Shinsegae’s Q1 OP up 7% on strong department store sales

Shinsegae Department Store’s Gangnam branch. [Courtesy of Shinsegae Department Store]

Shinsegae Inc. posted strong earnings in the first quarter, driven by record department store sales.

According to Shinsegae on Wednesday, its operating profit reached 163 billion won ($119 million) in the first quarter, up 7 percent from the same period last year.

Sales were up by 5.4 percent to 2.82 trillion won and net profit rose by 0.8 percent to 129.6 billion won.

Department store sales reached an all-time high of 1.8 trillion won, up 7.9 percent year-on-year, surpassing last year‘s record first quarter sales of 1.67 trillion won. Its operating profit was up 3.1 percent to 113.7 billion won during the same period.

Shinsegae Live Shopping Inc. reported sales of 309.4 billion won, down 0.9 percent, while its operating profit increased by 9 percent to 11.2 billion won.

Its cosmetics business showed strong growth, achieving quarterly sales of 104.3 billion won and an operating profit of 6.5 billion won, marking its highest quarterly sales to date.

The company attributed this strong performance to both its in-house cosmetics and imported brands, with self-brands like the high-function skincare brand Yunjac (32.6 percent), luxury beauty brand Poiret (63.1 percent), and high-end skincare brand Swiss Perfection leading the positive results.

On the same day, SK chemicals Co. reported an operating loss of 12.7 billion won for the first quarter of this year.

However, sales for the same period rose 4.5 percent to 381 billion won. Net loss reached 8.4 billion won, swinging to a loss from a profit in the same period last year. The figure was up 21.1 percent from the previous quarter.

SM Entertainment Co. posted an estimated operating profit of 15.5 billion won for the first quarter of this year, down 14.9 percent from the same period last year. During the same period, sales increased by 7.9 percent to 220.1 billion won, while net profit decreased by 45.9 percent to 12.4 billion won.