Online car marketing apparently picked up more traffic this year as Carsales.com Ltd (ASX: CRZ) reported on Thursday of soaring net profit for the 2009/10, gaining by as much as 41 percent to $43.2 million as of June 30.

The company, which operates websites that facilitate advertisements and sales of brand new and used cars and other goods, said that the figures were marked improvement from the $30.7 million profit it managed to collect in 2008/09.

Carsales chief executive Greg Roebuck attributed the company's solid results to improved revenue from private advertisers, display advertising and dealership income, which he said came about despite a difficult period for the automotive industry.

Mr Roebuck said that the strong numbers were indications that consumers were more intent to conduct online research prior to proceeding into a sale transaction, asserting that "our strong market leading position, combined with numerous site improvements, saw consumers shift significantly away from our competitors and onto the carsales.com.au site."

Carsales revealed that about 75 percent of accessed automotive advertising sites were being operated by the company and as the economy started picking up from the ongoing recovery, Mediamotive, the company's online display advertising arm, collected substantial profits during the second half of the financial year.

Mr Roebuck is upbeat that Carsales' business prospect would only get better as car companies started realising that online advertisements were gaining more hits and audiences from would-be car buyers.

The company is currently focused on expansions as it launched new sites that offer services in marine and motorcycle segments with more online buyers able to access its main site through its newly-launched mobile version, www.carsales.mobi, which Carsales would be enhanced further in the future.

With its revenue climbing by as much as 28 percent, en route to $123.1 million, Carsales said that it is set to issue a final dividend distribution of 8.3 cents per share, fully franked and leading to a final dividend of 14.9 cents.