Young teachers exchange name cards during a blind date event organized by jiayuan.com in 2007 in Beijing. [CFP]

Rumored IPO plans have shined a light on China's matchmaking sector's massive profitability, despite denials of NASDAQ aspirations by the top players.

The National Business Daily Wednesday quoted an unidentified insider as saying that the two best-known matchmaking websites (jiayuan.com and zhenai.com) were preparing to list on the NASDAQ.

The source claimed that Jiayuan was aiming for the first half of 2011, with a financing of around $100 million. Should the deals go through, they would become China's first listed dating websites.

However, officials from both websites denied the claims Wednesday.

"We are not planning to list next year. The company is focusing on improving its internal operations and will consider going public at the right time in the future," Gong Haiyan, CEO of Jiayuan, told the Global Times Wednesday.

However, in July 2008, Gong had said the company was planning to get listed on the NASDAQ within three years, even hiring PricewaterhouseCoopers to help prepare.

Tang Zhenyu, director of public relations for Zhenai, said they were not preparing for a listing either.

"The company has invited Deloitte & Touche to perform an audit, but this is not to prepare for a listing," Tang told the Global Times Wednesday, adding that a listing was possible in the future.

The two companies both declined to give further information.

However, the potential move has already sparked interest in the booming online dating and matchmaking sphere.

"Listing will help them both increase their revenue and market presence. The development prospects of dating websites are very promising," Xue Shengwen, an analyst from the CIC industry research center, told the Global Times Wednesday.

At the moment, Jiayuan, Zhenai and rival Baihe hold a triangle lock on the dating sector, with Jiayuan well ahead with a market share of almost 50 percent, according to the National Business Daily.

The report, citing data released by Jiayuan, said the company garnered 80 million yuan ($12.04 million) in 2009, and was expecting revenue to top 100 million yuan this year, with a solid 30 million as profits.

Jiayuan's customer base has now extended to 30 million users, and its website claims to have helped 4.5 million people find love.