not increasing its targets for 2006.

"The company didn't increase 2006 guidance and I think that would be viewed as a negative," said Scott Devitt, an analyst with brokerage Stifel, Nicolaus & Co.