(LEAD) KT's Q1 net shrinks 23.3 pct
(ATTN: ADDS more info from 4th para)
SEOUL, April 29 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's telecom giant KT Corp. reported Friday that its first-quarter net profit dropped 23.3 percent from a year earlier on increased costs and slowing fixed-line telephony business.
Net profit came to 215.14 billion won (US$189.2 million) in the January-March period on a consolidated basis, down from the previous year's profit of 280.59 billion won, the company said in a regulatory filing.
Operating profit, however, jumped 22.8 percent on-year to 385.13 billion won, while sales also grew 2.2 percent to 5.52 trillion won over the same period.
The fall in earnings stemmed in part from increased costs and slowing demand for its fixed-line service.
KT said that its operating expenses rose 0.9 percent to 5.13 trillion won, while sales from its fixed-line telecom service including telephony and the Internet fell 2 percent on-year to 1.28 trillion won.
The company noted that a base effect apparently caused by the sale of its rental business was also behind the marked fall in the first-quarter net.
In other areas such as the mobile business, however, KT reported that it fared relatively well.
Sales from the mobile service grew 1.6 percent to 1.85 trillion won, and it also logged 15.3-percent growth from its media and content division. Its finance business also saw first-quarter sales expand 4 percent to 822.6 billion won.
The company says that it has done well in its core business.
"In core business areas, we saw both sales and subscribers increase," a company official said. "We have achieved a stable first-quarter earnings."
Shares of KT traded 30,750 won as of 9:59 a.m. on the Seoul bourse, up 0.16 percent from a day earlier, compared with a 0.75 percent decline in the benchmark KOSPI.
kokobj@yna.co.kr
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