NEW YORK - China's leading online flash sales retailer, VIPshop Holdings Ltd, on Wednesday said its net revenue in the third quarter topped $155.9 million, up 197 percent when compared with a year ago.

Donghao Yang, CFO of VIPshop, contributed the stronger-than- expected earnings to a fast expanding retail e-commerce business and a growing middle class in China.

The company also expects its net revenue for the fourth quarter of 2012 to be between $235 million and $240 million, or a year-on-year growth rate of 123 percent to 128 percent, and its net revenue to hit between $627 million and $632 million for the whole year of 2012, up 176 percent to 178 percent year-on-year.

VIPshop Holdings Ltd, based in Guangzhou, south China's Guangdong province, was listed in the New York Stock Exchange in March 23, 2012.