NHN Corp., a leading South Korean information technology company, said Thursday it swung to a net loss in the first quarter from a year earlier mainly due to an increase in corporate tax payments.
The company shifted to a net loss of 4.8 billion won (US$3.6 million) from a profit of 25.6 billion won a year earlier, according to its regulatory filing.
Its operating profit jumped 42.8 percent on-year to 27.3 billion won and sales rose 10.2 percent to 604.4 billion won.
The operating profit was 16.8 percent higher than the average estimate, according to a survey by Yonhap Infomax, the financial data firm of Yonhap News Agency. The estimate of net profit was not available.
The company said it posted a net loss due to increased corporate tax expenses compared with a year ago, but sales improved in most of its major businesses.
NHN’s payment and advertisement unit saw its sales grow 15.6 percent on-year to 288.4 billion won and revenue from its game unit also climbed 4.2 percent to 121.9 billion won.
Revenue
from the commerce and content units also jumped 26 percent and 7.5 percent to 63.7 billion won and 45 billion won, respectively, but sales from the technology unit decreased 5 percent to 95.1 billion won.
NHN CEO Chung U-jin said his company will focus on increasing its profitability by upgrading its game and other businesses.
The Korean company plans to release new game titles this year, including zombie apocalypse shooting role playing game “Darkest Days.”
Source: Yonhap News Agency