Shares in California-based Snap were down more than 16 percent in after-hours trading after the company posted yet another quarter of disappointing growth.

The firm, which became popular among young smartphone users for its disappearing messages, said it logged a loss of $443.2 million (€382.6 million) in its third quarter on revenues of $207.9 million, up from $128.2 million a year ago.

Analysts said Snap needed to show stronger growth to keep pace in the rapidly evolving social media sector dominated by Facebook.

New markets required

The company added 4.5 million daily users in the third quarter to 178 million, amounting to 3-percent growth — too little to impress investors. Snap does not report monthly user figures.

CEO Evan Spiegel (picured above) said Snapchat needed to grow its user base beyond 13-to-34-year-olds in the US, France, the UK and Australia.

"This includes Android users, people older than 34 and rest-of-world markets," he said in a statement.

Although Snapchat is best known for its smartphone messaging service, it has also developed partnerships with numerous media outlets with a view to reaching its audience with news, video and other content.

hg/jd (AP, AFP)