At least one concrete measure of the art-market’s strength is trending up. On Saturday, Artnet AG, whose shares are traded on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange, released results for the first six months of 2010, and they were positive.

The small New York company runs perhaps the most widely used database of art prices in the U.S., hosts art-gallery Web sites and also publishes a well-perused online magazine of contemporary art. Its net income increased $202,000, to $86,000, reversing last year’s $116,000 loss in the same six-month period. Revenues grew seven percent in the period, in part due to its relatively new business of online art and design auctions. Earnings were two cents a share up from a two-cents-a-share loss in 2009.

The bad news for art-market players may be that CEO Hans Neuendorf hinted, in the release, that the company will raise the cost of using its database. On the advice of a consultant in product pricing, the company will change its pricing structures to be “more in line” with consumer-usage patterns, and profit margins will increase later this year, he predicted. Artnet is keenly watched as one of the few publicly traded companies in the art business. Sotheby’s is set to release its second-quarter results later this week.

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