Led by solid growth in its software business, CDC Corp. yesterday reported second-quarter revenue of $111 million, a 10% increase over the $100.7 million reported in the second quarter of last year.

Significantly higher operating expenses, however, led to a net loss of $10.2 million. The loss was 174% greater than the net loss of $3.7 million reported by CDC Corp. in the same period a year ago.

Despite the bottom-line results, CDC Corp. CEO Peter Yip, in remarks to financial analysts today, expressed his satisfaction with the quarter. “Not only did CDC post all-time record revenue for the second quarter, we improved … adjusted net income,” he said. “And our new, lower cost structure has improved our operating leverage regardless of the economic environment, which we expect to be challenging.”

CDC Corp., whose business includes digital consumer products such as online games and information portals as well as enterprise software, saw revenue of $96.1 million from its CDC Software business in the second quarter ended June 30, 2008. That total — which includes enterprise software licenses, consulting, and services — was 8.7% greater than the $88.4 million reported by CDC Software in the second quarter of last year.

Software license revenue for the quarter dropped to $14.8 million, 20% below the year-earlier period. Maintenance revenue, however, was up 26% to $26.8 million, while services revenue rose by nearly 12% to $27 million.

CDC Software’s revenue gains were led by the company’s newer products, Yip said, including its CDC Factory manufacturing operations management product, CDC Supply Chain SCM and warehouse management product, and CDC Respond, its customer complaint and feedback management tool. Those products accounted for 22% of second-quarter software licenses, the company said. Other mainstream products, such as Pivotal CRM and Ross ERP, accounted for 60% of license revenue.

Despite the healthy revenue gains, CDC lost money because of higher operating expenses. The company’s second-quarter operating costs were $58.5 million, up 23% from the like period a year ago.

Yip told an analyst on today’s call that CDC has already taken steps to lower operating expenses by reducing facilities and related administrative costs and cutting positions. The cuts are expected to result in expense reductions of $31 million over the next year, he said. “We will start seeing the impact of the benefit of this reduction in the third quarter and beyond,” he told analysts.

Analysts also questioned Yip about CDC’s recent decision to rescind its planned initial public offering for the CDC Software unit in light of the sluggish economy. That decision, the company said, resulted in the departure of CDC Software CEO Eric Musser.Yip, however, reassured investors that he can successfully take over Musser’s duties in running CDC’s software business. “I am confident. I have the bandwidth,” he told analysts. “I’m not concerned at all. That’s why I’m buying back shares.” Yip said he recently purchased 268,000 CDC Corp. shares at $3.55 each. The CEO is CDC Corp.’s largest shareholder.

In trading today, CDC Corp.’s shares were at $3.08.