Lotte Shopping Co., the operator of South Korea's biggest department store and a leading discount store, said Friday it swung to the black in the second quarter from a year earlier thanks to its department store business.
The key unit of retail giant Lotte Group posted a net profit of 76.9 billion won (US$63.6 million) on a consolidated basis in the April-June period, compared with a net loss of 214 billion won a year earlier, the company said in a regulatory briefing.
Its sales rose 1 percent on-year to 4.46 trillion won in the second quarter, while operating profit advanced 5.7 percent to 91.5 billion won over the cited period, the firm said.
Lotte Shopping said its sales increased despite the toughening competition with online retailers.
Its department store chain, Lotte Department, saw its first-quarter sales slip 0.6 percent on-year to 764 billion won, but its operating profit increased 30.4 percent to 74 billion won.
Lotte Mart, its discount store chain, recorded 1.59 trillion in sales and 1.6 percent on-year growth but suffered an operating loss of 34 billion won, it added. (Yonhap)